Okay, this #MTBoSBlaugust thing is going to make me write, and I'm going to commit to it this year!
This past year, I was one of several teachers in our building that piloted our high school's move into Standards-Based Grading, or Grading for Learning (GfL) as we're calling it. You can read more about my initial planning on this whole process here, as I really only intended to try it out in my AP Calculus AB course. I also presented on my journey at our Wisconsin Math Council State Math Conference last May, and you can view the slides here.
I had originally planned to revamp the structure of my calculus course from the onset as AP scores were falling steadily over the previous 4-5 years, and it seemed that students just weren't grasping the material as readily as well compared to a decade earlier. So, that was my impetus for a total overhaul and a more integrated and spiraled approach to the topics. Since I was overhauling everything anyways, and I knew we were switching to GfL as a building for the 2018-19 school year, I figured I'd also change my assessment procedures as well.
At the start of the year, I laid everything out to the students behind why I was assessing this way, and how they would be graded. I expected much more pushback from the students than I got, and they felt it was fair. Now, we are not using any numbers 0-4, percentages, or averaging at all in our grading; everything is graded according to a rubric with proficiency levels. Straight Proficients across our standards equates to a B, you need to be Advanced in something to earn an A.
Needless to say, grades were lower than in previous years, but I felt they were much MUCH more accurate in the students' learning, and students could accurately see where they were struggling and what they needed to improve. I never dealt with any 'how many points do I need to get X grade?', instead, students were focused on learning and not just cramming for a test. Honestly, I was very surprised.
My biggest question hanging over my head all year was how this would translate to more long-term learning and success on the AP Exam in May. Well, I had probably my best average score (2.92) in about 7 years, highest percentage passing in 4 years, my 1s went from 10 to 0 and 4s went from 1 to 11. It's a step in the right direction and hopefully we can continue this improvement into the next year.
Next post: Trying to summarize how our school and department is framing Grading for Learning and how the heck I'm going to make it work my AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics classes (hint: I have no idea yet!)
This past year, I was one of several teachers in our building that piloted our high school's move into Standards-Based Grading, or Grading for Learning (GfL) as we're calling it. You can read more about my initial planning on this whole process here, as I really only intended to try it out in my AP Calculus AB course. I also presented on my journey at our Wisconsin Math Council State Math Conference last May, and you can view the slides here.
I had originally planned to revamp the structure of my calculus course from the onset as AP scores were falling steadily over the previous 4-5 years, and it seemed that students just weren't grasping the material as readily as well compared to a decade earlier. So, that was my impetus for a total overhaul and a more integrated and spiraled approach to the topics. Since I was overhauling everything anyways, and I knew we were switching to GfL as a building for the 2018-19 school year, I figured I'd also change my assessment procedures as well.
At the start of the year, I laid everything out to the students behind why I was assessing this way, and how they would be graded. I expected much more pushback from the students than I got, and they felt it was fair. Now, we are not using any numbers 0-4, percentages, or averaging at all in our grading; everything is graded according to a rubric with proficiency levels. Straight Proficients across our standards equates to a B, you need to be Advanced in something to earn an A.
Needless to say, grades were lower than in previous years, but I felt they were much MUCH more accurate in the students' learning, and students could accurately see where they were struggling and what they needed to improve. I never dealt with any 'how many points do I need to get X grade?', instead, students were focused on learning and not just cramming for a test. Honestly, I was very surprised.
My biggest question hanging over my head all year was how this would translate to more long-term learning and success on the AP Exam in May. Well, I had probably my best average score (2.92) in about 7 years, highest percentage passing in 4 years, my 1s went from 10 to 0 and 4s went from 1 to 11. It's a step in the right direction and hopefully we can continue this improvement into the next year.
Next post: Trying to summarize how our school and department is framing Grading for Learning and how the heck I'm going to make it work my AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics classes (hint: I have no idea yet!)
Thanks for joining in and congrats on those scores! I'm really eager to hear your AP Stat plan. :)
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