By Joe Feldman
GRADING FOR EQUITY
MAINE DOE BOOK STUDY
SESSION
Today's Webinar
CHAPTER PREVIEWS & DISCUSSION
Chapter 1: What Makes Grading so Difficult to Talk About (and Even Harder to Change)?
Chapter 2: A Brief History of Grading
Grading for Equity
by Joe Feldman
GRADING FOR EQUITY
BOOK STUDY
What's best for students?
Guiding question:
LEARNING STRUCTURE
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION GROUP
CHAPTER
1
PREVIEW
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION GROUP
CHAPTER
2
PREVIEW
AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT AGREEMENTS
Presentation/
chapter previews
10 minutes
Please mute
Consider turning off your video to relax
while learning
Use the chat during the presentation to post THOUGHTS, QUESTIONS, EPIPHANIES
(TQEs idea from Marissa Thompson)
Time for discussion
in breakout groups–
Be prepared to think and share
GRADING AS IDENTITY
CHAPTER 1
ISLAND OF AUTONOMY
CHAPTER 1
Grades are the only thing some teachers feel they have control over thanks to unions and state policies
EVERY TEACHER MAKES
VERY DIFFERENT CHOICES
"Because each teacher's grading system is virtually unregulated and unconstrained, a teacher's grading policies and practices reveal how she defines and envisions her relationship with students, what she predicts best prepares them for success, her beliefs about students, and her self-concepts as a teacher."
(Feldman, 6)
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
GRADING & OUR "WEB OF BELIEF"
CHAPTER 1
Web of Belief
BASED ON EXPERIENCES &
PRIOR UNDERSTANDING
Philosopher W.V. Quine (1978)
"A complex system of what we hold to be true
in the world based on our experiences
and prior understanding."
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
BLENDING THE
TECHNICAL & THEORETICAL
CHAPTER 1
How and Why
TECHNICAL=THE HOW
OF GRADING PRACTICES
&
THEORETICAL=THE WHY BEHIND THESE PRACTICES
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
Technical
MORE EQUITABLE PRACTICES
How to implement:
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
Theoretical
EVOLUTION OF GRADING
Grading purpose & inequities:
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
Book Organization
PART I–FOUNDATIONS
Grading identity & history
PART II–CASE FOR CHANGE
Current practices & inequity
+ Proposal for more equitable grading
PART III–PRACTICES
Equitable grading practices
Book Study Organization
PART I–FOUNDATIONS
Today Chapters 1 & 2
PART II–CASE FOR CHANGE
6/9 Webinar Chapter 3
6/16 Webinar Chapter 4
6/23 Webinar Chapters 5 & 6
PART III–PRACTICES
July--Choice work groups.
Groups determine meeting/study.
August–Whole group report out
Are accurate & mathematically sound
MORE EQUITABLE GRADING PRACTICES
Value knowledge, not environment or behavior
Support hope
& a growth mindset
Lift the veil
on how to succeed
Build "soft skills"
& motivate students
A Final Word
ENVISION THE POSSIBILITIES
A message from Joe Feldman:
"As we learn new ideas, let us be open, humble, honest, and forgive ourselves if we weren't aware that things could be different" (13).
Chapter 1 | Grading as Identity
Break out Groups
Factors for Success
Engagement
Timekeeper
Facilitator
Discussion Question
What brings you to this book/book study?
What are your goals for reading/studying it?
How will the way you read it help or hinder you from realizing those goals?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF GRADING
CHAPTER 2
The rise of manufacturing
OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS
Changes in American society
Intelligence testing
& categorization
Progressive Educators
Migration & Immigration
Behaviorism
THE RISE IN MANUFACTURING
Efficiency & Productivity
Pressure to create future employees
Industry characteristics
as models for schools
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
"There was also a cultural veneration for the power and productivity of factories, which persuaded policy makers to incorporate characteristics of industry–specialization, chain of command, timed routines, and efficiencies–into public institutions, including schools" (Feldman, 19).
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
PROGRESSIVE EDUCATORS
Universal--open to all
Common Curriculum
Elevate social & economic position
Support moral development
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
"In the end, although Dewey's vision of schools-as-democratic-engine provided overarching rhetoric about schools, it was often eclipsed by the vision of schools-as-training-ground." (Feldman, 19).
MIGRATION & IMMIGRATION
Moves from rural living to cities
w/ factory jobs & transportation
Massive wave of immigrants
from Western & then Eastern Europe
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
"While in 1820 there were only four U.S. cities of populations over 25,000 people, four decades later, thirty-five cities had populations of over 25,000, with nine cities of over 100,000. Clearly, the radical changes in the student population couldn't help but profoundly
affect schools" (Feldman, 19).
INTELLIGENCE TESTING & CATEGORIZATION
"Natural intelligence" theories
Skull size
IQ tests believed to asses
intellectual character/disposition
& "justify" racist beliefs.
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
"Higher scores among white, wealthy Protestants and lower scores among immigrant groups and African Americans were used both to affirm the idea of the United States as a meritocracy and to reinforce the validity of the existing hierarchy" (Feldman, 20).
BEHAVIORISM
Human behavior is the result of external stimuli
B.F. Skinner rat experiments
"operant conditioning"
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
Chapter 2 | A Brief History of Grading
"This theory of learning–that humans could be taught to act in certain ways through extrinsic reinforcement or consequences–became wildly popular in schools and factories" (Feldman, 20).
The rise of manufacturing
Over the past
100 years
HOW DID
THESE CHANGES CHANGE SCHOOLS?
Intelligence testing
& categorization
Progressive Educators
Migration & Immigration
Behaviorism
19th Century
Obedience
1 room school house
Teacher/student familiarity
Narrative reports to families
19th & 20th Century
Assimilation
Training immigrants to be "Americans"
Native American children placed in boarding schools
A little detour
The idea of an “average man”–early 19th century
Belgian mathematician, Adolphe Quetelet.
Average=Perfection
Francis Galton–divided humankind into 14 classes
From “Imbeciles” through “Mediocre” to the “Eminent."
Average=Mediocre
20th Century
Sorting and Ranking
Larger public schools
Need for efficiency & accountability
Single letter grades A-F
Norm-referenced grades/bell curve
Another detour
William Farish--Cambridge University Tutor
Process more students in less time, make more money.
Created a letter grade system
modeled after the shoe factory industry
to label if shoes were "up to grade."
Why no "E"
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts–
1st in United States to use letter grades (1887)
High schools followed suite in early 1900s.
Schools removed the E in the 1930s–worried some might think the E (failure) could equate to an E for excellent.
20th Century
Tracking
IQ tests used in schools
Work track & college track
Socioeconomic & racial hierarchy
Today
Grades still=
Obedience/compliance
Assimilation/good citizens
Sorting & Ranking/bell curve
Tracking/voc.ed or college
Discussion Question
How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early 20th century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and/or grading?
GRADING FOR EQUITY
BY JOE FELDMAN
Time for questions?
Thank you
for participating
in this learning journey!
NEXT QUESTION
How does our use of traditional grading send mixed messages?
NEXT STEP
Read and Reflect on
Chapters 1 & 2
NEXT WEBINAR
Tuesday, 6/9 @ 3pm
Chapter 3 Preview
How Traditional Grading Stifles Risk-Taking and Supports the "Commodity of Grades
"IF WE'RE GOING TO
UNDERSTAND OUR GRADING, QUESTION IT, AND
FIND WAYS TO IMPROVE IT, PARTICULARLY FOR VULNERABLE
STUDENT POPULATIONS,
WE NEED A BASIC UNDERSTANDING
OF ITS GENEALOGY
AND ITS EVOLUTION."
FINAL WORDS
(FELDMAN, 18)