A Holistic Approach �to �Grades and Grading �FIRST Inclusive Education Presentation

Mario Belloni

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Reminder that this event will be recorded.

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A Holistic Approach �to �Grades and Grading �FIRST Inclusive Education Presentation

Mario Belloni

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Acknowledgments

HHMI Leadership Team, HHMI Action Team, Davidson Physics Department, Anne Wills, SGA Ed. Policy Committee, MILE, and Posse 4.

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Special thanks and acknowledgment to Esther Lherisson, FIRST Program Analyst, and welcome to Jake Paz, new FIRST Program Analyst.

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Holistic

• Holistic: Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.
• Holistic Approach: Provides support that looks at the whole person, support should also consider their physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing.
• Holistic Grading: A method of evaluation based on overall quality. Also known as global grading, single-impression scoring, and impressionistic grading. Uses a simple grading structure that bases a grade on a paper's overall quality.

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A Holistic Approach to Grading: Understanding that all aspects of the course (grading) and the whole of the students are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

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When you think about “Grades,” what words/experiences come to mind?

When you think about “Grading,” what words/experiences come to mind?

Breakout Discussion I

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When you think about “Grades,” �what words/experiences come to mind?

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When you think about “Grades,” �what words/experiences come to mind?

• B-, C+, C+ (my grades in intro PHY)

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• Failing first exam in my 4 college MAT courses

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• HS CHE getting a C on first exam from book, when told study notes

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When you think about “Grading,” �what words/experiences come to mind?

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When you think about “Grading,” �what words/experiences come to mind?

• “I am not paid to teach; I am paid to grade.”

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• Student emails about their final grade in my class.

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• Course evaluations (just looked at the fall 2020 evals last week).

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Outline

• General: Grades, Grading, & Growth Mindset
• Research
• A Holistic Implementation
• Diversity/Inclusivity
• Equity
• Summary

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Outline

• General: Grades, Grading, & Growth Mindset
• Research
• A Holistic Implementation
• Diversity/Inclusivity
• Equity
• Summary

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Outline

• General: Grades, Grading, & Growth Mindset
• Research
• A Holistic Implementation
• Diversity/Inclusivity
• Equity
• Summary

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When you think about “Growth Mindset” what words/experiences come to mind?

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Grades? Grading?

When you think about “Growth Mindset” what words/experiences come to mind?

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Research

• Grades Matter

Expert-like experiences: Personal attainments or failures; Vicarious learning: Observing others performing a task; Social persuasion: Messages received about ability; Physiological state: Emotions mediate other sources

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Research

• Grades Matter

• High school students know that grades impact their college/career prospects.

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• Fear of receiving a "bad" grade (i.e., anything below an A-) dissuades students from taking courses and taking “risks.”

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• Sense among low-income students that grades are the gateway to upward mobility.

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• Competitive scholarships for undergrads have average accepted applicant GPAs of 3.8+. The same is true for fellowships and scholarships that support college graduates.

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• Instead of serving as an indication of a need to grow in a certain area, bad grades more often represent barriers to pursuing certain post-undergrad opportunities.

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• At Davidson, the grading system has an unequal impact on students depending upon socioeconomic status/other marginalized identities  (e.g., on those for whom getting into medical/graduate school is insufficient and who must compete with large pools of applicants for scarce financial support). 

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Rehumanizing Assessment: Standards-Based Grading �FIRST Inclusive Education Presentation �Drew Lewis and Katie Mattaini

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Breakout Discussion II

• What guiding principles, if any, do you use in your thought process regarding grades and grading?

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Guiding Principles – Alt Version

• Don’t, “Do what I say, not what I do.” Instead, say what you are going to do, and do it.

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• Don’t “set it and forget it.” Good grading and pedagogical practice do not stay “good.” You often need to be flexible when things do not go as planned.

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• “Law of Unintended Consequences” is often at work even with good pedagogical and grading practice.

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• “Conservation of Difficulty.”

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• “Ties go to the runner.” If you must change things after the fact, it should never negatively affect any student, or it must benefit all students equally.

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A Holistic Implementation (???)�with an eye towards diversity, inclusivity, and equity

PHY 125: Fall 2019 and Fall 2020

Reimagining the Reimagined Gateway STEM Course Formats

STEM Education Hour

October 29, 2020 @ 11:35 am - 12:35 pm

Tim Gfroerer and Mario Belloni

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Rehumanizing Assessment: Standards-Based Grading • FIRST Inclusive Education Presentation �Drew Lewis and Katie Mattaini

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PHY 125 Redesign

• Integrate “lab” and “lecture” where every class starts with a lab, then model/synthesis and class time furthers the development and adds qualitative (conceptual) and quantitative problem solving.

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• Labs serve different purpose than in traditional course.
• Create student agency, freedom, and creativity
• Equally prepares students as the traditional course

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• Successfully work in diverse groups
• Understand and remove barriers to success
• Promote a Growth Mindset

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PHY 125: Initial Framing

In this course, students are the creators of knowledge through (guided) labs and modeling.

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Textbook and First Assignments

Going by the Book: Increasing Textbook Accessibility on Campus

FIRST Inclusive Education Hour

February 22 @ 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Hana Kamran ‘23 (FIRST Action Team), et al.

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Textbook and First Assignments

• First Week: Set tone
• Poster: “About Me” (Tim Gfroerer)
• Uniqueness and Commonality Exercises
• Moodle questionnaire or 4x6 card
• Get to know students/they get to know each other: majors, accommodations, health, real experience in math/physics which was extremely useful for assigning groups.

PHY 214 and 125

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Syllabus

Assignments and Assignment Weights

time

PHY130 FL 2018

PHY130 FL 2019

PHY125 FL 2020

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Syllabus

Assignments and Assignment Weights

PHY125 FL 2020

• Review #1 highlights biggest discrepancy in previous physics experiences among students. Reducing its weighting, both lessens positive and negative effects of prior experience.

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• New role of laboratories required new way of assessment. Daily Reflections tied together lab, class, concepts, and holistic understanding of the day’s physics content.

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• Quizzes as practice before each exam; drop lowest quiz score by visiting my office in first 2 weeks of class to discuss 4x6 card.

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Unique Laboratories: PHY 125/225/235

vs. Model the Ideal Gas Law, measuring electrical resistance, and modeling Faraday’s law

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Homework

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Exams: Preparations for Exam#2

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Exams: Preparations for Exam#2

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Exams: Format and Choice

• Format changed to reflect the changes in the course and the new role of the laboratories as central to introducing/modeling phenomena (vs. verifying)
• Hence, How Do I Know?
• Choice to allow for “best” performance

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Exams: “How Do I Know?”

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Anonymous Grading

A practice where instructors remove identifying student information from the grading process, thereby limiting potential biases from skewing student evaluations.

Anonymous Grading Initiative • FIRST Inclusive Education Hour

December 14, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Julia Bauer '23 and Wren Healy '23

“Gender Grading Bias at Stockholm University: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from an Anonymous Grading Reform.” (Jansson and Tyrefors 2018). ��“A Lesson in Bias: The Relationship between Implicit Racial Bias and Performance in Pedagogical Contexts.” (Jacoby-Senghor, et al. 2015).

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Anonymous grading

Anonymous grading

Anonymous Grading Initiative • FIRST Inclusive Education Hour

December 14, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Julia Bauer '23 and Wren Healy '23

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Grading Reviews/Finals “Annonymously”

Example from Introductory Astronomy: Cover sheet with name, each subsequent page 1 short “chunk” per page, grade 1 page at a time with a rubric.

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Fall 2020: Grading Reviews/Final Annonymously

Students get review (Moodle) or final (email me) and return to me in a pdf with a 4-digit student generated number. I grade anonymously using pdf annotation, again only 1 page/section/problem at a time and using a rubric, tally exam grade in the pdf, then at the end, unmask and enter grades.

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Exams: Returning

• How you discuss and return high-stakes testing matters.

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• How to encourage all student?

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Holistic Grading: REL 161 GodLoveSex

• academic space where learning, not grades, is the priority.
• students encouraged to improve the depth and clarity of their written/spoken work over attempting to imitate the "correct" writing style that yielded the greatest number of points on an assignment.
• The professor focused on improvement and did not penalize risk taking in writing.
• Encouraged (re)engaging with material not fully understood and not penalized for initial misunderstandings. 

Week 1

What's one thing you clearly understood from Taves’s article? NB: Everyone will understand something, even if it’s “just” the historical period that she’s discussing. 

What's one thing you absolutely did not understand from Taves’s article?

Week 8

Imagine that you're walking to Ben & Jerry's and you run into a friend who wants to know about this class. You tell them that the next several days will focus on Mormon plural marriage/polygamy. Based on your reading and viewing, how would you explain the practice? 

1. "Assignment deadlines will help me and you organize our work, but the instructor (that’s me!) will be flexible given the current situation and the vicissitudes of technology."
2. "If you have logistical or financial issues making it difficult for you to obtain the course texts, please let me know as soon as possible. Our amazing librarians and instructional technologists stand ready to help us gain access to e-books and online resources."

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Breakout Discussion III

• Think about and discuss ways you already or can make grading in your courses more equitable and holistic.

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Summary

• Grades are still very important to students

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• Holistic and equitable grading practices can help student self-efficacy and belonging.

• Questions?

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