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Roundtable:

Equitable Grading in the Post-Secondary Classroom

Resources, schedule, Zoom: thegradingconference.com �Slack community: bit.ly/join-alt-grading

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Recording and posting

We are recording this session.

We plan to post recordings and slides so you can review them later.

We retain the right to rebroadcast and distribute the recording.

By participating, you are agreeing that your contributions become part of the recording. This includes video, audio, chat, and Q&A.

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Today: Getting started with?

Now Parallel sessions

6A - Round-Table: Equitable Grading in Post-Secondary Class

6B - Education Research #1

6C - Workshop: Ungrading the Unessay

6D - Round-Table: Implementing Ungrading

5:30 - 6:00 Closing out day 1

6:00 - ? Wrap-up and optional social events

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The Grading Conference: Roundtable Discussion

www.crescendoedgroup.org

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Nikole Joshi

Facilitator

She/Her/Hers

www.crescendoedgroup.org

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Some of Our Partners

Chicago Public Schools
Los Angeles Unified School District
New York City Department of Education
Alameda Unified School District (CA)
Albuquerque Public Schools (NM)
Arlington Public Schools (VA)
Talbot County Public Schools (MD)
Harvard Westlake School (CA)
College of the Atlantic (ME)
Williams College (MA)
U. of California-Berkeley (CA)
Seminole State College (FL)
AFT, NEA, National Association of Independent Schools
Mastery Transcript Consortium

@CrescendoEdGrp

@JoeCFeldman

@EquitySmith

#gradingforequity

Grading for Equity FB Group

Crescendo Ed Group FB Page

Crescendo Education Group

@Gradingforequity

Let’s Get Social

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Waterfall!

Affiliation/Institution

Department/Discipline

Who’s in the room?

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What are your hopes for this session/conference?

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Crescendo Education Group/Grading for Equity

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What is

Equitable Grading?

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“legacy”: Multi-generational

“schools”: Embedded into the DNA of US education, economic, and political systems

“groups of students”: children of color, of poverty, EL’s, special ed

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Three Pillars of Equitable Grading

Grades are ACCURATE reflections of a student’s academic performance

Grades are BIAS-RESISTANT—counteract institutional biases and prevent our implicit biases from “infecting” our grades

Grades are MOTIVATIONAL—builds students’ intrinsic motivation (self-regulation) and sense of efficacy

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Equitable Grading Practices

Grade does NOT include:

Averaging over time
0-100 percentage scale
“Participation” and other student behaviors (including attendance, cheating, “effort”)
Performance on homework/formative assessments
Group grades
Extra credit

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Equitable Grading Practices

Grade based only on academic performance

Most recent performance
0-4 Scale or 50% minimum
Explicit learning outcomes
Rubrics and “standards scales” that describe gradations of outcome proficiency
Retakes and Redos
Expanded use of formative feedback

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Teacher Cohort Learning Design

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Research-Driven Practices

Improved Grading Practices
Teachers learn about grading and assessment practices that have been proven to be more accurate and fair.
Action Research
Teachers are prepared to implement equitable grading in their classroom. They create a hypothesis, collect data about the effects, analyze their results, and plan future implementation.
Collaborative Reflection
In every workshop, teachers share their research and data with colleagues, and together they make meaning of the data and consider how the practices could be refined and more effectively implemented across classrooms.
Continuous Improvement
We repeat this cycle–learning new information, trying new practices, sharing results–throughout the workshop series. By learning from and with each other, teachers build a collective understanding of how improved grading and assessment benefit their students in their unique contexts.

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And most importantly for students, this model has a proven track record with improving grading practices that result in less grade inflation and higher student passing rates and that gives students a greater sense of agency and ownership for performance.

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Education & (Mis)Communication About Equitable Grading

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Common Misconception #1

Research is overwhelming that traditional grading is inaccurate, stressful, and biased

We want our teachers to advance their practices based on contemporary research on learning, motivation, implicit bias, etc.
Our students and families deserve accurate reports about student academic understanding

Grading isn’t broken, so why fix it?

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Common Misconception #2

Equitable grading benefits all students!

More accurate
Less stressful
More opportunities to succeed
Levels the playing field for those who have been historically underserved or harmed

“Equity” mean a zero-sum game

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Common Misconception #3

Equitable grading increases rigor

Students’ non-academic behaviors can’t mask learning
Teachers focus more on the learning

Equitable grading lowers expectations

I used to think that equitable grading made it easier for students to pass my class but now I think it is fair and holds them accountable to their learning

-HS Teacher, World Languages

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Common Misconception #4

Change doesn’t require the entire system to move at once

Focus on “early adopters”; small victories build momentum
Get to “tipping point” (Gladwell)
Make policy when robust evidence supports it

Everyone needs to be on board to move this work forward

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Padlet

Link in Chat!

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https://bit.ly/CEGContactUs

Connect with us!

www.crescendoedgroup.org

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What’s next?

Now until 6:00 Closing of Day 1 Session

Next Social Hour (optional)