Guest Blogger: Standard wha? - a sojourn into Standards Based Grading

Editor's Note: This blog is part of a series of guest contributors from the national school-based agricultural education family. Mr. Matthew Eddy is a 17 year teacher at Southeast Polk High School in Iowa. He is a CASE Certified Master Teacher and holds certifications in AFNR, Animal Science, Plant Science and Biotechnology. He authored the Governor’s STEM Scale-Up grants -- securing funding of over $3 Million dollars for Iowa Agriculture programs to participate in adopting the CASE model. Matthew is involved in his professional organizations thru the “Teach Ag” campaign helping to recruit and retain agriculture teachers: blogging about “A Day in the Life of an Ag Teacher” on the NAAE Communities of Practice site and building awareness of his profession with his interactions on twitter - @AgEd4ME. His wife Carol is a principal with the Ankeny school district and his four children, Owen (9), Olivia (5) and Isaac (4) and Evelyn (6mo) seem to keep him busy at home in Pleasant Hill, Iowa.

SE Polk students are almost ready
to embark on the fetal pig dissection lab.  

First and foremost - let me capitulate by stating that I have, in no conceivable way, a handle on this thing.  But I'm trying.

While you (PSU Ag Ed student) have probably the greatest Ag Educator in the Nation at your helm and have probably discussed Standards Based Grading- and grading in general extensively - the rest of the educational world is likely to not have been so lucky.

My grading experiences started with a red standard gradebook and a No 2 yellow pencil.  Go forth and evaluate young man... and don't screw it up.

As I look back on my grading experiences, I can put them into two categories -- 1 - how I was graded in high school and #2 - how I graded during my student teaching experience.  Neither of which was anything to write home about and both were inherently flawed… at least when it comes to measuring learning.  

And isn't that what grades are for?  Measuring a student’s learning?

 I always believed that my gradebook was flawed... anyone who likes numbers can probably see some of the ways that it was... but I never really gave it much thought until about five years ago when I saw some youtube videos of Rick Wormeli.  

Mind. Blown.

“The grade is NOT the reward, nor can it ever be considered such. Once a grade becomes a bartering tool, its power to inform stake-holders and be used to make instructional decisions or document progress accurately is impugned.” (Wormeli)

IF we are truly assessing students for what they know - our traditional system has so many inherent flaws that keep our grades from being that true assessment and make them into more of a compliance report.  Points deducted for late work, zeros, no chances for re-assessment, extra credit (much of which doesn’t even relate to the learning goals- i.e. bring a box of Kleenex )… the list is endless.        

SE Polk Students extracting DNA from a piece of fruit.  

“The two essential questions that all educators should ask about their grades are, ‘How confident am I that the grades students get in my classroom/school/district are accurate, meaningful, and consistent, and that they support learning’ and ‘How confident am I that the grades I assign students accurately reflect my school’s/district’s published content standards and desired learning outcomes?’” (O’Conner, p2)

Grading has become a high stakes affair and in my opinion almost opposite of what it was intended to communicate. “Grading should be a by-product of learning – not the reason for it” (Eddy)

As you embark upon your journey into Agriculture Education – remember that those two words might not be listed in order of importance.  Be a good educator first, use agriculture as your canvas.  Create a world view that prizes learning over schooling. Grade your students to reflect their mastery of a subject, not their ability to complete worksheets on time. 

Give Standards Based Grading a try – read, think, implement, evaluate – rinse and repeat.

If you really want to consider this further - I recommend Rick Wormeli and Ken O'Connor -- who can speak much more eloquently and have done far more with this subject area.  THEY have a handle on it.  As for me, I just keep trying again tomorrow... 

Bibliography

Rick Wormeli, “Fair isn’t always Equal”

Ken O’Conner, “A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades”

Matthew Eddy, “My Kid got a What??”

http://communities.naae.org/blogs/dayinthelife/2013/10/10/my-kid-got-a-what

Submitted by:

Matthew Eddy

@AgEd4ME

Southeast Polk Agriculture Instructor