All My Assessments are Pointless (But Not Purposeless)

All My Assessments are Pointless (But Not Purposeless)

09:43   assessment, evidence-based reporting, pointless, SBG, standard-based grading,

I am not trying to say that my assessments are without purpose. They are quite purposeful, but my students are NOT assessed based on a collection of arbitrary points that have low reliability and often no validity. If you think about it...

• What makes something a 10-point problem vs. a 2-point problem?
• Does 1% of the total points = 1% of the total learning?
• Do points somehow represent the unit of learning?

Instead of assigning pointless points, I use a rubric with clearly defined criteria for each problem. Each problem is graded based on this rubric as well as involves a different representation of a standard.

Going pointless makes grades more meaningful!

Here is the rubric I use for each problem on any assessment that I give in AP Calculus AB:

Problem Rubric for AP Calculus AB
Grade	Description	Criteria
A	Mastery Demonstration of Objective	All work and justification is clearly communicated. Answers are correct.
B	Proficient Demonstration of Objective	All work and justification is clearly communicated. Minor error in concepts from previous courses. Calculus concept correctly shown.
C	Partial Demonstration of Objective	Major error in concepts from previous courses. Multiple minor errors in concepts from previous courses. Minor calculus concept error.
D	Minimal Demonstration of Objective	Multiple major errors in concepts from previous courses. Major calculus concept error.

After each problem is assessed and given a grade, the assessment grade is calculated using the following rubric. Notice that there is isn’t a point or percentage in sight.

Assessment Grade Rubric
Grade	Criteria (based on each problem grade)
A	More A’s than B’s (or equal number of A’s and B’s) Nothing lower than a B
B	More B’s than C’s (or equal number of B’s and C’s) Nothing lower than a C
C	More C’s than D’s (or equal number of C’s and D’s) Nothing lower than a D
D	More D’s than F’s (or equal number of D’s and F’s)
F	No demonstration

A breakdown of why points can lead to problems with giving fair and accurate grades:

1. Multiple choice problems are often graded by points as all or nothing with rarely any regard to how well the students demonstrated mastery of a standard. If a student partially or mostly understands a standard, getting it wrong on a multiple choice problem does not show that. An easy fix is to grade each multiple choice problem is for students to include justification for why they chose what they chose. The justification can then be assessed by a rubric.
2. As stated before, grading with points has extremely low inter-rater reliability. The grade for each problem based on points is influenced by who the grader is much more compared to following the Problem Rubric.
3. An accumulation of points shows little validity in terms of grades communicating student demonstration of mastery. If a student scores 89% of the points, were they really just 1% off of full mastery?
4. The arbitrary selection of how many points each problem is worth can make or break a grade. What would even dictate one problem being worth twice or three times as much as a different problem?
5. Students can hide behind the averaging of points by skipping certain problems. This would show lack of demonstration of a standard, but not influence the grade enough to matter. Shouldn't everything on an assessment matter?
6. Sometimes teachers give problems that are much easier than the standard requires as a grade boost to “help students out”. If grades are to be an accurate communication of what students are demonstrating, there should not be filler points added. This simply muddies the grade’s meaning.
7. If you give points based on how many things a student can get wrong on a problem, that gives away a lot of information to students about the problem. For example, if a problem is worth 10 points, there might be more steps to complete it compared to a 2-point problem.
8. Some teachers give extra credit points. If grades are supposed to be about learning, extra points make no sense.
9. Averaging makes no sense when it comes to giving grades. If there is a whole in understanding of a particular standard, mastery of other standards should not be used to mask that.

Example breakdown of student grades with averaging and with the rubric:

What are your thoughts? Did I leave something out? Are there any positive reasons to use points besides teacher ease?

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Why I Am Against Standards-Based Grading (as a term to describe how I grade)

Why I Am Against Standards-Based Grading (as a term to describe how I grade)

14:47   assessment, assessments, evidence-based reporting, grades, grading, standards-based grading, teaching,

What does a grade really say about a student?

• What does an 83% as a grade really mean? Does it mean a student understands 83% of the course content? Did a student get 83% of the points? Did they do really well on some tests, but not on others so their average lowered their grade to 83%?

Standards-Based Grading Transforms Grades

• Standards-based grading (SBG) transforms grades from arbitrary points and percents to communication about how students demonstrate mastery of standards. SBG gradebooks are not filled with homework, quizzes, tests, etc. Rather they consist of performance evaluations on learning standards.
• Standards-based grades have many advantages:
• Smarter Grades = Meaningful
• Students pinpoint holes in their learning = Valuable feedback
• Students are able to fill those holes since they know what they are (remediation)
• Assessments become opportunities rather than dreadful events
• Focus on growth and improvement
• However, SBG is still a novel concept and not fully understood by all stakeholders.

Not All Teachers Understand SBG, So What Chance do Parents and Students Have?

• What a substantial concept “standards-based grading” is. More and more teachers everyday are understanding the basics behind the term, but many times, understanding of SBG falls flat for students and parents. Rather than calling it “standards-based grading” or some other education-termed equivalent, why not call it what it truly is: Fair Grading

Backstory

• Sometimes you never know when some insight on your teaching practice will arrive. I came face-to-face with my own ideas on grading from a student that I tutor. The student’s teacher (from a different school district than mine) implements standards-based grading in their math class and was, according to the student, the reason that student was doing so poorly in the class.

• Student: “The teacher grades this weird way that makes all of our grades lower.”
• Me (intrigued): “What do you mean? How is it weird?”
• Student: “It’s this thing called standards-based grading. It’s causing half of the class to fail.”

• The student proceeds to explain what to me sounded like some solid grading practices that involved students being accountable for what they are learning. The student, who was used to doing well in math, found himself struggling more in this class because “homework and other work we [students] do is not counted”.

• Student: “Shouldn’t our homework and how hard we try count for something?”

• Clearly, the student, to fault of their own, does not fully understand what a grade is supposed to mean (representation of learning). This student seemed more occupied about getting a good grade by any means possible rather than getting a good grade by demonstrating mastery of particular standards.

A Rose By Any Other Name...

• I feel as though giving an assessment philosophy the name of “standards-based grading” does not help with the confusion behind it. It is almost as if giving a method of grading a name creates something to complain about. Students can now complain about the grading method rather than specific parts of it. These complaints are mainly symptoms of attacking something that is not really understood.
• Furthermore, there are too many pages that are anti-SBG. With many students and parents Googling new teaching styles or fads, it might not be the best idea to use a term that is so misunderstood.

Solution (maybe)

• Clearly, students and parents need to understand what SBG is all about. This means it needs to be explained to them numerous times in numerous ways. I introduce how I grade to students on the first day and to parents through videos, emails, and open house. When I introduce how I grade to my students and parents, I do not even give it a name. I start by explaining how traditional grading is unfair and discuss how it could be more fair through how I grade. This post isn’t meant to explain how traditional grading is unfair, but since you asked, the main reasons are:

1. averaging
2. not giving multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of a concept
3. arbitrary teacher-paced assessments without remediation options
4. lack of focus on growth

• SBG helps level the fairness of grading by focusing on growth, what students have demonstrated, and multiple opportunities for demonstration of mastery. If students truly understood the point of SBG and it was implemented correctly by their teacher(s), they would not have much (or anything) to complain about. After all, standards-based grading is fair grading and should be named accordingly.

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