FIAE Chapter 9: Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading

This chapter lists and explains ten things to avoid when grading. Grades should not be diluted by including other factors such as behavior, attendance, or participation. Students all learn at different paces, so when a student does not do well on a test over the unit but two weeks later the student shows all the criteria of mastery for the unit, the student’s grade should be changed to reflect that mastery. Grades reflect mastery; it does not matter when that mastery occurred. Homework is practice to better understand the material. It should not be given if the students do not fully understand the lesson and it should not be graded. It is not fair to take away a percentage of a team’s points during a basketball game because the referee watched the practice the day before and the team missed the basket during practice but made it in the game. It does not even make sense. Also teachers should help students learn the material no matter where they start from in their learning. That said assessing those same students in ways that distract them from accurately portraying their mastery of the content is unfair. Getting the students so caught up in the process of making or doing the assignment and that they lose sight of the material is the last thing a teacher wants. Extra credit and bonus points serve no purpose other than to incorrectly inflate the grade. If the question has nothing to do with the topic, there is no reason to make it worth any points. If the question is pertinent to the topic it should be included in the regular test questions. Collaborative groups is a great learning tool, however team projects are shaky ground. Giving a group of students the same grade is not usually an accurate indication of each student’s mastery. All grades should be given against clear criteria and standards. This automatically rules out bell curve grading and deciding whether a student’s work is average or above average. Students should never be forced to compete against each other. These two systems are flawed in that they communicate to the students that not everyone can achieve the best and that is not the case. The last point the chapter makes is that giving zeros for missing work distorts the grade so that it does not reflect a student’s mastery. This affects me as a teacher by showing me how grades can be affected by so many different factors that have nothing to do with the student’s mastery of the content. I will try to keep my grades from being affected by those other things. This affects my students by helping them show their mastery of the content through their grade and it gives them more accurate feedback of how the student is learning in the class.