Effective Grading Practices

Listen here.

At the heart of the matter: What are the purposes of grading?

How to surmount the tyranny of tradition and bring thoughtful change to an established practice.

Why allowing retakes is worth the trouble and practical tips for managing them.

We should abolish all grades as antithetical to learning, the author argues.

Four best practices for schools that want to implement a standards-based grading system.

Problems with—and practices for—making grading accurate, consistent, and meaningful.

An urban secondary school refines its intervention efforts by focusing on competencies.

How to improve teacher-made tests—from writing clearer directions to organizing test items.

Well-designed homework can help students master content and do well on assessments.

A faculty decides that protocols for late work, retests, and evaluating nonacademic factors should be the same for all.

A history teacher recounts how he helped his students answer the familiar question, "How am I doing?"

How to reframe the debate to encourage feedback and garner support for meaningful change.

Reviews, research, and relevant reads.

Today's high school grades are not what they once were.

Use thought experiments to explore cause and correlation.

Tips from folks at the pancake house.

Some hard-earned conclusions about what grades should reflect.

Look up any concept in this book, and you can be sure it will come under heavy fire.

Find readers' stories, and contribute your own response to an upcoming question.

News and resources from ASCD.

Three teachers together revamp their tests to reward mastery.

A Georgia district coordinates a differentiated grading system for elementary, middle, and high school students.

A math teacher transforms her assessment system and finds that her students learn more.

This month's video clip from the PD Online course Formative Assessment: Deepening Understanding shows how a teacher guides students to self-assess their work.