Thursday, June 21, 2012

Welcome to the story that will take you back to the days that shaped what we do, how we do it, and why we do it.


The Beginning

Seven years ago our building administrator approached all the department chairs to share data he had collected using our grading program, PowerSchool.  The data he shared focused on the alarming number of students that were failing each our classes within each of our departments.  I think many of us in the room, and within our building, knew that the problem existed, but really had no idea just how big of an issue this was.

One of the noticeable differences was the number of failures occurring in the 6th grade vs the 7th grade and the 8th grade classes.  The number of failures in the 6th grade could be counted on one hand vs the pages of students who had failed classes in the 7th or 8th grade.  So, the question was posed by one of my colleagues, "What is taking place in the 6th grade that is/isn't taking place in the 7th and/or 8th grade?  Why is there such a difference?"  To be honest, the questioned crossed my mind as well, but I wasn't concerned about the students in 6th or 7th grade science because students taking 8th grade science, the class that Fuzak and I teach, had one of the highest failure rates of all the classes offered in our building.  As I like to say "numbers don't lie" and the numbers were telling a story that had over 25% of our students failing 8th grade science every trimester.  This was a problem, Fuzak and I were both aware of this problem, and we had taken many steps to provide opportunities for struggling learners (before school, during lunch, after school) in 1-on-1 settings, small group settings, and the traditional full class (stand and deliver) setting.

I give a lot of credit to our building administrators because rather than pointing the finger, which would have been the easiest thing to do given the current state of education, they provided an opportunity to answer one of the hardest questions in the world of education, "What does a grade (that a student earns/receives) mean?"  All department chairs were provided an opportunity to read one of two books.  The first book was "How to Grade for Learning" by Ken O'Connor and the second book was "Fair Isn't Always Equal" by Rick Wormeli.  Being the overachiever, I read both books and took something away from both books, but I have taken more from Ken O'Connor than any other author that I have read regarding grading.

After spending almost 6 months reading the books (just the department chairs), reporting what we found in the books to one another and our administrators, and discussing the next move within our building the end of the school year came.  The plan, at that point, was to invite others within our building to join the discussion, what does a grade mean?

The following school year, nearly 2-months into the year, Fuzak and I were in a meeting with one of our building administrators.  During this meeting we discussed a lot of different things, but the purpose of the meeting was grading.  This conversation was no longer about Ken O'Connor or Rick Wormeli and our thoughts on their approaches to grading and assessment...it was about implementing their practices ASAP!!!  Fuzak and I looked at each other and said, "Okay, lets do it!"  So, we put the plans into motion and started to share with the students and parents what we were going to do, why we were going to do it, and why the change in the middle of the school year.

Why O'Connor?
Fuzak and I ultimately opted to use the Ken O'Connor approach for grading and assessment because it made the most sense to us.  This is not to say the information and approaches that Rick Wormeli discusses aren't valuable and useful approaches, it is as simple as we both thought the Ken O'Connor approach made the most sense, it was simple, and very practical.  Also, we felt that if we had a parent question us about our approach toward grading and assessing the Ken O'Connor approach was very straight forward, easy to demonstrate, and easier to explain.

I have spent more time on this then I had planned and I could honestly continue to type on this topic for much longer!!!  So, if you are interested in learning more about Ken O'Connor here are three links to give you a better understanding of what he thinks about grading and assessment:

Ken O'Connor's Homepage

Pearson - Ken O'Connor Grading for learning in the 21st century

Google Search - Ken O'Connor

For those of you reading this, you are probably wondering...I thought this was supposed to be about the flipped classroom???  You are correct, this is a blog about the journey Fuzak and I have taken to get to the flipped classroom.  I think you will find that the journey is interesting and will make a lot of sense why we decided to flip our instruction.

In The Next Post I Will Discuss:

Standards-Based Grading