I went to a professional development session on standards-based grading the other day, and here are the main ideas. Formative assessments (practices) should not be factored into grades. This menas homework and classwork is not graded. Only summative assessments should be recorded into grades. Only course requirements and final assessments ...

In an editorial I read tonight, the columnist notes “Our schools reflect society more than they shape it,” an idea I have promoted on this blog numerous times. I steadfastly believe this statement but was more interested in the next line, which comes after a lengthy discussion about how schools have become more surface than ...

An article in The Boston Globe details how one school district is “expanding a program that requires the parents of chronically truant public school students to appear before a probate judge.” Apparently, the program cut unexscused absences from 1072 (September through January) to 87 (February through June). The judge has the power to ...

I mentioned yesterday in my post about the system that grading can help students be more successful. Now, I’m not talking about lowering standards or making grading less stringent; I’m saying we can help kids by not dooming them with our grading practices. Here are a few things to consider: 1. What does a grade represent? ...

This morning as I read through online newspapers around my state, I cam across this article detailing how one school has created a small block of time to help students pass classes with a special emphasis on freshmen. While I applaud the efforts, I wonder why so much pressure is placed on the high school to “get kids through” as my ...

A new requirement in California forces every 8th grader to enroll in Algebra and take a proficiency exam. This will be the first time students must take an upper-level math test prior to entering high school. The hope is that “the new policy will push school districts to ensure that eighth-graders are ready for the demands [...]

One of the most intelligent students in my school essentially decided not to graduate with his class. I have worked with him one on one for three years, watched him emerge as a phenomenal poet and thinker, and also observed him sabotage his own successes time and again. Poet left himself a credit short [...]

A recent article and a wonderful blog both focused on a middle school in Arlington where students receive some credit for not doing an assignment. Missing assignments are given a 50% instead of a zero grade. The logic behind this is that in a GPA scale, an A averaged with an F (for a 2.0 GPA) [...]

I came upon another article about class size and student success. According to the article’s author, “Small classes are more engaging places for students because they’re able to have a more personal connection with teachers, simply by virtue of the fact that there are fewer kids in the classroom competing for that teacher’s ...

My American Literature class is still giving me grief. Only 19 of 32 students initially turned in the summary (that number is now 27 out of 32), and now only 18 of 32 turned in the thesis paragraph assigned two weeks ago. Grrr! After I call all the parents, I’m not sure what I’ll do. These [...]