This deserves a longer post, but this post made me think I should post now.
There are at least 2 times where Standards Based Grading saves my butt with no real work.
1. Talking to parents. So much responsibility goes to the students for this type of grading. They have no reason to fail. Help is always available There are opportunities out the Wazoo for them to succeed. So parents who try to point a finger have to just turn back around and look at their own kid.
2. Final exams. As a teacher I get so sick of students talking about how in their chem class they can turn in a blank exam and still get a B. They take the last 2 weeks of school to just be bodies in seats and not work at anything. With SBG, the kids have to prove their knowledge on this final assessment and their grade can jump up or die fast with their performance on it. So, even my A+ students who might be able to get a decent grade with half the exam blank in a traditional system know that they have to still put in the effort to show me that they understand the material and deserve the grade they are shooting for.
Does your final exam look like any other assessment in your class?
ReplyDeleteYes. It covers the all of the concepts from the course, so it is longer than any other assessment, but is very similar.
ReplyDeletebeing a student myself I can relate to this happening at all levels of schooling. I'm currently finishing up my under grad in Math and have had plenty of times where the professor doesn't A)give a final or B)grade the final to the same standards as their other assessments.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bad example to set for students because as you mentioned, they will expect not to have to work hard to get that final grade.