Assessing exceptional learners
An issue from Educational Leadership talks about the topic of grading exceptional learners. As I reflect on what I've been taught about students with disabilities, teachers walk a fine line between being inclusive and equal to all students, and yet, having to make adaptations for those students who need it. The biggest thing I've heard is to be fair, and that fairness doesn't always mean equal. I think this is important for me to remember in anything, but especially with grading.
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The article mentioned there being a big difference in accommodations and modifications. Accommodations are those adjustments to the process in order for the student to complete the objective. Modifications are adjustments to the objective itself so that the student can meet similar objectives to that of their peers. When the grades are all totaled, students with modified objectives/assessments would have this indicated on their report cards.
However I think that article addresses only the surface of that issue. My question is what do you do when a student with a modified objective gets a 100% and a student with the actual objective also gets 100%. Sure, they're both representative of their individual objectives, but at the end of the day, they are both receiving the same grade for the same class despite doing different things. Does marking the grade as modified on the report card change the weight of that 100%? Or are their grades considered fair? How does that play into class rank and honor roll as they mentioned in the article?
Rubrics for evaluation
Another topic we read about was the use of rubrics to help evaluate student performance. Rubrics are a simple way to not only organize grading for the teacher, but to allow the students to see exactly how they are going to be evaluated. They can look at the rubric before handing in an assignment so they know all of the components on the project, presentation, or as participation.
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Another thing I like about students having rubrics is that they can self-evaluate. Whether a teacher requires them to self-grade or not, students can automatically know they are going to lose points if they fall into a specific category. Knowing this, it's a no-brainer to them to go back and revise their work to meet that criteria. If they don't do this, they at least can accept the grade they get because they were aware of the criteria before hand.
Students can also evaluate one another with rubrics. I think this is especially useful for oral presentations or when students are peer evaluating drafts of a paper. Peer feedback can be beneficial for students by recognizing that their results are not just the opinions of the teacher, but rather a general consensus.
Leaving Thought
"Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo"--Jon Sinclair
Sources
Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Assessing student learning. Retrieved from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/assessing-student-learning/index.html
Jung, L.A. & Guskey, T.R. (2010). Grading exceptional learners. Educational Leadership, 67(5). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/feb10/vol67/num05/Grading-Exceptional-Learners.aspx
On the subject of modification: I think it is important to remember we modify so each student has the best shot a showing us what they know. We don't modify so each student can get a good grade.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I think of assessment I think back to my elementary school years. During those years, we were graded in shapes. A triangle was an A, a circle was a B-C, and a square was a D-F. I always think what if schools used random symbols to designated if students were doing well or not. How would students behave if we removed the number and letter grades? Just some thoughts I think about from time to time!!
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