How do I manage grades when kids are all doing different things?
Standards Based Learning or Standards Based Grading (similar in practice) helps make grading in a differentiated classroom easier.
- Students are held accountable for understanding the content statements, not for the path they took in order to learn them.
- The "grade" actually represents what students know and are able to do related to the subject.
- The headings for grades are the content statement or learning target (ex: gravity, force diagrams, calculating force). The grade that goes into each category shows how well the student has mastered that specific part.
- Frequent check-ins and constant feedback move all learners forward.
- I "check" daily assignments for completion (I use this to calculate data, showing how well interventions are working, to help Intervention Specialists gage progress to goals, and to have conversations with students about the connection between doing work/learning and assessments), but ONLY their demonstration of content mastery goes into their grades.
- I post keys to everything in the front of the classroom... I like to monitor how the keys are being used (checking, not copying - although if they are not learning the content, it will be apparent when they take the assessment) and want to be able to refer to them all of the time.
What do I do with a student who got a high pretest score, can demonstrate mastery of the content from the beginning?
- Whatever you do, DO NOT ask that student to go through the lessons over that material. It's a waste of their time. They already know it! This is when kids get bored and can cause disruptions.
- Ask that (s)he completes an extension or enrichment activity. Once complete, this student could share their new learning with a small group of students (maybe some who are ready earlier than others or some who could use targeted explanation in this particular area?).
- Give that student 100% on the assessment over the content they knew already WHEN they have completed their extension/enrichment work. This reinforces that learning is the focus, takes the pressure off a high-achieving learner, and doesn't penalize the student for knowing the content initially.
What do I do with a student who struggles to learn the content?
- Whatever you do, DO NOT give up on that student. You just haven't found a way to reach him/her yet.
- This is when you can solicit ideas from other teachers or spend individual time working with the learner.
- Once this student masters the content, give them THAT score, not an average of all of the attempts leading up to that shining moment. Don't penalize the student because you haven't found a way to reach him/her... yet. Reward that student when his/her learning happens!
- Then... document that information and try that successful method first next time you are teaching this (formerly struggling) learner. For example: the learner "got it" when (s)he watched a couple of YouTube videos, as opposed to any other way you tried to explain the content with him/her. Use YouTube videos to reach this student in the future.