FIX 13

Questions to Ponder

If grades are defined as reporting student achievement, can formative activities define what a student has achieved?

Only looking at summative data would force us to look at how we assess/re-assess students. What ideas might make this fix practical, manageable and accurate?

FPS Staff Commentary

Steven Kopenen - Warner Middle School

We are making progress with this fix in our building, although we haven't fixed it completely. For instance, the Math Department has agreed on weighted grades. Very little of a student's grade is formative. In Algebra I, for instance, I weight 5% of the grade for homework assignments (graded on effort) and 5% on "Check-ups", which are little formative assessments (I tell students these are "low-risk" assessments before the assessment to give them feedback about where they are at before the assessment that counts a lot.) We also have in place a reassessment procedure for assessments so students have the opportunity to "control" their grade by demonstrating mastery of grade-level standards.