Is a grade an average of test scores or is it a measure of competence?
I was reading Alfie Kohn's essay on rubrics. Then I went on to his work on grades. He doesn't like either. I'm having a hard time disagreeing with anything he says. I've been discussing it with colleagues on twitter and here at school and I think I've come up with these basic rules:
1. Rubrics don't work. They stifle creativity and we end up teaching to the rubric.
2. Grades should not be a motivation device. Too often grades are used to measure behavior (attendance, discipline, penmanship, etc...).
3. Grades should measure growth. Yes, this means my A- might not mean the same as your A-.
4. Students and teachers shy from authentic, continuous assessment.
I have thought about two models from very successful groups I have been in:
1. Newtown High School band circa 1986 or so. We had two grades per year--the midterm and final exam. Your grade on the exam set your grade for the next two marking periods. This was definitely measuring competence. You could earn an additional point for making All-State. Now, Mr. Grasso had about 200 kids to grade so he decided to spend two full weeks per year 8am-5pm assessing individual progress. He gets points for efficiency. Effective--heck yeah--we worked our tails off.
But he assessed us constantly in rehearsal. We had to have our A game every single day. We were always getting feedback, just not as a grade.
2. Oberlin. You played bad you were out of the group. End of story. Nobody cared about their grade. Again, serious assessment every single day, but grades were largely irrelevant. Four years there and not one conversation about grades.
Does anyone have a grading model that works?
We've discussed some of this before, you and I.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect to Mr. Kohn, his perspective on the pitfalls of grading and extrinsic rewards for students don't hold up in a culture that is built on the "American dream" of work hard and you will be rewarded. The "what's in it for me" attitude is a way to get students STARTED until they develop their own intrinsic motivation. In the long run, the only real motivation any of us have is what makes us feel good.
Grades are also, in the current paradigm, a necessary evil to provide hard data. A grading system based on participation only, as is traditional in many school music programs, is not only an "easy A" and not an assessment of music learning, but it also devalues music as a curriculum in the school system.
This past year, I used the following to determine grades for each 9 week marking period:
Weekly grades:
Participation: 25 points
Practice Journal submission: 25 points
In-class Music Performance: 50 points
Non-weekly grades:
Dress rehearsals: 50 points
Concert participation: 50 points
My students were assessed weekly on their actual music performance, sometimes formally as a "show and tell" to the class, sometimes individually during a guided practice session where students work in small groups, and sometimes informally by teacher observation during an ensemble rehearsal. The weekly grades allowed the students with less musical aptitude to still earn a decent grade by responsibly turning in their journals and participating fully in class. I have one student who has low aptitude across the board in just about every subject. When she's playing her best, all she can manage in the weekly music grade is a B+. She responsibly turns in the journals and participates well, so her grade for the year has been a consistent A-. Having weekly grades gives students enough points to earn that one or two poor musical performances are not detrimental.
All of this weekly grading and journal writing is time intensive for the teacher, however.
(to be continued)
PART 2!
ReplyDeleteIn the last marking period this year, I stopped the journal grades and replaced them with two solo recording projects using Smart Music. Students had to record all the major scales and arpeggios we studied this year (50 points) and had to record a solo with accompaniment (50 points). This was much more authentic assessment, and it did shift a few grades around for the last quarter.
The purpose of the practice journals the past two years (I'm finishing year two in this program) was to teach students HOW to practice (a skill often neglected). Now that they know, it's going to be up to them next year to DO it in order to get their grade. I am also incorporating at least one music composition assignment for every student each marking period.
My music performance grades are based on a rubric designed from my experience as a marching band adjudicator, but even though I make the rubric available to the students at the beginning of the year, none of them even think twice about it. Basically, the rubric is a measuring stick for me to assign numbers, and it becomes a safety net if a student or parent comes back demanding to know why they received a certain score (which happened once this year).
In my mind, grading needs to fulfill the following purposes:
1. Measure student learning in authentic terms
2. Measure student effort to succeed despite their level of musical aptitude (not every music student is capable of playing independently with enough skill to sound good)
3. Create data to advocate for the music program and show growth over time
I also this marking period began creating a Music Portfolio for each student. The recording projects they create will be archived and over the course of their middle school and high school career they will have a nice collection of recordings and compositions that demonstrate their growth over time.
Grades need to be as transparent and "in the background" as possible. Students need to be given opportunities to analyze their own growth and make their own decisions about how to invest their time and energy in their music studies. Teachers need to give students the tools to explore music as they work within their large ensemble rehearsals. Churning out yet another concert should not be the end-all-be-all. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!
http://ideasandthoughts.org/2010/06/05/personalized-assessment/ More ideas on grading.
ReplyDeleteRead Gordon's chapter on measurement and evaluation in Learning Sequeces in Music. In short and most important is this:
ReplyDeleteGood measurement improves your instruction. How does a teacher know the students are learning what was taught? (This should include individual performance measures.) Grading is evaluative, but should be based on reliable and valid measures. Two types of grades: idiographic (S's work relative to his/her own potential, i.e. music aptitudes); and normative (S's work relative to his/her peers). See some other music ed. thoughts here: http://rizzrazz.vox.com
Tom:
ReplyDeleteWould one graded assessment be a truer measure of competence?
I'm torn between doing one big assessment/grade and doing a "contract" type of thing where students build a grade over the course of the year (concert gets 10, recording gets 5, etc...).