SBG: SKILLS BASED

GRADING
Welcome to a new way of looking at the classroom and a new way to
learn. Were going to be doing something totally different in our algebra
classroom. You arent going to get three or four tests which determine your
nine weeks grade. You arent going to see scores like 82% which, if you
think about it, doesnt tell you a whole lot about what you know and what
you dont know. For once in your schooling lives, youre going to have a lot
more control over things.
Things? you ask?
Yes, I mean everything. Your grade, your studying, your way of learning. You
are finally in the drivers seat.

PRELUDE: THE PROBLEM WITH GRADES

Ive been doing a lot of thinking about grades, and to me, there are a couple
things that strike me as a teacher as a little bit strange.
1. You take a test on, say, Graphing Linear Equations. You get a 73% on it. I
put that in my gradebook. What does that 73% tell me as a teacher or you
as a student? Does it mean that you know 73% of the material? Probably
not. Does it mean that you are really weak in one area and strong in a few
others? Who knows! Does it mean that you made a bunch of algebraic
errors, but understood the concepts? No clue.
2. Lets say I give you a test and things just werent going your way. You
know, one of those off days, and you froze up. Or you fell asleep studying
the night before. Or you thought you knew the stuff but it turned out you
didnt. Or you totally forgot there was a test. And you bombed. I return the
test to you, and you sigh, maybe cry, maybe shrug your shoulders. Then life
goes on. Lets be honest here. Do you go back and relearn the things
you didnt know?
I thought not. But as a math lover, that hurts. My heart breaks a little.

I dont want grades to be a stick I dont want you to be

scared of them. I want grades to be a carrot a motivator.
And I want them to mean something.

OUR SOLUTION TO GRADES

Every so often (probably every week or two) well have an assessment
(announced in advance). These are going to be short assessments
testing you on a few skills. On each of these skills, youll get a score
from 0 to Mastered, representing how well you know each skill (there is a
rubric in this packet). Youll also get a grade sheet that looks like this for you
to keep track of your grades.

So after the first assessment, your grade sheet might look like this:

(And thats exactly what my gradebook will look like too.)

But yikes! You really messed up on Skill #1. YEEEEARGH! Luckily, the next
week I hand out another short assessment and it tests Skills #1, #2, #3,
and #4. Notice Im asking you to show me your ability to do Skills #1, #2,
and #3 again. Throughout the nine weeks, I will continually be asking you
to show me older skills to make sure youve retained what youve learned.
(Ill probably assess most skills at least twice at some point in the nine
weeks.)
So youve taken the newer assessment, and you get scores for those. Your
sheet will look like this:

Guess what? You did much better on Skill #1! Unfortunately you went a little
down on Skill #3.
So, Mr. Long, what exactly does this mean?
I want your grade to reflect what you know, and what you dont know, at
any point in time. So I dont care if you got a score of 0 on Skill #1 early on.
You showed me the second time around that you really do understand the
material better. NICE! So your current grade for Skill #1 is Proficient. On the
flip side, you went down on Skill #3. So your current grade for Skill #3 is
Developing.

You get points for what you know. Thats the only way to
get points.
But heres where the magic comes in. Lets say you arent happy with your
scores for Skill #1 and Skill #3 and want to improve them.

No problem! As a teacher, Im all for you showing me youve learned

something. My heart swells!

It almost bursts!

You can reassess on any skill to show me you understand it better. You just
have to fill out a form (on the class website) and you can reassess! The
point is: if you can show me you have
mastered a skill, Ill give you credit for mastering the skill!
You can reassess until a week before the nine weeks ends. (Ill announce the
exact date in class.)
The point of this is: I want you to succeed. I am on your side.
So lets say you fill out the form and reassess Skill #1 and Skill #3. Your
sheet might look like:

Remember, only the last score matters, so you are doing pretty well!
(The Rs are to designate
reassessments.)
In short, were going to have a bunch of smaller assessments, which will test
specific skills. Im going to try to assess you at least two different times on
most skills (but no promises). Your latest grade stands. If you arent content
with your score, you can always reassess individual skills to show that you
really do get it.

THE MEANING OF GRADES

In this new system, grades have a very specific meaning. For each nine
weeks, I will be putting new and old skills on the short assessments. And
you will be allowed to reassess at any point. So at the end of the nine

weeks, your grade will mainly reflect two things: your mastery and ability
to retain the material from the course.
I dont want to be the teacher who gives all As. But, I sure want to be the
teacher who has students who earn all As.

Mastered

Advanced

Proficient

Developing
Beginning
0

You have totally mastered the skill, meaning you have demonstrated a full understanding of
the concepts involved. Youve clearly shown all steps of your mathematical reasoning, have
used mathematical terminology and notation correctly, and executed mathematical
procedures accurately without error.
You have almost mastered the skill, but you have made one procedural or notational error or
forgot to show a step of your mathematical reasoning.
You have a firm grasp of the skill, meaning you have demonstrated a full or almost full
understanding of the concepts involved, but you possibly forgot to show multiple steps of your
mathematical reasoning, didnt use terminology/notation totally consistently, forgot to answer
part of a question, and/or made several procedural errors.
You have demonstrated some conceptual understanding of the skill. You possibly have not
shown any steps of your mathematical reasoning, didnt use consistent terminology/notation,
and/or made one conceptual error.
You have demonstrated weak conceptual understanding. You possibly, did not answer several
parts of a question, and/or made several conceptual errors.
You left the problem blank or showed no conceptual understanding.

RUBRIC
PERCENTAGE EQUIVALENTS FOR THE RUBRIC
Skill
Level
Mastered
Advanced
Proficient
Developin
g
Beginning
0

10/10
9/10
7.5/10

Percenta
ge
100% A+
90% A
75% C

5/10

50% F

2.5/10
0/10

25% F
0% F

Grade

THE PROCESS FOR REASSESSMENT

1. Work on improving your understanding of the skills you didnt do as well as
youd like on. Do old
homework problems, work with another student, come to me for tutoring,
etcetera!1

2.

Fill out the reassessment form (on the class website) with the details about
one or two skills you want to reassess. (You cant reassess more than two skills at
a time.)
If you have shown me youve done concrete things to fix your misunderstandings,
Ill approve
the reassessment and you can come in to take it. Every so often, I may ask you
to bring your
1 Theres only one thing. You cant reassess the same day you meet with me. I dont want you just

parroting what we talked about. Iwant to make sure you really understand the material, independent of
me!

completed, corrected homework and your class notes for me to see before letting
you to reassess.

3.

Thats all. Youre done! Your score on this reassessment is your current score
for your skills.

FINE POINTS
1. You cant reassess more than 2 skills at once.
2. If you want to reassess a particular skill more than once, lets meet and talk
about what exactly is giving you trouble with the skill beforehand.

3.

You can reassess any skill until about a week before the end of the nine
weeks. I will give you the
exact date each nine weeks. (Thats just to allow me enough time to grade and
enter all the scores
in the gradebook.)

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

This new grading system has about a gazillion advantages to it. And hopefully its
going to take the
stress out of testing, and put the focus on really learning the material. At the
same time, with the
independence that this class is going to give you, it will force you to be
responsible.
You come to class, youre a little lost because you didnt understand the concepts
we were just working with and you try to do the nights homework but its
somewhat impossible because you didnt quite get the previous material.
The next algebra assessment comes about and you get a few things, but you
bomb a few things, and
you think hey, I can just reassess. But the school year gets busier and busier, and
you have already
made some gaps in your understanding, and you can only reassess a couple skills
at a time.
Youre digging a hole for yourself, and you keep putting things off, thinking oh, I
can deal with it later.
I can assess it again. Later. Itll all work out.
It wont.
Youre going to learn that doing your homework every night, and studying for
assessments, are the
two most important actions you can take to succeed in algebra.