grading – Expanding Learning Frontiers

Bring Standards-Based Grading To Your School — SUCCESSFULLY! Part 1

February 10, 2016October 2, 2018 Brad Latzke 0 Comments 21st century, change, grading, innovation, leadership skills, leadershlp, Standards-Based Grading

A teacher's recent tweet. "Standards based report cards coming for us next year. No more isolated ABCDF. Don't really know how to grade like that yet!"

Another tweet from same teacher. "Was told yesterday that we're going to sb report cards next year. No idea how to start."

What a difficult challenge that has been laid down for this teacher and school. Is it possible to successfully implement a change like Standards-Based Grading (SBG) in six months? I'll answer that question with . . .

21st Century Learning

Bring Standards-Based Grading To Your School — SUCCESSFULLY! Part 2

February 5, 2016October 2, 2018 Brad Latzke 0 Comments 21st century, change, grading, innovation, international education, leadership skills, leadershlp, Standards-Based Grading

“Too many students walk through the schoolhouse door with one aim in mind: to get good grades. And all too often, the best way to reach this goal is to get with the program, avoid risk and serve up the answers the teacher wants, the way the teacher wants them. Good grades become a reward for compliance – but don’t have much to do with learning.” Daniel Pink — Drive

Congratulations! You’ve successfully navigated the planning and initial information sharing phase of an SBG roll-out. Sure there have been a few teachers and parents voicing their concerns but nothing major. And you’ve been approached by other teachers and parents eager to see the new grading system move along. There may even be a small contingent already exploring SBG principles in their classrooms. However, no substantive changes have happened yet. That is about to change.

21st Century Learning

Bring Standards-Based Grading To Your School — SUCCESSFULLY! Part 3

February 2, 2016October 2, 2018 Brad Latzke 0 Comments 21st century, change, grading, innovation, international education, leadership skills, leadershlp, Standards-Based Grading

Although my school started with the end in mind, we quickly understood that change was much more about shifts in assessment and teaching practices and less about grades. Especially true when a mantra like ours is, “It’s about the learning, not the grading.” A blog post by Garnet Hillman and these strategies will help you understand that standards-based learning underpins the transition to standards-based grading. If you don’t align

21st Century Learning

Change . . . It’s time

January 14, 2016March 8, 2016 Brad Latzke 0 Comments 21st century, change, Design Thinking, grading, innovation, Interdisciplinary, mindset, PBL

Keep pushing for change in your classroom, building, district, community, region, state, country, world and, most importantly, within yourself.

21st Century Learning

Grading Changes – Tip of the Iceberg

January 12, 2016March 8, 2016 Brad Latzke 0 Comments 21st century, change, grading, innovation

One of my takeaways from a recent Twitter chat on grading and assessment is the apparent slow progress many schools are experiencing in shifting away from traditional forms such as letter or percentage grades, use of zeros, final exams, grading homework, and combining behaviors and academics in one grade.

Reading between the Twitter lines, there is measured frustration (usually) in how schools are approaching grading changes. Phrases like, “We are just getting started”, “Moving slowly”, and “You can’t force change” are tweeted often. And this is from some of the most motivated teachers and administrators, who are among the small percentage of educators active on Twitter. read more