Implement standards-based grading practices that help students succeed! Classroom assessment methods should help students develop to their full potential, but meshing traditional grading practices with students’ achievement on standards has been difficult. Making lasting changes to grading practices requires both knowledge and willpower. Discover eight guidelines for good grading, recommendations for practical applications, and suggestions for implementing new grading practices as well as: ? The why’s and the how-to’s of implementing standards-based grading practices ? Tips from 48 nationally and internationally known authors and consultants ? Additional information on utilizing level scores rather than percentages ? Reflective exercises ? Techniques for managing grading more efficiently

"Joe Feldman shows us how we can use grading to help students become the leaders of their own learning and lift the veil on how to succeed. . . . This must-have book will help teachers learn to implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact." —Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain Crack open the grading conversation Here at last—and none too soon—is a resource that delivers the research base, tools, and courage to tackle one of the most challenging and emotionally charged conversations in today’s schools: our inconsistent grading practices and the ways they can inadvertently perpetuate the achievement and opportunity gaps among our students. With Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman cuts to the core of the conversation, revealing how grading practices that are accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational will improve learning, minimize grade inflation, reduce failure rates, and become a lever for creating stronger teacher-student relationships and more caring classrooms. Essential reading for schoolwide and individual book study or for student advocates, Grading for Equity provides A critical historical backdrop, describing how our inherited system of grading was originally set up as a sorting mechanism to provide or deny opportunity, control students, and endorse a "fixed mindset" about students’ academic potential—practices that are still in place a century later A summary of the research on motivation and equitable teaching and learning, establishing a rock-solid foundation and a "true north" orientation toward equitable grading practices Specific grading practices that are more equitable, along with teacher examples, strategies to solve common hiccups and concerns, and evidence of effectiveness Reflection tools for facilitating individual or group engagement and understanding As Joe writes, "Grading practices are a mirror not just for students, but for us as their teachers." Each one of us should start by asking, "What do my grading practices say about who I am and what I believe?" Then, let’s make the choice to do things differently . . . with Grading for Equity as a dog-eared reference.

The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, fifteen educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Some contributors are new to the practice and some have been engaging in it for decades. Some are in humanities and social sciences, some in STEM fields. Some are in higher education, but some are the K-12 pioneers who led the way. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative. CONTRIBUTORS: Aaron Blackwelder Susan D. Blum Arthur Chiaravalli Gary Chu Cathy N. Davidson Laura Gibbs Christina Katopodis Joy Kirr Alfie Kohn Christopher Riesbeck Starr Sackstein Marcus Schultz-Bergin Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh Jesse Stommel John Warner

"In Making Grades Matter: Standards-Based Grading in a Secondary PLC authors Matt Townsley and Nathan L. Wear provide readers with a practical guide toward the implementation of the standards-based grading system. Although much has been written about the concept and advantages of standards-based grading, in this book, the authors focus specifically on implementing the framework at the secondary level with the vital support of a professional learning community (PLC). As such, this book provides a roadmap that secondary school educators and administrators working in a PLC can utilize to initiate the multiyear process toward implementing standards-based grading schoolwide or districtwide. Not only are each of the practices needed for this change covered in detail, but each practice is connected directly with one of three foundational principles of standards-based grading. In this book, readers will find all of the tools, resources, and guidance they need to not only implement the standards-based grading system in their schools but, through collaborative work within a PLC, achieve the greatest possible success with it"--

"An exploration of moving away from traditional letter or number grades as an assessment and as a result producing more thoughtful students whose learning is more authentic"--

Small schools due to a variety of reasons, are compelled to opt for multi-grade teaching in which learners of more than one grade are taught in one class. Resultantly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the capacity of South African schools in the implementation of multi- grade teaching. The study followed a qualitative approach to evaluate the implementation of multi-grade teaching. A case study research design was followed with an interpretive paradigm to evaluate day-to-day offering of multi-grade teaching. The population in this study consisted of principals and teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through focus-group and face-to-face semi-structured interviews as well as document analysis. Kolb's experiential learning theory was used as a theoretical framework for this study to evaluate the offering of multi-grade teaching in case study schools. The thematic approach was used to analyse data. To ensure issues of ethical consideration, the researcher ensured that there is anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, voluntary participation, participants' privacy, and safety. The study found that schools in Sekhukhune South Education District could not offer multi-grade teaching. This was mainly based on the lack of central policies on multi-grade teaching as well as inappropriate teacher development programmes. Insufficient human and financial resources were also identified as key hindrances in the implementation of multi-grade teaching. Resultantly, the study suggested that the serving teachers, their SMTs, and their Curriculum Advisors must be provided with in-service training on multi-grade teaching. On the other hand, teacher-training universities should have a compulsory module on multi-grade teaching. The study also recommended the establishment of a DoBE unit that solely focuses on matters related to multi-grade teaching. The study further recommended that the DoBE should develop central policies on multi-grade teaching. It was also recommended that the DoBE’s Post Provision Model and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding must be revised to cater for the needs of multi-grade schools. The study further proposed a new framework to engender collaboration amongst principals, parents, and Curriculum Advisors in school-based multi-grade policy formulation, advocacy, training, as well as monitoring, and support.