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November 2011 | Volume 69 | Number 3
Effective Grading Practices
Feature Articles
Perspectives / What We Learn from Grades
Marge Scherer
Listen here.
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Starting the Conversation About Grading
Susan M. Brookhart
At the heart of the matter: What are the purposes of grading?
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Five Obstacles to Grading Reform
Thomas R. Guskey
How to surmount the tyranny of tradition and bring thoughtful change to an established practice.
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Redos and Retakes Done Right
Rick Wormeli
Why allowing retakes is worth the trouble and practical tips for managing them.
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The Case Against Grades
Alfie Kohn
We should abolish all grades as antithetical to learning, the author argues.
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Grades That Show What Students Know
Robert J. Marzano and Tammy Heflebower
Four best practices for schools that want to implement a standards-based grading system.
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Reporting Student Learning
Ken O'Connor and Rick Wormeli
Problems with—and practices for—making grading accurate, consistent, and meaningful.
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No Penalties for Practice
Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Ian Pumpian
An urban secondary school refines its intervention efforts by focusing on competencies.
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Creating Student-Friendly Tests
Spencer J. Salend
How to improve teacher-made tests—from writing clearer directions to organizing test items.
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Making Homework Central to Learning
Cathy Vatterott
Well-designed homework can help students master content and do well on assessments.
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How Grading Reform Changed Our School
Jeffrey A. Erickson
A faculty decides that protocols for late work, retests, and evaluating nonacademic factors should be the same for all.
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How I Broke My Rule and Learned to Give Retests
Myron Dueck
A history teacher recounts how he helped his students answer the familiar question, "How am I doing?"
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Taking the Grading Conversation Public
Douglas B. Reeves
How to reframe the debate to encourage feedback and garner support for meaningful change.
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Columns / Departments
Double Take
Reviews, research, and relevant reads.
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Research Says / Grade Inflation: Killing with Kindness?
Bryan Goodwin
Today's high school grades are not what they once were.
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Art and Science of Teaching / Thought Experiments in the Classroom
Robert J. Marzano
Use thought experiments to explore cause and correlation.
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Principal Connection / Those Plates Are Hot!
Thomas R. Hoerr
Tips from folks at the pancake house.
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One to Grow On / Finding Your Grading Compass
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Some hard-earned conclusions about what grades should reflect.
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Book Review / The Same Thing Over and Over: How School Reformers Get Stuck in Yesterday's Ideas by Frederick M. Hess
Dina Strasser
Look up any concept in this book, and you can be sure it will come under heavy fire.
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Tell Me About… / A Time When Grades Were Motivating—Or Not
Find readers' stories, and contribute your own response to an upcoming question.
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Index to Advertisers
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ASCD Community in Action
News and resources from ASCD.
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Online Only
Big Changes in a Small School
Abbi Roehrborn, Rhonda Opelt and Chad Hanson
Three teachers together revamp their tests to reward mastery.
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The Case of the Illogical Grades
Lissa Pijanowski
A Georgia district coordinates a differentiated grading system for elementary, middle, and high school students.
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How I Overhauled Grading as Usual
Laurie Amundson
A math teacher transforms her assessment system and finds that her students learn more.
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EL Study Guide
Teresa K. Preston
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Inservice Guest Blogger
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Watch This Spot!
This month's video clip from the PD Online course Formative Assessment: Deepening Understanding shows how a teacher guides students to self-assess their work.
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Copyright © 2011 by ASCD
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