Standards Based Grading Resources

This post may be of limited use/interest to many folks, but I just sent it to the AP Psych listserv, so I thought I'd post it over here too in case anyone is interested.

I started to get interested in researching assessment and grading practices because of a comment made by one of my psych students. After we finished going over a developmental psych test, the class took the day before, this student said "Hey, I think I know more about developmental psych now as a result of going over the test!" I mentally patted myself on the back, but then she said "And isn't our grade supposed to be the way you operationally define our learning?" Warning bells went off in my head, but I said yes, it was. Then she said "So shouldn't our grades improve?"

That student was kind of teasing me, but after that I got very interested in my grading practices (and ended up changing some of them). Below is a list of authors I like to read on this topic - if anyone else has favorites, add them in the comments?

- Ken O'Connor http://www.oconnorgrading.com/ - Lots of detail about "troubleshooting" grades. There is a danger that some of his writing can come across as "preachy" or unrealistic (esp. the A Repair Kit for Grading book) but definitely worth reading and thinking about.

- Thomas Guskey http://education.uky.edu/EDP/guskey - If anyone is talking about changing report cards ("Standard Based Reporting"), Guskey is the author to read.

- Sue Brookhart http://www.ascd.org/professional-development/oscb/faculty/Brookhart-S.aspx - I think she's writing the best stuff right now about formative assessment (descriptive feedback, etc.)

- AND finally, there is a thriving online conversation about standards based grading via Twitter and Blogs. I think much of these bloggers ideas are more accessible and more useful than the published pieces from the authors above. I love reading about the creative ways teachers are using the "spirit" of standards based grading in REAL classrooms. The Think Thank Thunk blog is the best place to start (but there are many others)
http://101studiostreet.com/wordpress/?page_id=114

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Poll Everywhere

This post comes to you from the Pacific Northwest! I (Rob) got to work with some FABULOUS teachers at the AP Psych Institute in Bellevue, WA, and we worked with an interesting website this morning: Poll Everywhere
http://www.polleverywhere.com/

This site allows you to post a multiple choice question for folks (students and/or teachers in a prof. development course, etc.) who can then text in a certain code and "vote" on one of the options. At our institute we used poll everywhere as part of a discussion about "Formative Diagnostic Items" - a formative assessment technique that helps teachers quickly gather data about student misconceptions.

(By the way: My participants are the BEST participants ever in the history of AP Psychology institutes. So there)

- posted by Rob McEntarffer

Diagnostic Items, Formative Assessment, NCSS

I get to present a session at NCSS this Saturday about "Diagnostic Items in The Psychology Classroom". Its a formative assessment technique (written about by assessment guy Dylan Wiliam and psychology guy Stephen Chew) that involves single "big" multiple choice items. The items are designed to uncover student misconceptions about big, key ideas in psych. (see the presentation if you're interested in more detail and examples)

I'd love some suggestions for "big ideas": What are the big concepts in your classes that students HAVE to understand in order to move on? I'm thinking of things like control group, operational definitions, inferential stats, conformity/obediance, genetics/hereditability, etc. Please put suggestions for big ideas in the comments!

I'm going to ask the participants in this session whether I can share their diagnostic items with you all, so I hope to post an update after NCSS. Hope to see some of you there!