Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Opinions On "Standards Based Grading"?

Your son missed the implied instructions on this paper where he was supposed to use addition. Therefore the answer is incorrect. All the other kids probably wrote the answer they were looking for therefore there is nothing wrong with the way the question was worded. Right?

This type of grading of questions continues even more when they get older. Take short answers questions for social studies or science classes. Teachers are often grading these by looking for a set of key words or phrases, ie expecting kids to be regurgitating what they just learned. The gifted kid might answer the question but use different language, or in a more complex way and get the problem "wrong" because they didn't use the expected vocabulary. Teachers aren't usually testing/assessing if a students knows "more" than what they have just taught. And showing that you know more on a test/assessment can often get your graded wrong even if it's a more elegant answer.

Possible thought process (one woman's guess):

• Huh?
• Showoff.
• He was hothoused.
• Or he found a way to cheat.
• This kid makes me really uncomfortable.
• I don't understand how a first grader could know this.
• I'd rather be eating a cupcake right now. Hey, I've got an idea!

Translation: I don't want to give him a 4, so I just won't. :-P

To the OP - just curious - wouldn't the gifted school be somewhat aware of how the S/P/N system works in your local schools, hence it wouldn't be something that would be a huge concern unless a child wasn't meeting the "S"?

polarbear

That is my only real complaint about standards based assessment. If you don't use the words the marker is looking for it is wrong - even when it is right. As a student you learn to play the game and just write what you have on your handout verbatim. It encourages regurgitation and plagarism but as far as i can see not learning. I think i have got questions right when i didn't understand what the instructor said. I have also been marked wrong when i used a word the instructor didn't know.

My DD had this throughout elementary school. It was full of outright untruths. Some of the earlier ones were just so off the mark that I stopped worrying about it. My DD's teachers were all caring and hard working people - they just hadn't seen someone like my DD before.

It must have been a bit like those late 80's pictures that went 3-d on you after a while of staring at them. If you didn't look hard enough or long enough you just could not see the image that you were supposed to see - anyone here remember those, btw?

At first, I was a bit frantic as the tone of some of my earlier posts on this site will attest. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that none of it really mattered. Standards have been lowered so much in the United States that none of the elementary school stuff is anything that couldn't be learned by a reasonably intelligent child in a year, let alone 5.

Instead of trying to change the wind I trimmed my sails. I realized quickly that my choices were a) move to another area (where things may be the same in different guise) or b) just do my best to get my DD enough to stop her falling apart outside of school.

I choose the latter option - luckily my DD is something of an autodidact so if she has something that she wants to learn I just give her the books etc and she will learn it.

I wouldn't worry about the grades so much in the younger years. My son's former school (that was Pre-K through 3rd grade) was a bit alternative. The school provided a "term report" twice a year that was 10 pages long, and used a grading legend of 'Well Developed", "Developing", "Beginning to Develop", and "Not Yet Apparent". It applied those grades to about 10-12 'learning skills' in each subject, but did not give an overall grade in any subject. The school never gave standardized tests either. My son had no problem in applying to private schools for 4th grade. The private schools did their own evaluations or required testing. I think private schools are used to considering a number of different grading systems.

if(ansCUPCAKESswer=exceeds expeCUPCAKESctations, returCUPCAKESn 4, if(answer=meCUPCAKESets expectatCUPCAKESions, return 3, if(answCUPCAKESer=below expeCUCPAKESctations, retuCUPCAKESrn 2, rCUCPAKESeturn 1)))
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Return 3


ETA:
I see separate issues here.

(1) Feedback for improvement: Feedback is ideally immediate and specific, so grades are generally ineffective feedback.
(2) Evaluation of concept-understanding: This is effectively pass-fail. One does either understand a concept, or one does not. The idea of “making progress” results from failure to differentiate between concepts. Example: Arithmetic. Student A knows one half of the required concepts for arithmetic, Student B knows the other half. Who understands arithmetic better? The question is pointless, but this is the question teachers typically attempt to answer by giving grades. An accurate assessment would simply list the concepts that students A and B understand, respectively.
(3) Evaluation of ability to apply learned concepts in learned situations: See 2, basically.
(4) Evaluation of ability to apply learned concepts in novel situations: Is this not assessing fluid intelligence?

Suddenly the desire for cupcakes is strong!

Not sure if it's been mentioned above, but the private school is also most likely used to seeing report cards from the other schools in the area and has probably already had students apply in this same situation.

polarbear

I have worried about grades up until last year. My DD (4th grader) is a good student participating in a full time gifted program and has good scores particularly in math. Well, her grades are mostly 3 most of the time. I got the feeling that they rarely give a 4 and forget about straight 4s in the report card (at least at our elementary school).

I don't think the grades based on test results, homework ratings etc. in an objective manner where you add up the grades and average it out for the grade.

On the other hand, my younger one (first grader) goes to a private school (gifted program starts at 2nd grade in our state) and his report cards are much more explanatory and every subject is divided into many sub categories and each subcategory gets a grade. He has many 3s and many 4s. When I look into his report card, I rarely disagree with the grade. I am guessing, in the private school, they have/spend time thinking about how to justify the grade. The teachers are more careful on being fair and giving a justifiable grade in there.

Having said all these, several high schoolars (children of friends and one just got into Princeton this year) said that grades are not important until high school. Up until then, I decided not to overthink about grades and just focus on the progress of the areas that my child needs to improve.

Just my experience.