editor of Tennessee Educational Leadership for the Tennessee Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Anne then became managing editor for Educational Leadership at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to reviewing both solicited and unsolicited manuscripts and then preparing the selected manuscripts for publication, she contributed numerous columns for Educational Leadership and authored, acquired, and edited several books, including her own Designing Places for Learning and Communicating With the Public. She presented sessions at ASCD annual conferences and state and regional meetings throughout the United States. She later served as director of publications for the Developmental Studies Center in Oakland, California. Subsequently, she became an assistant superintendent for the Virginia Beach City Public Schools in Virginia, directing central office communications and providing executive services to the school board and superintendent. Later, she served as senior program specialist for the Education Statistics Services Institute in Washington, DC.
Anne has provided grant writing services for several projects in Virginia, as well as developmental editing services for ASCD books. She served as grant writer and coordinator for the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond throughout the implementation of LEADERS Count—In Virginia Schools, which the Council of Chief State School Officers administers and the Wallace Foundation funds.
Anne received her bachelor of science from the University of Tennessee at Martin, and both her master’s degree in elementary education and her doctorate in education in curriculum and instruction from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
To book Robert Lynn Canady, Carol E. Canady, or Anne Meek for professional development, contact [email protected].
I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.
—Haim G. Ginott
Introduction
Beyond the Grade: Refining Practices That Boost Student Achievement is not just another book about grading. It builds on the urgent need for increased student achievement that promotes college and career readiness, highlighting the need for a major paradigm shift from traditional to innovative thinking. Within this fundamental shift, implementing procedures for constantly assessing student growth, crafting schedules that include daily time for student support, and changing traditional grading practices are critical first steps for making the necessary and significant changes.
The timing is right for examining traditional or long-standing grading practices. Although not all states have adopted the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many, like Indiana and South Carolina, have similar versions. In the 21st century, more schools than ever have standards in common. Schools across states can base their grades on similar criteria (Haycock, 2001; NGA & CCSSO, 2009). Now is the time for schools to adopt standards-based grading, which focuses on content mastery instead of hierarchical grades. Common standards facilitate making this change. While moving to standards-based grading, faculty can educate themselves about and advocate for other structural changes that provide the needed support, including alternate schedules and dethroning seat time requirements. In addition, staff can craft schedules that include student support during the school day. We offer scheduling examples to do just that in this book.
Changing schools to the degree we suggest is not easy. Deep-seated cultural beliefs have to be challenged; debates with all stakeholders must be conducted; and practices related to student failure and support need to be re-examined. The journey is not easy, but it is a journey worth taking. It is a journey that our students desperately need and that the world economy needs. We hope many schools will join us in making the journey and that this book answers some of the why and how questions for those willing to begin the journey.
A Need for Lasting Change
Lasting change in grading practices requires building professional and public support. That support comes through extensive study, data analysis, and debate. Beyond the Grade responds to backlash—from colleagues, administrators, politicians, and community members—that may occur when teachers or schools work in isolation to change grading practices. Teachers often have a more important role in struggling students’ success than they do with compliant students. Personally motivated to make good grades, compliant students usually accept policies without questioning them and follow the rules. Changing unfair grading practices is more critical for the success of low-achieving students than for those students who succeed in school despite policies and practices. Low-achieving students often face major challenges in their family lives, such as lack of consistent and dependable parental support, limited access to educational resources, and persistent economic instability (Morsy & Rothstein, 2015; Van Horn et al., 2009).
As we know so well, students come to school with many differences—health and growth, talents, experiences, emotional needs, and levels of support from parents and families. We must take such differences into account when working with at-risk students to increase the success of a larger number of students and reduce the number of dropouts. We must use individualized or flexible time lines for them to achieve mastery of material and to help these students meet learning goals. We must make certain that all struggling students within the school have at least one adult they trust and see as their advocate, both in and out of school. That trustworthy adult is the go-to person when a student has questions, dilemmas, problems, and issues. This person can also provide well-informed answers when school-related questions come up in conversations with people in the community. This adult’s reward is measured in satisfaction in keeping the student in school, increasing the student’s likelihood of getting and keeping a job after graduation, and better preparing the student to provide a positive family life in the future—and sharing correct information with citizens in the community. Struggling students must not see school policies and school personnel as placing roadblocks in their paths to success. Instead, we must institutionalize policies and practices that insist students make up all work and that support students to do so, even if they have acquired the habit of not making up their work (Hill & Nave, 2009). Low-achieving students must learn that when they come to school and work while in school, they will receive payoff for their work.
Before we can successfully implement significant changes in grading practices, it is critical for all stakeholders to study the issues associated with grading practices and to develop a deep understanding of why changes are needed.
This Book’s Organization and Audience
Beyond the Grade deconstructs traditional teaching and grading practices and presents a better way. We re-examine the very foundations of school—schedules, homework, grading—and present viable alternatives.
This book is presented in two parts. Part I presents the problems; part II presents possible solutions. In part I, chapter 1 lays out the why now. Chapter 2 examines grading practices.
