Alternatives to Grading Student Writing

Alternatives to Grading Student Writing
Author: Stephen Tchudi
Publisher: National Council of Teachers of English (Ncte)
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1997
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The result of an investigation into the grading writing by the National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Alternatives to Grading Student Writing, this collection of essays offers the writing teacher several innovative and interesting options. Following an introduction by the editor (chair of the Committee), in which he delineates the field of possibilities, the essays and their authors are, as follows: (1) "It's Broken--Fix It!" (Liesel K. O'Hagan); (2) "Growth-Biased Assessing of Writers--A More Democratic Choice" (Marie Wilson Nelson); (3) "Writing Students Need Coaches, Not Judges" (Lynn Holaday); (4) "Response: A Promising Beginning for Learning to Grade Student Writing" (Carol Beeghly Bencich); (5) "Can You Be Black and Write and Right?" (Elaine B. Richardson); (6) "Alternative Assessment of Second-Language Writing: A Developmental Model" (Janis Massa); (7) "Scribliolink: Inviting Parents To Respond to Their Children's Writing" (Joyce C. Fine); (8) "Student Attitudes toward Grades and Evaluation on Writing" (Jean S. Ketter and Judith W. Hunter); (9) "Writing at Reading: How a Junior Year in England Changes Student Writers" (Mary B. Guthrow); (10) "Assessment through Collaborative Critique" (Sarah Robbins and others); (11) "What Grades Do for Us, and How To Do without Them" (Marcy Bauman); (12) "Seeing How Good We Can Get It" (Kelly Chandler and Amy Muentener); (13) "Grading on Merit and Achievement: Where Quality Meets Quantity" (Stephen Adkison and Stephen Tchudi); (14) "Total Quality: A Farewell to Grades" (Charles McDonnell); (15) "Using a Multidimensional Scoring Guide: A Win-Win Situation" (Gail M. Young); (16) "Students Using Evaluation in Their Writing Process" (Jacob S. Blumner and Francis Fritz); (17) "Unlocking Outcome-Based Education through the Writing Process" (Rick Pribyl); (18) "Portfolio Assessment as an Alternative to Grading Student Writing" (Kathleen Jones); and (19) "Issues To Consider When Scoring Student Portfolios" (Anne Wescott Dodd). Faculty workshops in alternatives to grading student writing were: "Developing Intrinsic Motivation for Students' Writing" (Immaculate Kizza); "Weighing and Choosing Alternatives" (Stephen Tchudi); "Contract Grades: An Agreement between Students and Their Teachers" (Lynda S. Radican); and "Using Rubrics and Holistic Scoring of Writing" (Jean S. Ketter); "Alternative Assessment Methods across the Disciplines" (Pamela B. Childers); and "Communicating with Parents and the Public" (Marilyn M. Cooper). Individual chapters contain references. (NKA)

Point-Less

Point-Less
Author: Sarah M Zerwin
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9780325109510

"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"--

Ungrading

Ungrading
Author: Susan Debra Blum
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Grading and marking (Students)
ISBN: 9781949199819

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

Why They Can't Write

Why They Can't Write
Author: John Warner
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2018-12-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1421427117

An important challenge to what currently masquerades as conventional wisdom regarding the teaching of writing. There seems to be widespread agreement that—when it comes to the writing skills of college students—we are in the midst of a crisis. In Why They Can't Write, John Warner, who taught writing at the college level for two decades, argues that the problem isn't caused by a lack of rigor, or smartphones, or some generational character defect. Instead, he asserts, we're teaching writing wrong. Warner blames this on decades of educational reform rooted in standardization, assessments, and accountability. We have done no more, Warner argues, than conditioned students to perform "writing-related simulations," which pass temporary muster but do little to help students develop their writing abilities. This style of teaching has made students passive and disengaged. Worse yet, it hasn't prepared them for writing in the college classroom. Rather than making choices and thinking critically, as writers must, undergraduates simply follow the rules—such as the five-paragraph essay—designed to help them pass these high-stakes assessments. In Why They Can't Write, Warner has crafted both a diagnosis for what ails us and a blueprint for fixing a broken system. Combining current knowledge of what works in teaching and learning with the most enduring philosophies of classical education, this book challenges readers to develop the skills, attitudes, knowledge, and habits of mind of strong writers.

Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]

Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]
Author: Matthew Johnson
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2020-02-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1071803131

Beat burnout with time-saving best practices for feedback For ELA teachers, the danger of burnout is all too real. Inundated with seemingly insurmountable piles of papers to read, respond to, and grade, many teachers often find themselves struggling to balance differentiated, individualized feedback with the one resource they are already overextended on—time. Matthew Johnson offers classroom-tested solutions that not only alleviate the feedback-burnout cycle, but also lead to significant growth for students. These time-saving strategies built on best practices for feedback help to improve relationships, ignite motivation, and increase student ownership of learning. Flash Feedback also takes teachers to the next level of strategic feedback by sharing: How to craft effective, efficient, and more memorable feedback Strategies for scaffolding students through the meta-cognitive work necessary for real revision A plan for how to create a culture of feedback, including lessons for how to train students in meaningful peer response Downloadable online tools for teacher and student use Moving beyond the theory of working smarter, not harder, Flash Feedback works deeper by developing practices for teacher efficiency that also boost effectiveness by increasing students’ self-efficacy, improving the clarity of our messages, and ultimately creating a classroom centered around meaningful feedback.

Labor-based Grading Contracts

Labor-based Grading Contracts
Author: Asao B. Inoue
Publisher: Wac Clearinghouse
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Academic writing
ISBN: 9781607329251

Asao B. Inoue argues for the use of labor-based grading contracts along with compassionate practices to determine course grades as a way to do social justice work with students.

Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies

Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies
Author: Asao B. Inoue
Publisher: Parlor Press LLC
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2015-11-08
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1602357757

In Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies, Asao B. Inoue theorizes classroom writing assessment as a complex system that is “more than” its interconnected elements. To explain how and why antiracist work in the writing classroom is vital to literacy learning, Inoue incorporates ideas about the white racial habitus that informs dominant discourses in the academy and other contexts.

Writing with Mentors

Writing with Mentors
Author: Allison Marchetti
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780325074504

In Writing with Mentors, high school teachers Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O'Dell prove that the key to cultivating productive, resourceful writers-writers who can see value and purpose for writing beyond school-is using dynamic, hot-off-the-press mentor texts. In this practical guide, they provide savvy strategies for:--finding and storing fresh new mentor texts, from trusted traditional sources to the social mediums of the day --grouping mentor texts in clusters that show a diverse range of topics, styles, and approaches --teaching with lessons that demonstrate the enormous potential of mentor texts at every stage of the writing process.

Grading for Equity

Grading for Equity
Author: Joe Feldman
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2018-09-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1506391591

"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.

Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment

Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment
Author: Maja Wilson
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2006
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The conventional wisdom in English education is that rubrics are the best and easiest tools for assessment. But sometimes it's better to be unconventional. In Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment, Maja Wilson offers a new perspective on rubrics and argues for a better, more responsive way to think about assessing writers' progress. Though you may sense a disconnect between student-centered teaching and rubric-based assessment, you may still use rubrics for convenience or for want of better alternatives. Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment gives you the impetus to make a change, demonstrating how rubrics can hurt kids and replace professional decision making with an inauthentic pigeonholing that stamps standardization onto a notably nonstandard process. With an emphasis on thoughtful planning and teaching, Wilson shows you how to reconsider writing assessment so that it aligns more closely with high-quality instruction and avoids the potentially damaging effects of rubrics. Stop listening to the conventional wisdom, and turn instead to a compelling new voice to find out why rubrics are often replaceable. Open Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment and let Maja Wilson start you down the path to more sensitive, authentic style of writing assessment.