Grading and reporting

Objectives
At the end of the discussion, the
participants will be able to:
• Describe the various types of grading
and reporting systems
• Utilize the grading and reporting systems
effectively using the guidelines

Aim of Grading and
Reporting System
To provide results in
brief, understandable
form for various users

• What should I count
– just achievement or effort too?
• How do I interpret a student’s score?
• Do I compare it to:
– other students’ scores (norm referenced)
– a standard of what they can do (criterion-referenced)
– some estimate of what they are able to do (learning
potential, or self-referenced)?
• What should my distribution of grades be and
how do I determine it?
• How do I display student progress or strengths
and weaknesses, to students and their parents?

Educational Evaluation
• Measurement and assessment of learning –
first two steps
• Grading and reporting – two terminal stages
in the process

FUNCTIONS OF GRADING
AND REPORTING SYSTEMS

Enhancing Students
Learning
• Clarifying instructional objectives for them
• Showing students’ strengths & weaknesses
• Providing information on personal-social
development
• Enhancing students’ motivation (e.g., short term
goals)
• Indicating where teaching might be modified
This can be achieved through day-to-day tests,
feedback, integrated periodic tests

Reports to
Parents/Guardians
• Inform parents/guardians on the progress of
their child
• Communicate objectives to parents so they can
help promote learning
• Communicate how well objectives are met so
parents can plan better

Administrative and
Guidance Uses
• Helps to decide promotion, graduation, honors,
athletic eligibility
• Report achievement to other schools or to
employers
• Provide input for realistic, educational,
vocational, personal counselling

Grades and Report Cards
• Should promote and enhance learning
rather than frustrate and discourage
students
• Given to students and parents are asked to
sign this
• Call for parent-teacher conferences such
that report cards will effectively function as
motivation for further learning

TYPES OF GRADING AND
REPORTING SYSTEMS

Traditional Letter-
Grade system
• Students’ performance are summarized by
means of letters
• Easy to understand but is of limited value when
used as the sole report
• They end up being a combination of
achievement, effort, work habits, behavior
• Difficult to interpret
• Do not indicate patterns of strengths &
weaknesses

A •Excellent
B •Good
C •Average
D •Needs Improvement
F •Failure

Pass-Fail System
• Utilizes a dichotomous grade system
Pass
Fail

Pass-Fail System
• Popular in some courses in college; not very
much practiced in basic education
• Does not provide much information
• Students tend to work to the minimum (just
to pass)
• In mastery learning courses, no grades are
reflected until “mastery” threshold is
reached

Checklist of
Objectives
• Objectives of the courses are enumerated
• After each objective, the students’ level of
achievement is indicated
• Very detailed reporting system
• More informative for parents and students
• Time-consuming to prepare
• POTENTIAL PROBLEM: keeping list
manageable and understandable

Objective 1
• Fair
Objective 2
• Outstanding
Objective 3
• Very Good
Objective 4
• Poor
Objective 5
• Good

Letters to
Parents/Guardians
• Useful supplement to grades
• Limited value as sole report:
– Time-consuming to prepare
– Accounts of weaknesses are often
misinterpreted by parents and guardians
– Not systematic nor cumulative

September 6, 2014
Dear Parents,
A huge wave of zombies is approaching.
Respectfully,
Teacher Dave

Portfolios
• A set of purposefully selected work, with
commentary by student and teacher
• Useful for:
– Showing students’ strengths & weaknesses
– Illustrating range of students’ work
– Showing progress over time or stages of a
project
– Teaching students about
objectives/standards they are to meet

Parent-Teacher
Conferences
• Mainly used in elementary school
• Requires parents of pupils to come for a
conference with the teacher to discuss the
pupils’ progress
• Useful for a two-way flow of information and
getting more information from parents
• Limited value as a report because most parents
do not come for such conferences

DEVELOPMENT OF A
GRADING AND REPORTING
SYSTEM

Grading and Reporting
• Based on clear statement of learning
objectives
• Consistent with school standards
• Based on adequate assessment
• Based on the right level of detail
• Providing for parent-teacher conferences as
needed

ASSIGNING LETTER GRADES
AND COMPUTING GRADES

Grades
• Must include only achievement
• Avoid the temptation to include effort for less
able students
– It is difficult to assess effort/potential
– It is difficult to distinguish ability from
achievement
• If achievement and effort are combined in
some way, grades would mean different
things for different individuals

Grades
• Grades reflected on report cards are
number or numerical quantities arrived at
after several data on the students
performance are combined

Guidelines
• Properly weight each component to create a
composite
• Normally agreed upon by school officials
30%
25%
30%
15%
Quiz
Project/Assignment
Class Participation
Periodic Test

Guidelines
• Principal Components Analysis – more
scientific approach; hardly practiced in
schools because of difficulty
• Put all components on same scale to weight
properly:
– Equate range of scores
– Convert all to T-scores or other standard
scores

NORM OR CRITERION-REFERENCED
GRADING

Norm-Referenced
Grading System
• Grades may reflect relative performance
– Score compared to other students (rank)
• Grade depends on what group you are in, not
just your own performance
• Typical grade may be shifted up or down,
depending on group’s ability
• Widely used; most classroom testing is norm-referenced

Criterion-Referenced
Grading System
• Grades may reflect absolute performance
– Score compared to specified performance
standards (what you can do)
• Grade does not depend on what group you are
in, but only on your own performance compared
to a set of performance standards
• Grading is a complex task

Criterion-Referenced
Grading System
• Grades must:
– Clearly define the domain
– Clearly define and justify the performance
standards
– Be based on criterion-referenced assessment
• Conditions are hard to meet except in complete
mastery learning settings

Score Compared to
Learning Potential
• Grades are inconsistent with a standards-based
performance
– Each child has his/her own standard
• Reliably estimating learning ability is very
difficult
• One cannot reliably measure change with
classroom measures
• Should only be used as supplement

DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES
AND GUIDELINES FOR
EFFECTIVE GRADING

Norm-Referenced or
Relative Performance
• Normal curve is defensible only when
• When “grading on the curve”
• When “grading on the curve”, any pass-fail
decision should be based on an absolute
standard (failed the minimum essentials)
• Standards and ranges should be understood
and followed by all teachers

Criterion-Referenced or
Absolute Grading System
• Seldom uses letter-grade alone
• Often includes checklists of what has been
mastered
• The distribution of grades is not predetermined

Guidelines for
Effective Grading
• Describe grading procedures to students at
the beginning of instruction.
• Clarify that course grade will be based on
achievement only.
• Explain how other factors (effort, work habits,
etc.) will be reported.

• Relate grading procedures to intended
learning outcomes.
• Obtain valid evidence (tests) for assigning
grades
• Try to prevent cheating.
• Return and review all test results as soon as
possible.

• Properly weight the various types of
achievements included in the grade.
• Do not lower an achievement grade for
tardiness, weak effort, misbehavior.
• Be fair.
• Avoid bias.
• When in doubt, review the evidence.
• If still in doubt, give the higher grade.

CONDUCTING PARENT-TEACHER
CONFERENCES

Parent-Teacher
Conference
• Productive:
– When carefully planned
– When the teacher is skilled in handling such
conferences
• The teacher’s skill can be developed

Guidelines for a Good
Conference
• Make plans
» Review your goals.
» Organize the information to present.
» Make a list of points to cover and
questions to ask
» If using portfolios, select and review
carefully

Conference
• Start positive and maintain a positive focus
» Present student’s strong points first
» Be helpful to have example of works to
show needs
» Compare early vs. late work to show
learning progress

Conference
• Encourage parents to participate and share
their ideas
» Be willing to listen
» Be willing to answer questions

Conference
• Plan actions cooperatively
» What steps you can each take?
» Summarize at the end

Conference
• End with a positive comment
» Should not be a vague generality
» Should be true

Conference
• Use good human relation skills.

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Grading and reporting

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