Case+Studies

Case Studies

HOW DO YOU GRADE?
===Reflect: What training have you had in grading? Do you grade the way you do because that is the way it was done when you were a student or the way it has always been done since you began teaching? What were the main influences on your grading principles? Are they the same as the other teachers in your grade level? your school?===

===One of the best ways to analyze grading practices and the principles behind them is to analyze a set of marks and grades and identify the issues that arise from the analysis. Please check out the following case studies to discover grading issues.===

=__Case Study # 1__=

= Questions on Parachute Case Study: = = 1. Which student would you want to pack your parachute? = = 2. Why do you think student # 1's grades did what they did? = = 3. What can you say about student # 3. = = 4. If you graded these students traditionally (averaging percentages) the grades would be: Student # 1 - 63% Student # 2 - 64% Student # 3 - 47% Do these grades (which are all F's on our grading scale) accurately reflect student's progress in learning the standard of packing parachutes? =

=Case Study # 2=

= Questions on Science Grade Book Case Study: = 1. First, jot down the grade these students would receive using the Edgewood grading scale. 2. Are the grades awarded fair? Reflect on the results from which they were derived for each student. Check out: Marg's? Check out Lorna's? Check out Kay and Peter's? 3. What grading issues arise from this case study?

=Case Study # 3=



= Questions on Agatha's Grade Case Study: = Look at Agatha’s scores in the table above on eight writing samples over one grading period. These scores were based on a writing rubric that covers six dimensions, or traits, of a good paper: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. (For the sake of illustration, assume that all pieces of writing went through the whole writing process and were used formatively to help guide next steps of instruction. Also, although all writing in reality may not necessarily be assessed on all six traits, for this example we have scores on each trait for each paper.)

1. Decide two things: First, if you had to give a grade on paper number 4, what grade would you give? Why? What concerns do you have? 2. Second, if you had to give a writing grade for the grading period, what would it be? Why? What concerns do you have? Check out the rubric scores on the table below - how do your scores compare? 3. What grading issues arise from this case study?



