REPAIR KIT FOR GRADING 248863 Paperback – 19 November 2010

The title of this book says it all--it is a repair kit for fixing the "broken" grading system we currently have. This book is full of ideas that challenge the traditional way we grade, but these challenges make total sense in light of what we now know about quality assessments and student learning. O'Connor basically sums up what he states in his book  How to Grade for Learning, K-12 , and his work is based on and references the work of others who have tackled the grading dilemma, such as Stiggins, Marzano, and Wormeli. The main point of this book is that grades should be a vehicle for communicating student learning, period, and that grades and scores should be reported according to standards, and not include anything that doesn't pertain to student learning (such as participation, effort, etc.). All that should be included in these grades are the summative assessments, and that any formative or diagnostic assessments should not be included. Some points I found especially intriguing were: that you should always take the most recent evidence of learning; not to include absences in a student's score; and that group grades do not accurately reflect student achievement and should not be given. Also interesting is the point he makes about not including zeroes in student grades (he says you should give an "I" for "Insufficient Evidence").If you are an educator that has been questioning traditional grading practices, this book is a good starting point. My colleagues and I (who teach high school students) have slowly been having misgivings about how we grade and what our grades mean the more and more we implement common formative assessments in our classroom. This book addressed all of our questions, and helped lead us in the right direction for our students.This book seriously challenges grading practices and principles that have been established as the norm for over 100 years, and, in my opinion, this book is a breath of fresh air. It is a book that breaks out the points quickly and simply, and you can start applying these grading principles in your classroom right away. It's a quick read (I read it in one afternoon), and it is useful and practical. However, if you're looking for some specific suggestions about implementation of these fixes, you need to read O'Connor's "How to Grade for Learning." This small book is meant to be a companion to his first, more comprehensive book. Read both; you won't be disappointed. I would also recommend  Fair Isn't Always Equal  for more ideas concerning standards-based grading in the differentiated classroom. How to Grade for Learning, K-12Fair Isn't Always Equal

This book offers some insightful reasoning about the irrational way teachers have traditionally assigned a letter grade and the end of a course. It would take some real effort to convince a school or district to adopt most of the ideas expressed in this book, but the effort would be well worth it. Grades should reflect what students know about a subject, end of story. Whether you agree with this statement now or not, you will at the very least be forced to re-evaluate your position after reading this book.

Ken's a nice guy, but what does this have to do with a real education? Using a microscope to divide students into winners and mostly losers does not serve society well. Ken should study a bit of Howard Gardener's work to understand how diverse we are in our gifts and interests. Education officials who have embraced this work have frozen education in the dark ages. Grading is OK for fish, lumber, eggs . . . , but apparently there was this fellow in Germany during the 1940s, who took a keen interest in the grading of human beings, whose legacy is not being celebrated all that well. After forty years in the classroom, trying my best to develop strong mentor/student relationships to inspire students to invest in their future, I really do not know how splitting hairs over the mean, median, and mode leads to greater individual mastery of objectives.

Purchased by a coworker.

This book will tell you why you have always felt sort of uneasy about the grades you have issued in the past. Combine this with proficiency grading techniques, and you can begin to have honest, efficient, relevant discussions about what students can do, what they need to do, and what you need to do to improve student achievement.