Texas School Drops Standards-based Grading

ROUND ROCK — Following controversy due to lack of communication and inconsistency in implementation, Round Rock ISD Superintendent Jesús Chavez announced Oct. 27 that the standards-based grading system would be rolled back at two schools.

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The system was used at Ridgeview Middle School and Round Rock High School as a way to improve commended rates and prepare students for the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, which will reportedly be more challenging than the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS.

Trustees and parents alike agreed that SBG could hurt students more than help them without more time spent researching its benefits.

“We are not ready for this. The teachers who aren’t ready for this are hurting our children,” trustee Terri Romere said at the RRISD board of trustees Oct. 20 regular meeting. “The research is good. The methods are good. The implementation is horrible.”

Romere said the board had not been informed about SBG until she asked that it be added to the Sept. 29 meeting agenda. Her greatest concern, she said, was the students who were challenged by schoolwork prior to SBG implementation.

Rollback
A called board meeting Oct. 27 followed Chavez’s announcement, and parents filled the RRHS lecture hall as they had at previous meetings.

“I think Dr. Chavez announcing that they’ll quit experimenting with SBG is great. They’ll go back to the great schools they were before all this,” parent Amber Schmitt said. “Everyone is cautiously optimistic, and we are happy to have this behind us.”

Schmitt, who founded rrisdconcernedparents.com and its complementary Facebook page—both of which allow parents to voice their opinions of SBG—said she thinks parents still need to work to ensure that the school board comes up with a district-wide policy “that is consistent and equitable.”

JoyLynn Occhiuzzi, executive director of communications at RRISD, said there is a chance SBG will be re-implemented in the future, but if is, it will be a district-wide decision.

Why standards-based grading?
RRHS and Ridgeview officials used SBG to increase the rigor of assignments and tests so that students would be more competitive when it comes to going to college and starting a career.

Ridgeview Principal Holly Galloway said an SBG pilot program launched for eighth-grade students last school year following research, a seminar and book study. This school year, Ridgeview sixth- and seventh-grade students were assessed under SBG.

RRHS Principal Natalie Nichols said that throughout SBG implementation at the school, the number of students taking benchmark tests have gone up, as have scores. She reported increased commended rates and increased number of students passing.

At the Oct. 27 meeting, trustees and parents expressed concern that with the rollback of SBG, the rigor with which students have been taught may be lost.

Next steps
Parents worried that inconsistencies in grading may have caused an error in their child’s grade were urged to talk to their teacher and principal immediately.

The SBG rollback will be concluded at both schools Nov. 7. A complete timeline of the process is posted at www.roundrockisd.org.

Trustees will have a workshop meeting Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss grading policy. The location is to be determined.


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This blog discusses standards-based grading, math curriculum, etc. Very timely!

Rally in the works....keep the first week of December open!

We, the concerned parents and citizens all over Maine, must come together and talk to our newly elected State officials and let them know where we stand. 

We don't want our students and schools to be guinea pigs -- the test case for the RISC model is the multiple Alaska schools that dumped it.

While we find Standards acceptable, we believe Maine taxpayers should have a voice in the Standards and that should be able to set higher standards when appropriate.  We don't want to participate in a further "dumbing down" of education that seems the goal of 'lowest common denominator' standards touted in the CCSS and National movement.  (Didn't anyone notice that Massachusetts had to LOWER their excellent standards to join the National movement?)

We believe traditional grading and its' inherent competition is essential to the education process.  Where better to learn how to compete than within the safe, nurturing school environment.  We are not properly preparing our students for life after public school -- or even college -- if we fail to teach them healthy competition or to provide real feedback on their efforts with a 15 scale grading system vise a 4 scale system of standards.

We don't want high-priced administrators siphoning off huge salaries and educator retirement pay simultaneously or setting up self-serving, lucrative consulting positions based on their experience implementing educational models, like RISC, that are not beneficial to our students.

We want community input into curriculum -- get rid of the paradigms that don't work like EDM and Whole Language.  Mastering mathematical algorithms does more to build self-esteem in a student than handing them a calculator and telling them which buttons to press.  (There is a place for technology, but you can't validate/audit work if you don't understand the logic.  One must wonder if Kindergarten is really the place for calculators.)

Readers - please post your concerns in the comment section (you can do this and remain 'anonymous') to help us ensure we capture the biggest issues appropriately.  Together we can effect a better outcome for our student!  Let us TAKE BACK OUR SCHOOLS!!!

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RSU1 Administrator Admits Goal is NO-GRADES at ALL Levels K-12

Dear XXX,

         What thoughtful questions! I will do my best to answer them.  I am currently principal at Fisher Mitchell School, but previously served as K-12 Curriculum Coordinator for the district. In that capacity I worked with at team of K-5 teachers from U47 and Bath schools who volunteered to design a common RSU 1 elementary report card back in spring '08.  At that time we looked at models from numerous other districts as well as a draft card that a committee had been working on in U47.  THe card can best be described as standards-referenced.  For each academic subject area a student gets an overall Effort rating, and then ratings on specific skills or processes within that subject area. The ratings indicate whether a student MEETS expectations for his/her grade level for that time in the year, EXCEEDS expectations, PARTIALLY MEETS them, or DOES NOT meet them. 

           This provides parents with much more specific information about students strengths and weaknesses than a global letter grade of A,B,C which is usually obtained by averaging grades on assignments or tests over a period of time.  For example, on an letter scale a student who does really well at the beginning of the term on one skill area but was much weaker at the end of the term on another skill area would get the same grade as a student who scores fairly well on both (B or C ). Standards referenced ratings would show that the student EXCEEDED standards on the first skill area but only PARTIALLY met standards on the second skill area.

          Although grade level teams have continued to refine some items & calibrate scoring of different items, the K-5 Report Card has not changed in any significant way over the first three years of the RSU. The items are aligned with the Maine Learning Results and RSU 1 Curriculum.  Last year Mr. Shuttleworth convened a K-12 Standards-based Grading Committee to study and plan for transitioning to standards-based grading at all levels.  Meanwhile, the Common Core standards were developed, so as a first step, staff have developed RSU #1 standards for math and language arts, K-12. They are not posted yet on the website as staff at some grade levels are still are in the final stages of review/revision.  Kari Babcock, principal at Phippsburg has been a key leader for this work.

         However, a chart of District Assessments can be viewed on the RSU 1 Website under Depts. Curriculum.  Yes, the NWEA and the DRA2 are definitely used as formative assessments for planning instruction as well as to assess student growth.   

          As the district moves forward in designing a standards-based system, it is definitely important to include parents and community. It's likely we'll get to that point this spring, although the district level Committee has not started the system design work yet this year.  A live and/or online forum with Q & A are on the list of possible ways to include parents that were discussed last spring. We'd welcome your involvement when we get to that point.

                                                         Sincerely,

                                                                    Nancy Harriman 

Nancy Harriman, Ph.D.

Principal

Fisher Mitchell School

597 High St. 

Bath, Maine 04530

Tel.  (207)443-8265

Fax  (207)443-4167

 >>> 'XXXXX Concerned Parent' 11/4/2010 1:46 PM >>>

Hi William-

I understand that the school board will be discussing implementation of the number grade system at the middle school level.  Betsy Varian had indicated that this is tied in with Standard Based Learning.  My understanding of Standard Based Learning is that this provides a way for children with learning differences to receive differentiated instruction within the classroom setting.  Is there a tie between that and the number grade system?  I was unable to find a link between the two when searching the web.  Can you provide me with this information so that I can have a better understanding of it's purpose?  From my perspective, the 4-number grading system is more vague than the range (of 15) that is used with the letter grade system.  

Also, where can I find grade level benchmarks for RSU1 and info. on the core school-based assessments that are given at each grade level.  I was surprised to learn at my daughter's 4th grade conference that the only formal assessments given this year were the NWEAs.  Do the NWEAs provide info. data to drive individual student instruction?  Not even a DRA was done this fall because 'XXX student name' was on grade level in the Spring. 

Before the school board votes on a possible new grading system, I think it would be helpful if parents were given the opportunity to attend a question/ answer forum on the matter.  I feel with the consolodation, parents are less informed and are becoming less of a part of the decision making process.

Thank you,

XXX

 Concerned Parent  (Private individuals names removed, any parent could ask same questions.)

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Be sure to read the comments on this one....