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Introduction

Beyond the Grade: Refining Practices That Boost Student Achievement is not just another book about grading. It builds on the urgent need for increased student achievement that promotes college and career readiness, highlighting the need for a major paradigm shift from traditional to innovative thinking. Within this fundamental shift, implementing procedures for constantly assessing student growth, crafting schedules that include daily time for student support, and changing traditional grading practices are critical first steps for making the necessary and significant changes.

The timing is right for examining traditional or long-standing grading practices. Although not all states have adopted the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many, like Indiana and South Carolina, have similar versions. In the 21st century, more schools than ever have standards in common. Schools across states can base their grades on similar criteria (Haycock, 2001; NGA & CCSSO, 2009). Now is the time for schools to adopt standards-based grading, which focuses on content mastery instead of hierarchical grades. Common standards facilitate making this change. While moving to standards-based grading, faculty can educate themselves about and advocate for other structural changes that provide the needed support, including alternate schedules and dethroning seat time requirements. In addition, staff can craft schedules that include student support during the school day. We offer scheduling examples to do just that in this book.

Changing schools to the degree we suggest is not easy. Deep-seated cultural beliefs have to be challenged; debates with all stakeholders must be conducted; and practices related to student failure and support need to be re-examined. The journey is not easy, but it is a journey worth taking. It is a journey that our students desperately need and that the world economy needs. We hope many schools will join us in making the journey and that this book answers some of the why and how questions for those willing to begin the journey.

A Need for Lasting Change

Lasting change in grading practices requires building professional and public support. That support comes through extensive study, data analysis, and debate. Beyond the Grade responds to backlash—from colleagues, administrators, politicians, and community members—that may occur when teachers or schools work in isolation to change grading practices. Teachers often have a more important role in struggling students’ success than they do with compliant students. Personally motivated to make good grades, compliant students usually accept policies without questioning them and follow the rules. Changing unfair grading practices is more critical for the success of low-achieving students than for those students who succeed in school despite policies and practices. Low-achieving students often face major challenges in their family lives, such as lack of consistent and dependable parental support, limited access to educational resources, and persistent economic instability (Morsy & Rothstein, 2015; Van Horn et al., 2009).

As we know so well, students come to school with many differences—health and growth, talents, experiences, emotional needs, and levels of support from parents and families. We must take such differences into account when working with at-risk students to increase the success of a larger number of students and reduce the number of dropouts. We must use individualized or flexible time lines for them to achieve mastery of material and to help these students meet learning goals. We must make certain that all struggling students within the school have at least one adult they trust and see as their advocate, both in and out of school. That trustworthy adult is the go-to person when a student has questions, dilemmas, problems, and issues. This person can also provide well-informed answers when school-related questions come up in conversations with people in the community. This adult’s reward is measured in satisfaction in keeping the student in school, increasing the student’s likelihood of getting and keeping a job after graduation, and better preparing the student to provide a positive family life in the future—and sharing correct information with citizens in the community. Struggling students must not see school policies and school personnel as placing roadblocks in their paths to success. Instead, we must institutionalize policies and practices that insist students make up all work and that support students to do so, even if they have acquired the habit of not making up their work (Hill & Nave, 2009). Low-achieving students must learn that when they come to school and work while in school, they will receive payoff for their work.

Before we can successfully implement significant changes in grading practices, it is critical for all stakeholders to study the issues associated with grading practices and to develop a deep understanding of why changes are needed.

This Book’s Organization and Audience

Beyond the Grade deconstructs traditional teaching and grading practices and presents a better way. We re-examine the very foundations of school—schedules, homework, grading—and present viable alternatives.

This book is presented in two parts. Part I presents the problems; part II presents possible solutions. In part I, chapter 1 lays out the why now. Chapter 2 examines grading practices. Chapter 3 discusses how grading issues and student issues abut directly with student achievement.

Once we address the fundamental shift in thought, part II offers strategies for implementing forward-thinking approaches to assessment and grading within real school contexts. Chapter 4 explains the benefits of standards-based grading. Chapter 5 reveals how homework can help instead of hinder achievement. Chapter 6 presents a plethora of schedules, from elementary to high school, including alternative schools, that enable teachers to provide the support students need. Each chapter ends with reflection questions. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to access these free reproducibles.

This book is for educators—administrators and teachers—who are serious about going beyond grades to increasing educational achievement for more students.

Where to Go From Here

Of course, variations in curriculum standards implementation, widespread differences in teachers’ experiences, and local community expectations generate differing interpretations and lively discussions of grading practices. In this book, you’ll encounter several in-depth examinations of grading practices and principles, discussions and examples of grading policies with varied effects on academic achievement and student success, and descriptions of many factors associated with student achievement and grading practices.

Throughout this book we suggest and describe specific actions that school personnel, with support from multiple stakeholders, can implement to increase the chances that more students will not only graduate from high school but also will be fully prepared to lead financially independent lives. The following lists the major actions educators should do to support such efforts and to attain those goals.

■ Implement student grading practices that fairly and honestly indicate what a student has learned and what remains for the student to master.

■ Reassess the major purpose of grades. This change, at a minimum, will require schools to separate reporting instruments into nonacademic and academic reports, and the academic reports must focus on mastery of content and skills.

■ Increase structural support for students throughout the school day. In the United States, more than 50 percent of our students come from low-income families. Different elementary, middle, and high school schedules can provide student support during the school day as illustrated in chapter 6 (page 71).

■ Apply resources to accelerate literacy achievement in the early grades. In the United States, fewer than 40 percent of students leave grade 3 proficient in literacy (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2015a). Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for literacy data.

You can see that we have a lot to think about. We will address these issues and many more in the remainder of this book.