Rethinking the Gradebook

One of the main tasks before teachers as we begin the school year, is setting up our digital gradebooks. This year, I’m making a major change in the way I setup my gradebook based on the fact that I am moving from an outcomes that are contained within a unit of instruction to outcomes that carry over from unit to unit.

Now, I am a science teacher.  So, I hope you don’t quickly tune out if you are not. I think as we move towards skills based outcomes, we need to work together to find systems of assessment and communication that work for all.  I would love to hear what others are doing.  I don’t have the answers. This is just my iteration of an idea. Hopefully we can innovate together.

We work with Infinite Campus online gradebook. Our gradebook has weighted categories. A couple of years ago, I set these categories as tests, labs, and practice work.  Then, I moved to create a category for each unit outcome I created.  This became a little overwhelming as I’d have ~15 categories per term. This year, I will have 9 categories per term.  One category for each of my science practice/content skill and one for success skills/habits of mind not embedded in a science practice. So when creating categories, it looks like this:

Now, 1 assessment may have multiple practices. For example, the first one we’ll be doing this year “Buggy Lab”. Here’s the rubric broken down by practice below:

Science Practice	3	2	1
Developing & Using Models	Develop and use a model based on evidence to illustrate phenomenon or relationships between variables.	Evaluate merits and limitations of two different models of the same proposed process in order to select a model that best fits the evidence.	Use a model to illustrate phenomenon or relationships between variables.
Planning and carrying out investigations			Conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence.
Analyzing and interpreting data		Analyze data and compare and contrast various types of data sets to examine consistency of measurements and observations	Analyze data using tools in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution
Using mathematics and computational thinking	Use mathematics  to describe, support claims, and explanations.	Apply rates and unit conversions in the context of measurement problems.	Apply techniques of algebra and functions to represent and solve scientific and engineering problems
Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)	Apply scientific reasoning or models to link evidence to the claims to evaluate how well data supports the explanation or conclusion.	Make a quantitative and qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables.	Make a qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

Here are a couple of notes about the rubric. Each practice is graded on a 4 point scale.  So, why don’t we see any level 4 and why are there blank spaces?  Since this our first lab, we won’t be able to assess what a level 4 would be yet.  We’ll build on that in future labs. As a unit progresses we will growth the practice to study the unit specific content.

Since I am putting grades into a gradebook, we do need a grading scale.  We have a couple of options for setting up our grading scale in our district.  We have a standard curve with the cutoff for a “D” set at 70%, a 0-4 integer scale, and a 5 point integer scale.  I use the 0-4 integer scale in my classroom. The breakdown of the scale can be seen below:

If each assessment measures more than one practice, that means it needs to be recorded under different categories. When I create an assignment, I code it under all the categories it falls under. So the gradebook looks like this:

So, I will need to put in multiple grades for a single assessment per student. Also, as students demonstrate improvement related to a practice, I will need to exclude assignments from grade calculation.  I’ll be sure not to delete them as they are evidence of growth and part of the learning process.

I remember as a student how many teachers would say that everyone has an “A” on day 1 and it’s up to us to keep that “A”. There could be nothing further from the truth. We all start out with an Incomplete.  We have demonstrated zero mastery. The path to mastery needs to be fair, but we don’t deserve any grade if we haven’t demonstrated anything yet.

Lots of work? We’ll see. This is a process. In the end the goal is to assess, track, and communicate performance. Like anything new, clear communication of the goals of the process and collecting feedback from the users will be essential. So, I look forward to hear from parents and students.