October-PD McDannald

Assessment Practices

The materials provided this month caused me to reflect on, and revise, some of my current policies while reassuring me of others.   In my class, and across our learning community, students are given 1 day beyond the due date to complete and turn in work that will be assessed as a minor grade and two days beyond the due date to complete those that are major.  I feel it is important to give students a chance, with limitations, to hand in work so that their grade might accurately reflect knowledge of content. I struggle with the policy of flooring grades for work not turned in at a 50.  I find that many students would rather take a 50 than attempt to complete work.  One area that I have been working on improving is developing project rubrics that will accurately assess mastery of content versus completing a check list of requirements.

I feel that it is important that each student has the opportunity to master content. The 8th grade social studies department  has a policy that allows students who have not  yet mastered material to retake test within a given time frame.    Students who score below 70%, which is currently considered mastery,  are required to do test corrections and are allowed to retake unit test. I like to use formative assessments such as bell ringers or exit tickets relating to content previously taught, quizzes, and Kahoots as tools to guide me in what concepts might need to be retaught before moving on.  I often feel constrained in doing this by the timeline provided for working through all of the curriculum.