October Post-Kripinski

I think every teacher struggles with assessment and trying to help our students.  I think in an ideal world we can allow students to work until mastery but that requires perseverance on their part which I don’t see in the students that need it the most.  Many students don’t do the practice and then wonder why they don’t do well on graded assignments.  While I don’t grade practice I do keep track of those that don’t do it and I can see the correspondence to their grade.  Since we started giving 50’s for no work I have seen understanding of concepts decrease.  While I would agree that giving a 50 for a major so that their grade doesn’t tank I disagree with it in on the minor assignments.  Minor assignments need to be done so that we can help our students.

I am hopeful that Mastery Connect will help to see that standards are being mastered and that in the near future we can find a way to connect this to our current grading practice.  I am not sure how we will keep a fluid gradebook that can change all year long.  If we do manage this, what will we do with the students who don’t get through all the standards for that grade level?  Will we move them to the next grade level as we currently do or is there another answer?  Maybe we don’t have grade levels based on age but on knowledge?