Grading can be an invaluable tool for pinpointing strengths and weaknesses in students' understanding, provide a shared language for discussing learning, and help improve student performance over time. Unfortunately, current practices in classroom grading, such as the use of overall letter grades or percentage scores, are not amenable to this type of specific feedback. In fact, they do little more than label learning at periodic intervals. The antiquated grading system in use today has little or no research to support its continuation and is highly ineffective.
Transforming Classroom Grading presents viable alternatives. It is about designing grading systems that are both precise and efficient. Robert Marzano provides educators with a thorough grounding in grading research and theory. After clarifying the basic purposes of grades, he discusses what should be included in them, how to use a rubric-based approach to assessment and reporting, how to compute final topic scores and final grades, and how technology can streamline the grading process. He also addresses seven types of assessment, which, when coordinated, can provide a comprehensive view of student understanding and skill. Finally, he suggests alternatives to report cards with overall grades and ways to phase in their use.
The changes that Marzano recommends will require persistent--even courageous--educators, but those who systematically implement them will fundamentally change the way teachers, students, and parents think about and use grading. This book provides explicit guidance for those teachers, schools, and districts ready for true change.