GRADING AND REPORTING SYSTEM
FUNCTIONS OF GRADING AND REPORTING SYSTEMS
TYPES OF GRADING AND REPORTING SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT OF GRADING REPORTING SYSTEM
- Building a Grading and Reporting System
The Basis of Good Reporting is Good Evidence
The basis of such high-quality information is critical evidence on student learning. Evaluation experts
stress that if one is going to make important decisions about students that have broad implications, such as
decisions involved in grading, the more that good evidence must be ready at hand (Airasian, 1994; Linn &
Gronlund, 2000; Stiggins, 2001).
There are three qualities that contribute to the goodness of evidence that are gathered on student
learning. These three qualities are described in the following table.
Major Purposes of Grading and Reporting
The following are the major purposes of grading and reporting:
To communicate the achievement status of students to parents and others
To provide information that students can use for self-evaluation
To select, identify or group students for certain educational paths or programs
To provide evidence of students’ lack of effort or inappropriate responsibility
Below are possible sources of Grading and Reporting System
Major Exams or Composition
Class observation
Class quizzes
Oral Presentations
Reports or projects
Homework completion
Homework quality
Students’ Portfolios
Exhibits of students’ work
Laboratory projects
Students’ notebook or journal
Class participation
Work habits and neatness
Effort
Attendance
Punctuality of assignments
Class behavior or attitude
Progress made
Developing Effective Reporting System
The most critical issue to be addressed in selecting the tools included in reporting system is what
purpose or purposes it is to serve. Why we need to convey this information and what we need to accomplish.
To determine the purpose, three aspects of communication must be considered.
Critical Aspects in Determining Communication Purposes:
- What information or messages do we want to communicate?
- Who is the primary audience for that message?
- How would we like that information or message to be used?
Tools for Comprehensive Reporting System
Reporting systems most highly regarded by parents typically include a mix of traditional and more
modern reporting tools.
Tools that might be included in comprehensive reporting system:
Report Cards
Notes: Attached to Report Cards
Standardized Assessment Report
Phone Calls to Parents
Weekly/Monthly Progress Report
School Open-Houses
Newsletter to Parents
Personal Letter to Parents
Evaluated Projects or Assignments
Portfolios or Exhibits of Students’ Work
Homework Assignments
Homework Hotlines
School Web Pages
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Student-Teacher Conferences
Student- Led Conference
Guidelines for Better Practice
To ensure better practice of grading and reporting systems, the following statements serve as guide on
how to utilize effectively the grading and reporting systems:
Begin with a clear statement of purpose.
Provide accurate and understandable descriptions of learning.
Use grading and reporting to enhance teaching and learning.
ASSIGNING LETTER GRADES AND COMPUTING GRADES
- Must include only achievement.
- Avoid the temptation to include effort for less able students.
- It is difficult to assess effort/potential and it is difficult to distinguish ability from achievement.
- If achievement and effort are combined in some way, grades would mean different things for different
individuals.
- Grades reflected on report cards are number or numerical quantities arrived at after several data on the
students’ performance are combined.
- Properly weight each component to create a composite
- Put all components on same scale to weight property
a) Equate ranges of score
b) Or convert all to T-scores or other standards scores
NORM OR CRITERION REFERENCED GRADING
Norm-Referenced Grading System
- Grades may reflect relative performance
- Grade depends on what group you are in, not just your own performance
- Typical grade may be shifted up or down, depending on group’s ability
Criterion-Referenced Grading System
- Grades may reflect absolute performance
- Grade does not depend on what group you are in, but only on your own performance compared to a set
of performance standards
- Gradings is a complex task
Score Compared to Learning Potential
- Grades are inconsistent with a standards-based performance
- Reliably estimating learning ability is very difficult
- Should only be used as supplement
DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES AND GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE GRADING
How should grades be distributed?
Norm-Referenced
➢ Compare individual performance with the performance of a group.
Criterion-Referenced
➢ Measure how well a student has mastered a specific learning goal (or objective). Student
performance is judged by how closely the performance matches specific criteria.
Norm-referenced or relative Performance
- Normal curve is defensible only when we have large, unselected group.
- When “grading on the curve”, school staff should set fair ranges of grades for different group or course.
- When “grading on the curve”, any pass-fail decision should be based on an absolute standard (failed the
minimum standards).
- Standards and ranges should be understood and followed by all teachers.
Criterion-Referenced or Absolute Grading System
- It seldom uses letter grades alone
- It often includes checklists of what has been mastered
- The distribution of grades is not predetermined Guidelines for Effective Grading
GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE GRADING
1. Describe grading procedures to students at beginning of instruction
2. Clarify that course grade will be based on achievement only
3. Explain how other factors (effort, work habits, etc.) will be reported
4. Relate grading procedures to intended learning outcomes
5. Obtain valid evidence (test, etc.) for assigning grades
6. Try to prevent creating
7. Return and review all test results as soon as possible
8. Properly weight the various types achievements included in the grade
9. Do not lower an achievement grade for tardiness, weak effort, or misbehavior
10. Be fair. Avoid bias. When in doubt, review the evidence. If still in doubt, give higher grade
CONDUCTING PERENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE
