(Technically not a word, but thank goodness for such a flexible language as
English!)
One of my new projects for the summer is now to follow up on some of the
ideas and programs mentioned here and begin to make a presentable case.
Fred, your wisdom in bringing up the fact that such change as this is rare
when deeper change is not present is highly appreciated; I think we would
need to look carefully at where such opportunities exist.
Once again, I appreciate the people who populate this list - so
much encouragement and inspiration.
*Norman Maynard
Executive Director
National Coalition of Small Schools <http://www.coalitionofsmallschools.org>
*
My profiles: [image: LinkedIn] <http://www.linkedin.com/in/nlm58>
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On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 7:36 AM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com> wrote:
> Bill,
>
> Thanks for this detailed description of your process of shifting away from
> grades! Entertaining as well as enlightening. Wow!
>
> I've been reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson this winter. Jefferson
> realized that certain changes become possible during a revolutionary
> period,
> and was aware of the importance of striking while the iron is hot. For
> instance, he successfully advocated for a decimal-based currency system in
> the 1780s, but had no success getting congress to adopt a rational (metric
> like) weights and measurement system in the 1790s. The iron was cooling.
>
> All the not-using-grades schools mentioned in this thread implemented that
> approach while the iron was hot... when or just after their schools were
> formed. It would be interesting to hear about a successful traditional
> school that stopped using grades? Does such a creature exist? Disruptive
> innovation theory predicts that it would be extremely rare.
>
> I believe information technology is heating up schools to a degree where
> major change is possible. The iron is starting to glow a bit. Who are the
> Jeffersons of our time?
>
> Fred
>
>
>
> (To prevent this discussion from sliding off to the 'siding of oblivion'
> listserve equivalent we may want to move it over to ISENET where it will be
> more accessible down the road.)
>
>
> I wonder if major changes like
> On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Bill Ivey <bivey01370@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi!
> >
> > The process of having the middle school shift to standards-based
> > assessment began at our end-of-year meeting after the second year of
> > the school (spring 2005). I had brought in photocopies (with written
> > permission from the author!) of parts of Rick Wormeli's excellent book
> > "Fair Is Not Always Equal," and by the end of the meeting we had
> > decided to forego letter grades and start making the transition,
> > assuming the approval of our next Head of School. During the next two
> > years, we began laying the groundwork among ourselves, with the
> > "simple" discussion around the design and layout of the actual
> > progress report forms provoking a lot of discussion about not just the
> > concrete wording used on the form but also ways to rethink our
> > teaching, link it more specifically to standards, ensure it's
> > developmentally appropriate, and more. It was hard for us to leave
> > behind the idea of giving some sort of global assessment for a given
> > project and really begin to see learning as a continuum in many
> > different areas, some of which would be explicitly noted and assessed
> > in a given project, others of which might have to wait. I think this
> > work was critical to our success - it meant when we threw the switch
> > sending letter grades onto the Siding of Oblivion, we all had a pretty
> > deep understanding of what exactly we were doing, and why. We also had
> > a progress report form about which we felt pretty good.
> >
> > Last winter, our new Head of School courageously decided we would
> > throw that figurative switch this year, and it became time to involve
> > parents in the process. Since the birth of the middle school, we have
> > produced a regular newsletter that always includes some sort of essay
> > (currently a blog) on middle school kids, learning, life, that sort of
> > thing, and this provided a great forum to lay groundwork for the
> > announcement. We announced the change right before Spring Family
> > Weekend, and scheduled a meeting for parent reactions to the new
> > progress report forms; it went well. We wrote up this meeting for the
> > newsletter, got Board approval for the new practice, and went live at
> > midterms this fall. Again, we used the newsletter to lay groundwork
> > for the new practice. We do student-led conferences, so it was a great
> > way to integrate those and the progress report forms into a holistic
> > discussion of how and why we assess. Reactions were generally
> > positive, with the strongest resistance, such as it was, coming from
> > two students, both returning 8th graders who were very grade-focused
> > last year. We talked to them and other students about why we're doing
> > this, made a couple of much-needed improvements to the form, and
> > sighed in relief. By now, the new system has almost come to seem
> > routine.
> >
> > Probably a longer discussion than this needed to be, but brevity is
> > not a strength of mine, and hopefully this was helpful at any rate. If
> > you have any questions, just let me know!
> >
> > Take care,
> > Bill Ivey
> > Stoneleigh-Burnham School
> >
> >
> >
>
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