pet6516_effective_grading_in_physical_education

Effective Teaching and Classroom Management in Physical Education

EFFECTIVE GRADING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

EFFECTIVE GRADING

Provide an incentive to students and encourage them to learn.

Can be indicators of program’s effectiveness.

Grades as incentives can be used to reward effort and compliance with rules.

Students use grades as an indicator of their level of achievement.

Grades can be used to sort students.

Report achievement of a student to others.

PURPOSE FOR GRADING & GRADE REPORTING

Building assessment to improve performance requires that grades and reports reflect values and provide apt feedback (Wiggins 1998a).

DEVELOPING A MEANINGFUL GRADING SYSTEM

Some are advocating elimination of grades.

Grades should indicate the proportion of learning targets students have mastered (Guskey 1996).

Grades should be based on students’ achievement.

When teachers try to factor managerial concerns, effort, improvement, attitudes and behaviors, and a host of other variables into a grade, the meaning of the grade becomes distorted and confusing (Wiggins 1998a).

PROBLEMS WITH TRADITIONAL GRADING PRACTICES

The importance of physical education is diminished.

Does not represent students’ learning.

Grading on attendance, dress for class, and participation lowers the learning expectation in exchange for student compliance.

GRADING ON MANAGERIAL CONCERNS

Set goals that require effort to achieve.

Let effort manifest itself when students work hard to reach criterion levels of performance.

• Low-fit students are often not perceived as giving much effort.

Unless teachers use heart rate monitors to measure output, measuring effort is not possible.

EFFORT

Effort is very difficult to judge or measure.

Teacher bias may determine final outcome.

BIAS

Poor behavior needs to be dealt with by talking to students, parents, or administrators.

COMMUNICATION

Should not be used to calculate grades unless it is linked to standards.

STANDARDS

Do not include behavior in a grading system without defining your expectations.

EXPECTATIONS

INCLUDING BEHAVIOR IN A GRADE

Students may improve but not achieve unit objectives.

Can lead to undependable gain scores (sandbagging).

The novice shows the most gains.

IMPROVEMENT

Grading on improvement requires an assessment before the unit and at the conclusion.

Grading on improvement has problems.

• The disparity of how grades are calculated diminishes the information that the letter grade represents.

Some districts have adopted standards-based report cards.

Letter grades are the most commonly used form of grading at the secondary level (Hensley et al. 1987).

GRADE FORMATS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Give parents and students rubrics to explain what a letter grade represents.

Letter grades involve a lack of stable and clear points of reference (Wiggins 1998a).

Letter Grades

Of all the grading forms used, letter grades are probably the most easily misinterpreted (Guskey 1996).

People are more accustomed to and less critical of letter grades.

• Confusion can arise because the same content standards are used for every grade level.
• Teachers need to include the benchmarks to explain grade level expectations.
• Post benchmarks on a webpage because inclusion on the report card would take up too much space.

Parent education must accompany the use of a standards-based report card.

Beneficial for teachers in measuring students’ learning in terms of standards.

STANDARD-BASED REPORTING SYSTEM

Report learning in terms of content area standards.

Grades reflect students’ achievement for the grading period.

ACHIEVEMENT

Students are not be allowed to get by with an unsatisfactory score (e.g., a D or F).

ACCOUNTABILITY

Use an A-to-F grade reporting system.

GRADING

Students are allowed multiple chances to learn the content.

OPPORTUNITIES

All students are expected to master the content.

MASTERY

MASTERY GRADING REPORTING SYSTEMS

Clark Hetherington’s four areas of physical education.

EFFECTIVE GRADING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Do not add assessments as the unit proceeds.

Decide what will contribute to a grade at the beginning of the marking period and determine assessments to use.

Grades should be based on predetermined criteria.

EFFECTIVE GRADING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Items and areas used to calculate grades are dependent on goals and objectives.

DEPENDENCE ON OTHER STUDENTS

RELIABILITY

VALIDITY

Be sure skills of other students don’t influence another student’s grade. Provide prior response to provide consistency and good setup.

Teachers must be consistent when using assessments for grading. Plus-and-minus grading systems can distort grades.

When grades are based on measures other than achievement, the grade is not a valid indicator of whether goals were met.

CHALLENGES IN EFFECTIVE GRADING PRACTICE PART 1

Grades should represent a balance of psychomotor competence, cognitive learning, and affective-domain outcomes.

Select a variety of units within a grading period.

If standards are too low, high-skilled students remain unchallenged.

If standards are too high, low-skilled students feel achievement is unattainable.

Challenges in effective grading practice part 2

Students with prior experience should score higher on assessments.

• Select assessments that are appropriate.
• The assessment should assess learning, not language skills.

ESL (English as a second language) students

• IEP documents should be used as the basis for the grade.
• Include a narrative with the grade to provide an explanation of achievement to parents.
• Modify assessments used for grades.

Students with disabilities

GRADING PRACTICES FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS PART 1

By using achievement of standards for low-fit students, grades can be fair and valid.

May need different assessments to measure the degree to which they have met learning outcomes.

Safety may also be an issue.

Less likely to have the endurance and strength to participate with peers.

Low-fit students present grading challenges in physical education.

GRADING PRACTICES FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS PART 2

• Use assessments for multiple purposes.
• The most important use of assessment is to increase student learning.
• Formative assessments don’t contribute to a grade.

• Use learning as a basis for grades.
• Look at achievement through a variety of lenses.
• Avoid the use of extra credit.

Teaching

Achievement

SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE EFFECTICE GRADING PRACTICES PART 1

• Avoid averaging scores to arrive at a student grade.
• Use an absolute grading scale.
• Develop a policy for students with borderline grades.
• Grading on a curve is not compatible with criterion reference grading.

Fairness

• Show the assessment plan early in the instructional unit.
• Avoid hidden agendas in the grading system.
• Allow students multiple opportunities for success.
• Allow extra practice time for lesser-skilled students.
• Never give low grades to motivate students to try harder

SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE GRADING PRACTICES PART 2

Seek additional information when grading borderline students.

Give extra credit for extra learning, not just doing extra work.

Grade on a curve.

Don’t use zeros when calculating grades.

Minimize the subjectivity on assessments leading to a grade.

Don’t give lower grades to motivate students to try harder.

SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE GRADING PRACTICES PART 3

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