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Jason's Abstract:
Chapter Nine of the book //Fair Isn't Always Equal// by Rick Wormeli is titled "Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading. The chapter talks a lot about the importance that teachers and administrators place on [|grades]. It also mentions how grades should be a reflection of mastery and should help teachers to document progress and make informed decisions for students. The bulk of the chapter is meant to list the ten things to avoid so that your grades do accurately reflect what your students have accomplished during the year. These things to avoid are: 1. avoid factoring in behavior, attendance, and effort into grades; 2. avoid penalizing multiple attempts at mastery; 3.avoid grading homework; 4. avoid withholding assistance (not scaffolding); 5. avoid assessing students in ways that do not accurately indicate their mastery; 6. avoid allowing extra credit and bonus points; 7. avoid group grades; 8. avoid grading on a curve; 9. avoid recording zeros for work not done; 10. avoid using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes. If a teacher follows these steps and avoids doing these things in his or her classroom then her or she will get the most out of their students and most of all the students will learn the materials -- that is what we as teachers strive for.

[|Jason's Reflection]:
Everybody in the class recognized that the chapter was about ten things to avoid doing when differentiating assessment and grading. Most people either listed all ten of the things or at the very least mentioned half of them and why it was important to avoid them. Most people recognized that grading takes into account so many different things and it can be very subjective. That is why many of us mentioned how it is never a good idea to factor in zeroes because it deflats the true grade and is not fair to the teacher or the student. Another thing that was mentioned a lot was to always remember that teachers should worry about teaching and not focusing on grades. Grades are meant to show an accurate rendering of mastery; taking that into account, then a teacher should not put much stock in [|homework]because it is the first attempt at mastery. I think that all of us recognized that the most important job of a teacher is to teacher the material so that our students can understand it and apply it to a real life situation; we should not be worrying about the grades and just passing our students through. The final piece that should be mentioned is that teachers should see a J-curve when they go to grade instead of a bell-curve (just like Dr. Grace told us). If you see a J-curve then your students have understood the material, and you have done your job as a teacher.

Dani
This chapter is a list of 10 different things that teachers should avoid when differentiating grading and assessment. The chapter thoroughly explains all of the reasons why these things should be avoided. The list includes avoiding grading on a curve, avoiding recording zeros, avoiding extra credit, avoiding scaffolding and avoiding grading homework, to name a few. The list is a good way for me to look at things that teachers often do that don’t work in the classroom. It is kind of like getting experience with using these practices without actually having to try them out myself. It affects my class because now that I understand a few things to avoid and why I don’t have to spend time trying them out for myself. I can work at avoiding them and know that it is what is best for my students.
 * Chapter 9**

Cam
Chapter 9; Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading This chapter enlightens us, teachers of the future, the ten practices that must be avoided when differentiating and assessing. First off, do not incorporate pointless factors with a student’s grade, for example behavior. The next practice is to avoid penalizing students for redoing work in order to understand something because once they get it, they are rewarded with practically nothing. Thirdly, refrain from grading your students’ homework because students cannot confabulate the material. Therefore, the homework that is completed should be given the respectable feedback and if accounted for final grade, then it should only count for no more than ten percent of the grade. Teachers should dodge the idea of not giving graphic organizers to all available students. Graphic organizers will help students break the barriers between them and understanding. The next practice to avoid is methods of assessing students that is irrelevant to the mastery of the subject. Also, completely avoid rewards such as bonus points and extra credit because they have no means of pertaining to the content, and students use it as a fallback. Teachers should also avoid from group grading because unmotivated students may take this as an opportunity to slack off. This does not necessarily mean that group activities are nonproductive, it just means you have to be extra cautious how you evaluate your students individually. Avoid plotting students’ grade onto the grading curve because the grade that they receive could improve. Do not take pleasure in recording students’ zeros because sometimes it cannot help and it is degrading. Lastly, avoid from using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes. This may contribute to categorizing students, which is non-affective. This chapter impacts me as a professional because it enlightens me of what not to do when I have a class of my own. This impacts my students because I am taking information that has already been tested in a class, and I can avoid my students’ dislikes by reading up on them.

Jason
This chapter deals with ten things not to do when working in a differentiated classroom. Some things that stood out to me where “avoid penalizing students’ multiple attempts at mastery”; “avoid group grades”; “avoid using zeros in grading”; and “avoid grading homework”. I disagreed with some parts of this chapter especially the notion of allowing a student to retake the test because he or she did not know the material. I can understand that for certain times, but I do not think that it is fair to the students that worked hard to gain the knowledge to do well. I did agree with avoid one grade for group work and for avoid putting zeroes into grade books. I always thought it was unfair to give a group one grade because there usually is always one person who doesn’t do the work. As far as my classroom is concerned, I will grade homework but at a 10% level for overall learning. I am willing to allow students to retake tests if say they were in the hospital or had a family emergency; I just think that concept allows students to become even lazier and refuse to study knowing they can just retake the test.
 * FIAE Chapter 9: Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading **

Marcy
This chapter lists and explains ten things to avoid when grading. Grades should not be diluted by including other factors such as behavior, attendance, or participation. Students all learn at different paces, so when a student does not do well on a test over the unit but two weeks later the student shows all the criteria of mastery for the unit, the student’s grade should be changed to reflect that mastery. Grades reflect mastery; it does not matter when that mastery occurred. Homework is practice to better understand the material. It should not be given if the students do not fully understand the lesson and it should not be graded. It is not fair to take away a percentage of a team’s points during a basketball game because the referee watched the practice the day before and the team missed the basket during practice but made it in the game. It does not even make sense. Also teachers should help students learn the material no matter where they start from in their learning. That said assessing those same students in ways that distract them from accurately portraying their mastery of the content is unfair. Getting the students so caught up in the process of making or doing the assignment and that they lose sight of the material is the last thing a teacher wants. Extra credit and bonus points serve no purpose other than to incorrectly inflate the grade. If the question has nothing to do with the topic, there is no reason to make it worth any points. If the question is pertinent to the topic it should be included in the regular test questions. Collaborative groups is a great learning tool, however team projects are shaky ground. Giving a group of students the same grade is not usually an accurate indication of each student’s mastery. All grades should be given against clear criteria and standards. This automatically rules out bell curve grading and deciding whether a student’s work is average or above average. Students should never be forced to compete against each other. These two systems are flawed in that they communicate to the students that not everyone can achieve the best and that is not the case. The last point the chapter makes is that giving zeros for missing work distorts the grade so that it does not reflect a student’s mastery. This affects me as a teacher by showing me how grades can be affected by so many different factors that have nothing to do with the student’s mastery of the content. I will try to keep my grades from being affected by those other things. This affects my students by helping them show their mastery of the content through their grade and it gives them more accurate feedback of how the student is learning in the class.

Nicholas
**Chapter 9:** This chapter gives you an in depth explanation as to why you should avoid these ten approaches when assessing and grading. The first approach to avoid is incorporating nonacademic factors into the final grade this can include behavior, attendance, and effort. The second approach is penalizing students’ multiple attempts at mastery. It is obviously going to take some students’ more attempts than others to master an idea. The third approach is grading practice (homework). If you expect them to learn the material on the first try and then you penalize them for it they are just going to get discouraged and give up on trying to master the material. The fourth approach is avoiding withholding with the learning when it’s needed. If you expect students to master material than you have to be willing to make the necessary changes in order for them to grasp the material. The fifth approach is to avoid assessing students in ways that inaccurately demonstrate mastery. Why assess them on aspects that are irrelevant to the material? That’s like asking a teacher to build a car. It’s not impossible, but it doesn’t seem relevant. The sixth approach is to avoid extra credit and bonus points. This sends students the wrong message when it comes to learning. This is like saying you were incapable of mastering the material so why don’t you do a mindless activity for me to make up for it. The seventh approach is to avoid group grades. Allowing one student’s grade to suffer because of another student was incapable of participating is unfair and discouraging. You are doing more harm than good when trying to grade based on group products. The eighth approach is being sure to avoid grading on a curve. Comparing students to one another and forcing competition is not going to maximize a student’s success in becoming a learner. The ninth approach is avoiding the distribution of zeros for incomplete work. Zeros make a student’s grade become very inaccurate and may overwhelm a student to the point of discouragement. The tenth approach is avoiding the use of “norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes.” Saying that a student is average may not depict an accurate portrayal of how much of the criteria they have mastered. These ten approaches are very important to keep in mind and to me they are all interconnected. As a teacher it is important to make learning about the students not about the grades.

**Andrew D**
This chapter is about what to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. The goal of grades is to make sure they are accurate renderings of mastery. One thing to avoid is penalizing students multiple attempts at mastery. If teachers do this they are holding the students development against them. Another thing is to avoid grading homework. Homework shouldn’t be meant to learn the material the first time around. Homework should be considered practice in a differentiated classroom. Avoiding extra credit and bonus points is another point of emphasis. Doing this does not show the students level of mastery. Avoiding group grades is something that makes a lot of sense. To grade one person in the groups work and make that the basis on how to grade each group member is the wrong thing to do. Another thing to avoid is recording zeros. Zeros really skew a student’s grade and this may distort their final grade and inaccurately report their mastery of the subject. This chapter impacted me because it gave me a great list of ideas of what to avoid grading when I become a teacher. This will impact my classroom because I will make a strong effort to avoid doing these things because I really believe these things can distort a student’s final grade and not show what they really learned about the topic.

Lizzie
This chapter was so interesting to me because it was from a different standpoint then we have continuously seen. It discussed ten different things that teachers should avoid when they are differentiating grading and assessment. The list includes such things as, grading on a curve, avoiding recording zeros, avoiding extra credit or bonus points, avoiding scaffolding, avoiding categorizing students or using terms that may hint towards this, avoid grading things that are not relevant to mastery of the material at hand, and avoiding grading homework. I think that having a list of things that should be avoided makes me consider all possibilities of a situation, such as grading. Many times teachers are so concerned with what they should be doing and what they should include, that they often times accidentally include some things that could have been left out. I don’t agree with some of the items on the list simply because I may over think or analyze many different aspects of a situation or particular piece of material. However I feel that sometime it may be better to include more than less. What if a particular student is doing poorly and you know they are capable to achieving much better, why can’t they have extra credit- a second chance to help themselves? If students know that what they are “supposed” to do outside of the class is not going to be graded then why would they bother doing it? They could simply say I forgot about it, I lost it, and every other excuse. I feel that including so many different aspects when grading could help my students to be more prepared and more involved with the material at hand.. Each class may need to be graded differently considering that they will understand, learn, and interact differently on every level. I think the biggest point of this chapter was meant to make us think more extensively about being flexible and adaptable to every kind of classroom environment that we may encounter.

Jenna
Chapter ten of __Fair Isn't Always Equal__ discussed ten different things to avoid when differentiating assessments and grading. Approach number one spoke about avoiding the mistake of incorporating nonacademic factors such as behavior, attendance, and effort into the final grade of the student. Teachers should avoid penalizing students' attempts at trying to master the content. If a teacher penalizes a student for trying to learn in a different intelligence, then that teacher is denying them the opportunity to learn. The chapter also suggests to the teacher that (s)he should avoid grading homework. Homework is meant to serve as practice. The content is new to the students, so if they do not fully understand the new content, and it is evident in the homework that they do not comprehend the material, then the teacher should seize this opportunity to teach them what they do not understand while providing the students with a non-threatening environment (a place where the students can have the opportunity to learn at their own pace and revise their work). The point of homework is to help the students become comfortable with the new content and new ideas, not for them to perfect it on the first try. Teachers should withhold assistance with learning when it is needed. Teachers should help their students understand the content, differentiate and tier assignments. Teachers should never assess their students in ways that do not depict the children's mastery. Teachers should avoid using extra credit and bonus points. If grades are about mastery of content, then using methods that alter grades to encourage motivation and participation are not being constructive to the students' knowledge. Teachers should avoid group grading because every student works differently. Teachers should also avoid grading on a curve (similar to what Dr. Grace was talking about in class with a positive alternative of teaching with the J curve). Teachers should avoid handing out zeros for unaccomplished work. Students should be given an opportunity to attempt the content. The last suggestion warns the teachers to avoid using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes. Teachers simply cannot use a grade that shows a student's average in order to demonstrate a mastery of a standard. This chapter was extremely valuable to me as a teacher because it displayed the many negative aspects of grading in a classroom. I can use this information to remind myself that it was used ineffectively in other classrooms and that I should not practice these questionable methods in my own classroom.

Ben
Chapter 9 covers 10 approaches to avoid when grading and assessing. Avoid non-academic factors, penalizing multiple attempts at mastery, grading practice (homework), withholding assistance with learning, assessing students that doesn't measure mastery, extra-credit and bonus points, group grades, grading on a curve, recording zeros for work not done, and norm-referenced terms. I believe that with most of these guidelines I will be able to fully assess my students on the mastery of the subject, and not on extra criteria that other teachers have used in the past. Its been the case too often, where a student who did not understand the material squeak by because of extra credit and bonus points. We are here as teachers to teach them a skill, something that will be useful in their life, and we are here to make sure they understand it fully, not just help them pass. We need to focus more on mastery, less on getting the grades to pass.

Lindsey
Some advice given in this chapter is to avoid grading on a curve as well as giving students zeros. Zeros do not indicate anything aside from a day’s struggle for a student. Instead, students should be given the opportunity to make up work and build mastery. In addition, homework should not be graded as this is merely a formative assessment. Students do homework to work towards mastery, thus it is not complete work but only a step along the way. Students should be given the opportunity to work through homework then use assignments in an attempt to judge mastery.

Andrew F.
This chapter was interesting to read after reading both Understanding by Design, and the MI book because it plays on topics of discussion from these readings as well as things Fair Isn't Always Equal has already said throughout the book.

1. **Avoiding nonacademic factors into the final grade-** this is really preaching an emphasis on rewarding kids for behaviors that they should already be proficient on without needing credit for. Kids should know the expectations from the syllabus and not be rewarded for things that should be basic requirements as high school age students. Too often awarding behavior, participation, and effort spoon feeds kids rather then teaching them to responsible for live outside of high school.

2. **Avoiding Penalizing Students Multiple Attempts at Mastery**- no matter how long it takes a student to become proficient with some material discussed within your class, the emphasis should be working hard to be successful. If at first a student does not understand give them multiple chances to re-think and re-work until they fully understand the material. Learning is a process which takes time, and generally misinterpretation is due to not delivering the material in a way that certain student can understand.

3. **Avoid Grading Practice** (//Homework//)- The way homework is viewed conventionally is that students need to do it in order to practice, but far too often it students are harshly penalized for incomplete or partially finished work. Students need to see this as a way to attempt what they will complete in the next lesson, rather than a punishment for not doing enough in class. I know personally I rarely got the connection between the worksheets I was completing and how they actually related to what we were doing in class, and when I did not complete the work its because I did not have a firm grasp on the material and was afraid of being told I was wrong.

4. **Avoid Withholding assistance with the learning when it's needed**- Some students need that extra scaffolding in order to correctly demonstrate what they know. I look at it as just providing students the proper tools to use in order to be successful. The student's learning is the most important thing and what is the point of giving them challenges they wont be able to do well on if that one key to learning is removed from the equation?

5. **Avoid Assessing Students in Ways that do not Accurately Indicate their Mastery-** Obviously this is something we have covered extensively through our creation of performance tasks, is that our assignments created to assess what students know should actually relate to the material and something that the students can feel engaged with. If we don't give students connection to the real world and they cant see how the assessment relates to what they have learned then we are failing them as educators.

6. **Avoiding extra credit and bonus points**- This is really tainting the accuracy of the grades of students, it is similar to rewarding for "extra effort" where students are only doing it for the grade rather than proving any mastery of the subject. Content and curriculum are the important things to cover, if a student needs extra credit they should be able to make up assignments they received low marks on rather than getting credit for a random assignment.

7. **Avoid group grades-** I can see where the author is coming from this point, where I remember back to group work where some of the members of the group took the initiative in order to be effective in the assignment and the other kids got credit just for being in that group. But I think with the use of group and self assessment you can provide a grade for each team member rather than a group as a whole and have it be an effective measurement of the work done by each member.

8. **Avoid grading on a curve-** Obviously this is something we have covered extensively in the course, as well as common sense that when curves are thrown into the grading process the representation of student mastery is completely distorted.

9. **Avoid recording zeros for work not done-** With systems such as power school, there are options to put different labels on assignments that have no grade (such as exempt, late, and missing) which will allow the students to see the work they are missing and make sure they can make it up before the end of the marking period.

10. **Avoid using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes-** We are using a system that is based on standards, no how each student is doing in relation to everyone else in the classroom. Therefore our assessments should not determine how "average" a student is.

Ted Chapter 9 was a list of ten grading ideas we should avoid in our classrooms when grading. I agreed with many of these but disagreed with others. As I stated in the chapter 8 response, I think the important life skills of participation and behavior are important enough to merit grades in the classroom, as long as it is made clear to students. I agreed with most of the tenets though. I strongly agreed with the segment against grading multiple attempts at mastery. I think revising and rethinking work is very important in the classroom and in life. Students need to learn that it’s not only acceptable to make mistakes, but it is acceptable (and desirable) to try to correct them and deepen understanding of a topic. Grading students in ways that doesn’t reflect their mastery is also a bad idea. If you’ve only given verbal practice, asking them to draw a picture of what they learned just doesn’t make sense. My classroom will ensure that all students have a fair chance during assessment. I also agreed with the statement that we should avoid recording zeroes for incomplete work.