common core grading handbook

7/27/2019 COMMON CORE Grading Handbook

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Teacher Handbook

Grading for Learning

(G4L)

Summer 2013



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Grading Committee Members

Teachers

Jon Balcerak, East

Jeanine Berggruen, West

Christa Botsford, West

Sarah Chavez, West

Sue Ennis, Longfellow

John Hushek, Longfellow

Ann Joerndt, Longfellow

Maggie Kelly, Whitman

Peggy Keough, Longfellow (Spring)

Jean Kresnak, Whitman

Vicki Loving, East

Julie Manders, West

Ed Price, Whitman

Lucy Rothstein, Longfellow (Spring)

Tracy Rosenstein, Whitman

Zachary Shackelford, Longfellow

Tom Schneider, West

Anna Troy, East

Chad Tschanz, East (Spring)

William Ulrich, Longfellow

Christine Vedbraaten, East

Building Administration

Jason Galien, Longfellow Principal

Jason Zurawik, Longfellow Associate Principal

Jeff Keranen, Whitman Principal

Kyle Moore, Whitman Associate Principal

Nick Hughes, East Principal

Jean Hoffmann, East Associate Principal

Elizabeth Kayzar, East Associate Principal

Frank Calarco, West Principal

Matt Byers, West Associate Principal

Clint Grochowski, West Associate Principal

District Teacher Leadership

Leann Neese, Middle School District Teacher Leader

Pat Gilbert, High School District Teacher Leader



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District Administration

Phil Ertl, Superintendent

Beth Erenberger, Director of Student Learning

David Dentinger, Student Learning Secondary Coordinator

APPENDIX B

Best Practices/Accommodations

Sub-Committee

Sarah Chavez

Jason Thurow

Michael Chay

Jean Kresnak



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What is Grading For Learning (G4L)?

Paradigm Shift

One major paradigm shift in American education today focuses on how we assess and grade our

students. To date, we‘ve used a percentage-based system to determine grades: 93% to 100% is an

A, 85% to 92% is a B, and so on. There can be slight variations of this model. For example,

some teachers use a ten-point scale where an A is 90% to 100%, a B is 80% to 89%, and so on.

Some teachers use a grading system where students accumulate points over time. But when the

teachers give their students a quarter or semester grade, these point totals are converted into

percentages.

In the Grading 4 Learning initiative, we are asked to make a paradigm shift. We no longer

―measure‖ student learning in percentages. Instead, when students take a summative assessment,

they are asked to demonstrate their mastery of the established benchmarks. A student‘s performance shows to what extent he or she has mastered the skills and concepts identified in the

benchmarks.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in American education, there has been a major

focus on content. Students learned — and were graded on — their abilities to mentally store and

recall factual information. As such, one could argue that a percentage-based grading system

might make sense. If a student is being assessed on vocabulary terms, we can measure what

percent of those terms a student has mastered.

However, in the twenty-first century there has been a decisive shift. While no one disputes theimportance of quality content, educators now acknowledge the compelling need to teach students

the essential concepts and critical thinking skills they need to succeed in a fast paced, ever-

changing world. To get a sense of this shift, one need only consider the new sets of standards

American educators have issued in the last few years: The Common Core State Standards in

Math and English Language Arts, the Next Generation Science Standards, the ACT College and

Career Readiness Standards, all of which have placed concepts and skills front and center.



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Once we understand that we‘re now assessing and grading students‘ mastery of concepts and

skills, it becomes clear that a percentage-based grading system is no longer viable. We need a

system where we can grade how students think, how they understand. We have to ask ourselves

how much sense it makes to say, ―Student A gets a 92% on her ability to interpret data to

evaluate relationships and draw conclusions, but Student B gets an 89%.‖ How do we assign a

percentage grade to what extent students are mastering complex concepts and high-level thinking

skills? That‘s where Grading 4 Learning comes in. This handbook is designed to help us make

the paradigm shift from percentage-based grading to Grading 4 Learning.

Summary of Paradigm Shifts Needed to Effectively Implement G4L:

● Grade level or course benchmarks need to be predominantly focused on concepts and

skills.

● Grades are a reflection of the mastery of benchmarks not an average of test scores.

● Quality Assessments need to be aligned to measure benchmarks. Quality assessments are

evaluated not by length or types of questions but by how effectively they measure the

benchmarks.

What is the purpose of G4L?

The fundamental purpose of G4L (standards-based grading) is to compare student performance

to established levels of proficiency in knowledge, understanding and skills. The intent is to

evaluate authentically student work in relation to pre established benchmarks. (Guskey, 2009)

Additionally, grades might communicate the following information:● What things they know and can do

● Whether they have improved during the marking period

● What their strengths are and the things they need to work on

● Whether they can solve real-world problems

● What level their work is at

● Whether they are ready to move on

● How they help one another

● Whether they‘ve reached a standard

● How well they can apply what they know

(O‘Connor, A Repair Kit for Grading 143)

Main Purpose

Therefore, the main purpose of G4L is to accurately communicate what it is that a student knows

and is able to do in relation to established benchmarks.



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Introduction of Wauwatosa School District Grading for Learning Initiatives

Opening day of the 2011-12 school year, Dr. Tom Guskey provided an introduction to

standards-based grading for all middle and high school teachers. Throughout the 2011-12 school

year teachers were asked to consider the grading best practices Dr. Guskey discussed as they

renegotiating their grading practices. In addition, some teams of teachers piloted Dr. Guskey‘s

best practices and/or alternative reporting of grades.

In the 2012-13 school year Grading for Learning initiatives were implemented as a first step in

moving toward best practices in grading:

Initiative One: Multiple Opportunities to Learn

Initiative Two: Homework can count up to 10% of the final student grade

Initiative Three: Reduce the negative impact of zeros

Initiative Four: No extra credit

In the second semester of the 2012-13 school year a grading committee was formed to evaluate

the implementation of these initiatives and to provide feedback for improvement. The

recommendations from this committee were shared at the end of the school year with all middle

and high school staff. The committee recommendations can be found in Appendix A.

In the summer of 2013, the grading committee continued to meet to develop this teacher

handbook and a staff development plan to further support teacher implementation of these

initiatives. The committee studied each of the initiatives in detail. The results of the committee

work can be found on the following pages and are intended to support teachers as theyimplement best practices in grading.



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Grading Initiative: Multiple Opportunities to Learn

Description of Initiative:

We will provide multiple pathways and opportunities for every student to learn and demonstrate

their level of proficiency of course benchmarks.

Rationale:

The overall purpose of multiple opportunities is to raise the level of achievement for our students. We provide multiple opportunities because students require different amounts of time

and differentiated instruction to learn. This allows students opportunities to develop successful

practices for college/career readiness skills and become engaged in self-reflection and the

learning process.

We provide multiple opportunities because we understand this is the best way to promote and

assess student learning. When learning and assessment are clearly connected to benchmarks,

assessment of learning is relevant, meaningful, and fair.

In order to effectively implement multiple opportunities the teacher must have a thorough

understanding of the course benchmarks, which are predominantly based on concepts and skills.

Every summative assessment should assess one or more of the established benchmarks.

Therefore, the inclusion of multiple opportunities either formatively and/or summatively will

reduce the need for ―retakes.‖

Prior to assigning a grade to the student, the teacher must take into consideration a minimum of at least 3 (formative or summative) data points on a given benchmark.

Guidelines for Multiple Opportunities (MOs):

● MOs are different than giving a retake. MOs are a natural part of the teaching andlearning cycle and are characterized by varied and alternative ways of allowing a student

to demonstrate mastery of benchmarks. Effective use of MOs should better prepare

students for summative assessments thus reducing the need for retakes. Additionally,having skill based benchmarks that transcend a ―one time‖ chance of mastery will also

reduce the need for retakes.

● Students should have demonstrated readiness on formative assessments before being

summatively assessed● It is the teacher‘s responsibility to provide students multiple opportunities to learn and

master the benchmarks. ● Summative and formative assessments should be aligned to established grade level or

course benchmarks.

● MOs are best provided by spiraling skills and concepts in multiple summative

assessments over time (note: if assessing content see Retake section)● Grades from multiple opportunities should not be averaged, most recent performances

should bear more weight



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● The ultimate summative grade for a student is at the end of a semester. Anything prior to

this is considered to be a progress report of on-going mastery of benchmarks. In other

words, the quarter grade is not a permanent point. Note: A semester grade, whenever possible should not simply be an average of quarter 1 and quarter 2 grades.

Managing Retakes:

● Retakes are not necessary if a teacher provides multiple opportunities for a student to

master benchmarks, however at times a teacher may provide retakes. For example, if a

number of students did not demonstrate mastery, if it is a content focused assessment, if

there are extenuating circumstances, and lastly teacher discretion to meet individual,

small group, or whole class learning needs.

● When allowing retakes the teacher can determine the necessary learning practice needed

prior to the retake. When considering a retake a teacher can decide the timeline, amount,

and format for the reassessment. Retakes should be focused on the established

benchmarks a student has not mastered. It is strongly advised that departments create

guidelines for retakes for equity and coherence. ● Teaching and learning (re-teaching, revising, assessment corrections, completing

formative/practice work, discovering misunderstanding of concepts/skills) must take

place prior to any reassessment

● Students should have multiple opportunities to master course benchmarks and have

received feedback on how to improve learning prior to the conclusion of a semester and

before administering final semester exams, projects, papers, etc. In this case retakes are

not permitted.

Managing Deadlines:

It is fair for you to have guidelines and policies regarding deadlines and make-up work. Again,

it is strongly urged that the department establishes the guidelines collaboratively, for the sake of

equity and coherence. Below are some considerations for inclusion in this policy.

● Students should be expected to turn work in at a determined deadline

● Deadline dates should be fair, manageable and focused on student learning.

Options

● If student work is on on time, the teacher will provide feedback and the student will

have the opportunity to make revisions before determining a final grade. If it is turned in

after the deadline, the student will receive a grade but will not have the opportunity for

revisions.

● Students are not allowed to turn work in after the summative assessment.

● The teacher can limit the amount of missing work that can be accepted prior to the end of

a grading period (i.e., can only turn in two assignments late).

● The teacher can limit the type of make up work he will grade.



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SCENARIO

Traditional Grading Practice:

The teacher gives an assessment. Many of the students earned a score of 70%. The student and

parent are not satisfied with that grade. The student requests to retake the assessment. The

teacher gives the student another test, a higher score is earned, the new score is recorded.

Solutions

Option 1: The teacher realizes the assessment might have been flawed and/or students were not

yet prepared for the assessment. Therefore, the teacher would reteach key material based off the

initial test results and offer a retake to the entire class.

Option 2: The teacher acknowledges the lack of skill attainment and plans to include another

opportunity for students to demonstrate mastery of that skill on the next assessment after more

teaching and learning has taken place. Students are allowed to replace the score on the initial test

if mastery is demonstrated in these areas on the second assessment.

Supportive Resources:

● Wormeli, Rick. ―Redos and Retakes Done Right.‖ Educational Leadership Nov. 2011.

● Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and Ian Pumpian. ―No Penalties for Practice.‖

Educational Leadership Nov. 2011. ● Dueck, Myron. ―How I Broke My Rule and Learned to Give Retests.‖ Educational

Leadership Nov. 2011.

● *Add an artifact or exemplar (syllabus, a narrative of how to manage, samples of a

retake)

● Example of assessment analysis sheets (J. Smith)



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Grading Initiative: Homework can count up to 10% of a student’s final grade

Rationale:

―One of the most common practices in North American education has been scoring and

including all homework as a significant part of grades. This has been done in the belief that it promotes responsibility in students, but in fact it often has the opposite effect. Careful

consideration has to be given to the purpose(s) of homework .

Sometimes homework requires students to know what they know by extending or integrating

their knowledge through projects or assignments done partially or completely outside the

classroom. This is clearly summative assessment and is legitimately part of grades as long as

there is careful monitoring to ensure that it is the student‘s own work.

Another purpose for homework is preparation--introducing knowledge, understanding, and

skills intended to help students be ready for subsequent lessons. As this happens before

instruction any assessment would be diagnostic, which obviously has no place in grades.

Most often, however, homework is practice of whatever was learned in class that day- any

assessment of this work would be regarded as formative. Practice is valuable only to thosestudents who can have some degree of success on their own without teacher support. It is of

little or no value to students that don‘t need practice, and it can actually be damaging to

students who don‘t understand because they may embed misunderstandings that will be

difficult to correct‖ (O‘Connor, A Repair Kit for Grading, p. 110).

Guiding Questions for Effective Homework Assignment

● How can homework be engaging so that students will complete it?

● What support will the teacher give to ensure it is a meaningful learning experience?● What is the purpose of the homework assignment; is it aligned to a benchmark?

● What is the purpose of doing the task outside of class? (Preparation for next class and

future class discussions, practice of skill, research, extended learning, exploring new

learning, e-collaboration) ● What feedback will students receive on their homework?

● If the student did not complete the homework how will it be managed by the teacher or

department?


Homework can count up to 10% of a student‘s final course grade.

Homework is independent work or practice completed outside class, which is aligned to theestablished benchmarks that have been introduced by the teacher. The purpose of homework is

to develop students‘ academic proficiency and to do this, students need opportunities for

practice without penalty. The teacher should provide meaningful feedback to students on

homework as it relates to the mastery of the benchmarks.



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Teachers should ensure students have the necessary resources and preparation for homework to

promote an optimal independent learning experience. Homework can be used to encourage

students to take risks and challenges with their learning provided it is not graded. Homework should be an opportunity for students to prepare for summative assessments.

Departments are strongly encouraged to have agreement on coherent homework practices.

Failure to complete homework has traditionally been viewed as a behavioral problem that was

reflected in grades. Homework should be an opportunity for students to practice

independently without being penalized for learning.

Solutions/Suggestions/Fixes:

● Teachers should ensure that homework is connected to summative assessment, which

is aligned to established benchmarks.

● Teachers should provide meaningful feedback to students on homework.

● Completion of homework may be a condition considered when a student is requesting

a retake.● The inclusion of Responsibility for Learning report is a way to separate academic

behaviors from academic performance. Homework completion is an academic behavior.

● If summative homework is done on time there will be opportunity for teacher feedback

and resubmission before a final grade is determined.● Communication with parents/guardians, as well as communication with support staff,

can be very helpful in supporting students in successfully engaging in and completing

their homework.

Scenario:

TBD


● Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and Ian Pumpian. ―No Penalties for Practice.‖

Educational Leadership Nov. 2011.

● Vatterott, Cathy. ―Effective Homework Practices." Rethinking Homework: Best

Practices That Support Diverse Needs. ASCD, 2009.

● Vatterott, Cathy. ―Making Homework Central to Learning.‖ Educational Leadership Nov. 2011.

● O'Connor, Ken. How to Grade for Learning . Corwin, 2009.



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Grading Initiative: Reducing the negative impact of zeros

Rationale:

―Most educators see that a zero is not an accurate reflection of students‘ learning. Instead, zeros

are typically assigned to punish students for not displaying appropriate effort or responsibility. If

the grade is to represent how well students have learned, then the practice of assigning zeros

clearly misses the mark‖ (Guskey, ―Developing Grading and Reporting Systems‖ 144).

Therefore, averaging a zero into a series of grades disproportionately skews the grade leading to

an inaccurate portrayal of what a student has learned. Additionally, zeros, and the low grades

they yield, can cause students to withdraw from learning (Guskey, 0 Alternatives article).


Teachers should not give zeros on assessments. This includes both formative and

summative assessments.


● The teacher can assign an ―I‖ or ―Incomplete‖ grade, rather than a zero. Studentsshould then complete the work so that they are able to best master the established

benchmarks. One way to support students in completing their work is to use a

Completion Contract (O‘Connor, ―How To Grade For Learning‖ 165).

● The teacher could require before, after, or Saturday sessions for makeup work. In

other words, they are not ‗let off the hook‘ with a zero. Instead, students learn that

they have certain responsibilities in school and that their actions have specific

consequences‖ (Guskey, ―Developing Grading and Reporting Systems‖ 145). Theconsequence is direct, immediate, and academically sound.

● The teacher can issue both an achievement grade and an academic behavior grade tostudents when reporting grades. The achievement grade would indicate results from

summative assessments and the academic behavior grade would indicate criteria suchas homework, punctuality, and class participation. *See Responsibility for Learning

rubric pilot

● When teachers use an equal interval scale, the impact of a zero is not as devastating.

(e.g., a 0-50 scale rather than a 0-100 scale, O'Connor, 167)

*See grading scale sample below



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Grading Initiative: No Extra Credit

Rationale:

This is an effort to ensure that all student work, formative or summative, is authentic and tied to

grade level or content area learning targets and equally available to all students. Extra credit

―provided for the purpose of ‗boosting‘ grades are not appropriate as they distort the proper

assessment of a student‘s knowledge, skill, and understanding in relation to the learning

outcomes of that course‖ (O‘Connor).


―Grades are broken when teachers provide extra credit or bonus points that are just about

more points, not about higher levels of proficiency.... Better grades come from evidence of

higher levels of performance, not just from more points‖ (O‘Connor).

Often times students want extra credit to raise their grades. When a teacher Grades 4

Learning they remove this ―game play‖ for grades. However, if a student desires to improve

their learning, the initiative of multiple opportunities will address this by giving the student

other opportunities to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency.


● Teachers should provide multiple opportunities. These opportunities to advance mastery

of the course‘s benchmarks are available to all students over time.

● Teachers may also offer non-graded enrichment opportunities to students. However,

students are not to be penalized for failing to participate in enrichment opportunities.

● Teachers can ―teach up‖ but assess at grade level or course benchmarks to provide

challenges and enrichment for all students.

Classroom Scenarios:

A teacher used to have many students ask for extra credit toward the end of a grading period to

improve their grades. Then the teacher changed her practice and made sure she offered students

multiple opportunities to learn and to retake assessments when appropriate during the course of

the semester. These opportunities provided students the ability to increase and demonstrate their

proficiency of the established benchmarks. After a while, very few students asked for extra credit

at the end of the semester, and when they did, the teacher cheerfully reminded them that they hadhad many previous opportunities to demonstrate their learning.


O‘Connor, Ken. A Repair Kit for Grading. Pearson, 2011.



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Pilot options2013-14

On the next couple of pages you will find a optional transitional grading scale and a

Responsibility for Learning (R4L) rubric. These are two pilots being provided for teachers

and/or departments that are looking for support in transitioning their grading practices.

Optional Transition Grading Scale

Current Traditional Scale Optional Transition Scale

In the Fall of the 2013-14

school year the grading

4.0 - A

3.75 - A



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committee will continue to

meet to monitor the

implementation of initiatives,

plan on-going staff

development, and to make arecommendation for a grading

scale aligned to G4L.

As we make the transition to

full implementation of G4L

the committee established an

optional transition scale for

those teachers and/or

departments in need of scale

better aligned to the gradingof skills and concept

benchmarks. This scale is on

the right.

3.5 - A- 3.25 - B+

3.0 - B

2.5 - B- 2.25 - C+

2.0 - C

1.5 - C- 1.25 - D+

1.0 - D

0.75 - D-

0 - F 0 - I

*This scale can be used by

teachers that use rubrics todetermine benchmark mastery


● Guskey, Thomas. "Special Problems in Grading and Reporting.‖ Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning. Corwin, 2001.

● Guskey, Thomas. "0 Alternatives." Principal Leadership. Oct. 2004.

● Guskey, Thomas. "Are Zeros Your Ultimate Weapon?" Principal Leadership. Nov. 2004.

● O'Connor, Ken. How to Grade for Learning . Corwin, 2009.



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Responsibility for Learning (R4L) Pilot

When utilizing Grading for Learning it is important to understand that academic behaviors, such

as respect, responsibility, effort, engagement, and attendance should not be included in the

academic performance grade. However, academic behaviors can be reported separately on report

cards so that students understand the role these behaviors play in their academic performance.

Therefore, during the 2013-14 school year there will be an opportunity to report Responsibility

for Learning on the four quarterly progress reports at the teacher‘s discretion. Below is the

rubric that should be used to assess a student‘s R4L at these reporting times. The grading

committee will seek feedback on the use of this rubric and reporting R4L throughout the year to

determine its effectiveness.

The Responsibility for Learning (R4L) Rubric

Below is the R4L rubric for use in determining academic behavior for progress reports.

(Note: Attendance is considered a Responsibility for Learning behavior but will not be evaluated

by the teacher. Attendance data will be imported from PowerSchool.)



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R4L Rubric

Consistently (4) Usually (3) Occasionally (2) Rarely (1)

The student consistently

demonstrates thefollowing behaviors:

Respect:

● Self

● Others

Students, staff

and community

members

● Environment

Responsibility:

● Time

management

● Deadlines

● Prepared for

class

● Seeks help

when needed

Connected andEngaged:

● Effort

● Participation

● Teamwork/

Cooperation

Attendance:

From Powerschool:

Excused and

Unexcused

● Absences

● Tardies

The student usually


Respect:

● Self

● Others

Students, staff

and community

members

● Environment

Responsibility:

● Time

management

● Deadlines

● Prepared for

class

● Seeks help when

needed


● Effort

● Participation

● Teamwork/

Cooperation

Attendance:

From Powerschool:

Excused and Unexcused

● Absences

● Tardies

The student occasionally


Respect:

● Self

● Others

Students, staff

and community

members

● Environment

Responsibility:

● Time

management

● Deadlines

● Prepared for

class

● Seeks help

when needed


● Effort

● Participation

● Teamwork/

Cooperation

Attendance:

From Powerschool:

Excused and Unexcused

● Absences

● Tardies

The student rarely


Student does not

demonstrate the

qualities needed to

be successful at the

secondary level.

Student does not

take ownership for

his/her learning andhas an

unwillingness to

accept responsibility

for personal goals.

Appendix A

2013-14 Grading Initiatives



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1. Students have multiple opportunities to learn

2. Homework only counts for up to 10% of the achievement grade

3. No extra credit

4. Reducing the negative impact of zeros

Grading Committee

A grading committee met this spring with representation from all secondary schools. The work

on this committee was focused on improving upon the four grading initiatives implemented this

year. The committee acknowledged some of the challenges to implementing the four initiatives

this year and discussed ways to improve the implementation. Templates were created by the

committee that define each initiative, provide a rationale, and provide suggestions to assist with

implementation. In addition, the May 3rd

benchmark revisions will help support a standards-

based grading initiative.

2013-14 School Year Grading Committee Recommendations

1. Get a handbook out to teachers as early as possible (by end of year – early summer at the

latest), which reflects the research and resources identified by the committee to assist

teachers in better implementation of the four initiatives in the 2013-14 school year.

2. Provide for a ―responsibility for learning‖ grade on the middle and high school report

card for the 2013-14 school year. A sub-committee is developing a rubric to be used for

this purpose. We are also exploring how this will look on the report card and work with

PowerSchool.

3. Hold on implementing a new grading scale until the 2014-15 school year. In 2013-14decide on a standards-based scale by mid-year; create a staff development plan to work

with staff throughout the 2013-14 school year so that they are best equipped to use a

standards-based grading scale. Waukesha teachers have offered to work alongside

Wauwatosa teachers next year as part of this staff development plan.

Purposes of Assessment

Diagnostic: assessment that takes place prior to instruction; designed to determine a student‘s

attitude, skills or knowledge in order to identify student needs.



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Formative: assessment designed to provide direction for improvement and/or adjustment to a

program for individual students or for a whole class, e.g. observation, quizzes, homework

(usually), instructional questions, initial drafts/attempts. ( Assessments FOR learning )

Summative: assessment designed to provide information to be used in making judgments about

a student‘s achievement at the end of a sequence of instruction, e.g. final drafts/attempts, tests,

exams, assignments, projects, performances. ( Assessments OF learning )

(O‘Connor, A Repair Kit for Grading 107)



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APPENDIX B

SUB-COMMITTEE

Best Practices/Accommodations

Best practices are an inherent part of a curriculum that exemplifies the connection and relevance

identified in educational research. Best practices are applicable to all grade levels and provide

the building blocks for instruction. Four best practices for teachers include teaching a balanced

curriculum, teaching an integrated curriculum, differentiating instruction to meet individual

student needs, and providing active learning opportunities for students to internalize learning.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/bpractices2.pdf

In Wauwatosa Public Schools, the shift is towards teaching students skills that will endure as

opposed to expecting strictly content-driven learning. Through the utilization and

implementation of best practice activities, we will readily meet the diverse needs of all learners.

LEVEL 1

(For use with all students in all content areas)

Universal Best Practice Example

Focus on student ability to problem solve andcritically analyze as opposed to focusing on

the ―answer‖.

Teachers may model ways of thinking or making connections, students reflect on the

process of finding the answer.

Rubrics May be used as: formative assessments (to

convey expectations, vocabulary, and learningtargets before beginning work); formative

assessments (to track student progress through

the unit/lesson), and summative assessments.

The learning environment offers a variety of

approaches to learning.

Lecture, self-exploration, group work,

individual work, student/teacher conferences,

access to technology. Allow students the

opportunity to meet learning targets throughself-designed assignments based on their own

interests.

Teachers assess prior student knowledge andrevisit and/or extend material when

appropriate.

Pre-assessments






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There is open communication with and aboutstudents.

This is done by teachers talking with parents,counselors, and other teachers to find

strategies which may help this student. The

teacher also regularly checks for understanding and speaks with this student

individually.

Students are offered multiple opportunities &

resources to review, practice, and demonstrate

understanding (both during and outside of class).

This may take many forms such as test re-

takes, spiraling assessments, re-working of

projects, or student designed demonstrationsof knowledge, or one on one tutoring, Khan

Academy.

Provide students with visual/auditory

strategies to help them organize material and

ideas.

Graphic organizers, KWL method, checklists,

concept maps, outlines, mnemonic strategies,

sticky notes

Expectations are made clear to students. Classroom rules are discussed/posted,students understand how they are being

assessed and what they are responsible for.

Increase student responsibility. Student self-assessment, student self-reflection, access to answer key (for student to

track progress & learning)

Draw attention to critical features. Use multiple examples and non-examples,

cues and prompts.

Allow students access to assessment materialsand allow students to bring tools to

assessments.

Prior access to test materials, use of anotecard/notes on assessments.

LEVEL 2

(For students in special education and for students who require extra support)

Accommodation Who is Responsible

Copies of class notes taken in class including

but not limited to notes taken from any audiovisual (e.g. power points and smart board) and

taken from lecture

General education and special education staff

Access to a word processor General education and special education staff

Access to assistive technology in the area of

reading (e.g. Kurzweil, Read and Write Gold)




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Access to assistive technology in the area of writing (e.g. Dragon Dictate)


Access to a reader on test or quizzes General education and special education staff

Extended time on test or quizzes (e.g. up totime and a half or double time)


Access to an alternative environment to

complete test or quiz


Access to a scribe (writer) General education and special education staff

Larger print General education and special education staff

Access to a calculator General education and special education staff

Spacing to limit items per page with fewer

items per page and extra spacing between

items


Assistance with proofreading and editing

for written assignments


Highlighting important information in

reading (e.g. different colors for

comparing/contrasting or colors that line up

with questions on worksheet)


Preferential Seating General education and special education staff

Word Banks (limit to groups of five) with

the definition on the left and word choice on

the right (reads easier)


Print things on one side and not back to back General education and special education staff

LEVEL 3

(For students in special education with significant needs)

Modification Who is Responsible

Alternate questions General education and special education staff



Reduced options on assessments &assignments


Alternate assessments General education and special education staff

Alternate grading rubric


Alternate materials (i.e. reading materials atstudents‘ ability level, not grade level)


CAST (2011). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.

Additional Resources: http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/documents/AccModInt.pdf

http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/documents/AccModInt.pdf



common core grading handbook

Documents