Student Assessment Considerations

Assessment, Grades, and Homework

by  Harvey Craft

Student assessment methods need consistency across the nation. The typical method of assessment is a matter of grading student work and averaging the grades, but assessment involves much more than numbers. 

Assessment Quick and Dirty

Teachers are invited to read the points below, read the articles and links in this channel and offer opinions. Perhaps your contributions will help others improve grading and assessment. The points below are intended for kick-starting your assessment process-- how and why you assess.

Students Assessment Issues

What is the basis for your method of grading? (I.e., did you invent it, adapt it from another source, base it on reading and/or research?)

• Do you adjust grades for student behavior like being late to class?
• Do you have a test/quiz make up policy?
• Do you give extra credit to allow students to improve a period grade?
• How often do you give homework?
• Do you include homework as part of a period grade? If so, how much does it count?
• Do you grade all student work?
• Do you know the difference between formative and summative assessments?
• How many grades per student do you record in a typical grading period?
• Do you ever give true/false items?
• Do you give zeros?
• Do you give a variety of items on major tests like multiple choice, essay, short answer, or other tasks?

Perhaps I omitted something that you would like to include or encourage others to discuss. Leave us a comment? 

Students and Cheating: Thinking it Through

When Students Cheat

by Harvey Craft

Wandering eyes might indicate cheating,
but be careful before accusing.

Cheating is wrong, but do teachers over-react to the offense? What is the best way to approach cheating? 

Cheating and Morality

Cheating has long been viewed as a moral issue. For most people cheating is the moral equivalence of stealing information. Reactions to cheating range from looking the other way to giving a zero, but there is a lack of consistency. Teachers are sometimes hesitant to accuse students of cheating; some are ready to jump on anything that looks like cheating. 

Truthfully, cheating is going to occur. Humans are just not that good. We do lots of wrong things. Most of us have a forgiving spirit and we find appropriate ways to deal with the transgressions of others. The IRS loses an estimated $300 billion yearly due to cheating on taxes, although most people think it's wrong. 

Fundamentally, schools are about teaching specific subjects, although we like to think that we can teach responsibility and character as well. Character development is a tough goal in most schools. All teachers understand the importance of good parenting in turning out a proper child. Unfortunately, the world has an abundance of poorly trained parents.

While teachers may be morally outraged by cheating, students may honestly not understand why it's big deal. The consequences they receive may push them deeper in to a belief system that tells them that authority figures are bad. 

When students cheat, they try to find some way to justify what they do to make it acceptable. That is what most adults do when we are caught in some transgression. Also, more students cheat than teacher catch. Some are better at it. Cheating is not a behavior that belongs exclusively to bad students.

Facts About Cheating can be Disturbing

Cheating has been studied widely for years. The results of different studies produce different information. Some findings are listed below: 

• cheating increases as students progress from lower to higher grades,
• high school students are less likely to report others for cheating than are elementary students,
• studies indicate that at least 75% of high school students admit to cheating,
• cheating is more common among college students with high grade point averages,
• the pressure for high marks is a major factor in cheating,
• while cheating on tests exceeds 70%, copying homework may exceed 90%,
• the vast majority of students who cheat are not caught,
• cheating is to a large extent learned behavior, as students see others cheat with impunity they do what others do,
• emphasis on grades instead of learning can lead to cheating.

Implications for Teachers

Much of what teachers do unwittingly encourages cheating. Specifically:

• assigning and grading homework,
• assigning projects that can be copied from the Internet,
• assigning books or other materials that are abridged in Cliff Notes, SparkNotes, etc,
• providing students questions that teachers believe will be on standardized tests,
• talking with students about their own dishonest behavior, like cheating on income tax,
• hesitating to question students about work that appears to be done by someone else e.g., a science project that is too exact, neat, and inappropriately sophisticated for a student's age,
• over-emphasizing grades to the exclusion of learning,
• giving open-book or take-home tests,
• allowing or encouraging the use of a "cheat sheet."

Implications for Parents

Some of the same issues apply to parents as apply to teachers, e.g., talking about cheating on taxes or other dishonest deeds. Parents are sometimes guilty of being overly critical of an assignment and assisting in some way instead of taking the matter up with the teacher. Projects can become the work of parents when children procrastinate or if parents see a project as an opportunity to raise a grade by offering too much help.

There is no question that grades are often over-emphasized and can become the raison d'être for attending school. Philosophically, grades are secondary to learning it is a lesson well-learned. Good grades can often represent compliance. Students who are held strictly to doing as they are told by parents and teachers may miss the point of learning, but do the right things to get high grades   painting by numbers can produce a pretty good picture even for someone who lacks painting kills. College may result in a huge expenditure without much compensation in the job market.

Parents help create a love of learning by discussing what is learned with their children, by reading to them, by having books in the home, by showing interest in learning as purposeful behavior, and by being involved in childrens' schools at some level. 

Cheating and its Consequences

A common consequence of cheating is a zero on the assignment, but this may not settle the matter. Cheating tends to be viewed as a nearly criminal act sometimes more serious than fighting or bullying. Adolescence is a time of emotional stress, and many teens are known to suffer from feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and depression. An accusation of cheating can be devastating for some students. A wise teacher will be certain of the offense and deal with it swiftly.   

Moral outrage is not needed or appropriate when students are caught cheating. There is no purpose in a lecture to the guilty student or the class about the evils of cheating. Teachers should resist the temptation to use their moral compass to steer student behavior. Schools do, or should, have a consequence for cheating and that is what should be calmly followed. 

We should not consider cheating to be a uniquely deviant behavior and allow them to take away opportunities to learn by giving zeros. Many students will not flinch at getting a zero. Others will be disgraced. A better approach might be a requirement that a test be retaken under close supervision at an inconvenient time with some additional consequence of detention. Some teachers will want to give zeros, but a public education is so vital that students must not be denied opportunities for maintaining their grades because they make bad choices. Parents should be informed, of course.  

Cheating, because of the possibility of emotional consequences, should be handled tactfully without outrage and condemnation. Always have in-school counseling available as an option.

What Can Be Done About Student Cheating?  neatoday.org  

Cheating   kidshealth.org

George Washington's Teeth-- A President's Day Lesson

One of many sets of George 
Washington's dentures.
Courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine

George Washington’s Wooden Teeth

by Harvey Craft

George Washington's teeth have been the topic of controversy and legend for over two centuries. The popular tale is that his false teeth were made of wood. Not so.

The Father of his Country owned several sets of dentures, but none were made of wood. He was tall, proper, and charismatic, but suffered from dental problems for his adult life at a time in history when dentistry was, at best, an inexact science and often a practice to be avoided. 

People cleaned their teeth in a variety of ways – chewing wood, mouth washes, flossing with horsehair, scrubbing with salt, powders, etc. Many neglected dental hygiene. Dental problems in Washington’s era could lead to severe, intractable pain. His accounts left in letters and other writings portray the dental miseries and dentistry of the time.

Washington’s Early Dental Problems

Washington was a strong and athletic leader of great physical and emotional strength, but he undoubtedly suffered great pain as a result of poor dental health. The basics of dental hygiene were known in his day and Washington apparently tried to take care of his teeth, by brushing daily, using mouthwashes, and seeking dental care. Despite his efforts, he suffered frequent infections possibly related to his teeth.

Washington began to lose teeth in his early twenties – extractions continued on a regular basis for the next twenty years. Ironically, the physicians of his day may have been largely responsible for much of his agony and tooth loss, as they used a mercury compound – to treat various medical problems from which Washington suffered. Unfortunately, mercury weakens and even destroys tooth enamel. On the day of Washington’s first inauguration he had only one natural tooth. Smiling revealed his dental issues, so he usually remained glum.

Abscessed and infected gums became an accepted part of Washington’s life contributing to his occasional quick temper and reluctance to smile. The several dentures that Washington owned were typically ill-fitting and uncomfortable. There was no single design, but wood was not used in any of them. One set even contained several human teeth – his own previous from previous extractions that he saved and teeth purchased from slave. Various other components of Washington’s dentures included gold and hippopotamus ivory, and springs. The dentures were primarily cosmetic as Washington generally had to eat soft food due to pain caused by the poorly fitting dentures.

Washington Suffered from Disfiguration as Well as Pain

Washington’s face was frequently swollen from infections, one severe enough to result in cause a small hole in his left check that left a permanent scar. Artists of the day portrayed Washington inconsistently depending on the distortion caused by dentures, infection or both.

It is a credit to Washington that he was able to manage the unrelenting pain and effectively lead the Continental Army and the nation as president. He managed to keep his dental nightmares concealed from people, but the British stole a letter of his revealing the problems. Apparently, they did not release the information.

Washington suffered from various health issues most of his life. He endured pain from bad dentistry and in the end died from the ancient practice of “bleeding” while sick. He likely died of blood loss.

Teaching Well, Teaching Correctly

Teaching is not a Simple Matter of Tricks and Tips  

Teachers know what they are doing
and why they are doing it!

(for Melissa)

by Harvey Craft

Teachers are constantly looking for ways to improve instruction and many seek help through tricks and tips. Good teaching requires knowledge of what works.

Teaching is hard work. The lack of consistency in accepted practices makes it even harder. While the nation has made some progress in developing common standards, there is still a lack of agreement on what methods work best to transmit information and problem-solving skills to students. Effective teaching demands a commitment to professional development. 

Teachers must be able to justify what how they teach. The key question is, "Do I know this works, and how do know?"

Professional Development Defined

Professional development in any field is a matter of staying aware of those practices that have been demonstrated to be effective. Teaching, like any job done well, requires an understanding that learning new techniques must continue. If ones job is assembling widgets on an assembly line, then variations from proven practices can be immediately detected by workers down the line who depend on everyone repeating precise steps.

Teaching is not about assembling widgets, but about transferring information and thinking skills. Every students ability to learn is affected by a variety of factors. Teachers must be willing and able to manage individual differences. Teachers must commit to grow continuously and learn new instructional methods. Preparation by college education is virtually essential for good teaching, but learning doesn't stop after college.
Teachers must Commit to Improve

Teachers should be the best learners. They are trained to understand learning and they should believe that what they do is important. The various media are quick to report bad news about teaching, and truthfully, teachers make mistakes.

• Too much homework, especially for younger learners;
• Poor methods of assessment and evaluation;
• Grading methods that are archaic, inaccurate, and misleading;
• Over-dependence on rewards;
• Failure to treat students with respect.

The list could be much longer, but the point is simple. Large numbers of teachers spend too much time preparing lessons and bulletin boards and too little time staying current on contemporary and controversial issues in education. Too many teachers resist change while expecting students to adjust and readjust to the instructional methods of various teachers.

The commitment to improve implies that teachers make a conscious decision to be aware of what works and why it works. Reading and joining respected professional organizations is essential to improvement.

The ideas that are exchanged in teachers lounges are often incorrect and dangerous. The commitment to improve must involve a willingness to speak out when others are involved in reinforcing the many myths about teaching, students, and parents.

Some Effective Teaching Practices

Good teaching practices are determined by the effect they have on student learning and behavior. Good practices also take into consideration how individual students feel about fairness issues and their attitude about the class.

• Be an informed, enthusiastic, and inspiring teacher. Know the answers to questions and have a positive attitude that inspires students to give their best efforts.
• Smile often.
• Be the adult in the classroom. Don't result to embarrassing or sarcastic put-downs. A soft voice used with authority and consistency is better than shouting to manage students.
• Have an attractive classroom and allow students to contribute to its maintenance. Post student work.
• Rewards are not necessary for learning. Often rewards are given because teachers like the good feeling of giving and not because rewards help. Recognition of effort and helping students feel special and important does not encourage materialistic learning like rewards often do.
• Learn how to construct good assessments. Dependence on packaged assessments can cause problems because they are not written in the same voice that students hear on a daily basis. Know the difference and application of formative and summative assessments. Assess academic progress, not behavior. Dont offer points for favors or deduct points for being late to class, failure to return papers, or similar behaviors.
• Greet students as they enter the class.
• Don't imitate favorite teachers in ones experience as a student, but develop a personal style based on knowledge of best practice.
• Resist the influence of complaining, negative teachers.
• Think of discipline as a way of managing whole class and individual behavior. A quiet class is not necessarily an engaged class. Involve all students in learning.

Summary

Tips and tricks should not define instruction. Good teaching comes from knowledge and implementation of strategies that engage students in learning. Just as teachers strive to encourage students to be life-long learners, teachers should commit to improve teaching skills as long as they teach. Teaching tips should be evaluated by teachers based on their growing knowledge base acquired through continuous, self-imposed learning.

Teachers Need to Look at Median Grading

Assessment and evaluation methods are generally left to teachers,
who prefer averaging grades.

The challenge proper grading is to find a single number for that best represents an entire set of scores on different types of assessments. Statisticians refer to this single number as a measure of central tendency. There are three of these measures – the mean, median, and mode. 

The average is the same as the mean. It is easy to understand and perform. The scores are totaled and divided by the number of scores. This more accurately called the arithmetic mean – all scores carry the same weight or importance – as opposed to the weighted mean in which some scores weighted or given more importance than others.

The most widely used method of finding a “grade” is using the arithmetic mean. A simple case would be to find the average for the following scores: 0, 60, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. The teacher totals the scores and obtains a sum of 460. The sum is divided by the number of scores – 7. The arithmetic mean is 65.1 or 65 when rounded off.

Most teachers have been using the mean forever. It is easy to compute and seems to make sense. It’s one of those things that is just done  in public education. Why make waves? We prolong a lot of practices in education because of the assumption that what has been done should be done.

Median Grading is a Better Way for Data like Student Scores

The crux of the problem is that the mean is not recommended when data is affected by outliers, which are extreme scores that are substantially different from most of the scores. In the example above the zero is an outlier and they usually are. When outliers skew data, the median is a better measure of central tendency. If you need a reasonable explanation for this, then look at the scores above – most are above the average score obtained. Also, four of the seven scores are above passing, but the average is a failing score.

The median is simply the middle score obtained after arranging the grades in order from low to high. The median for the list above is 70 – five points better. When there is an even number of scores, the median is the average of the two middle numbers. The median is not a “trick: designed to raise scores, but a valid statistical measurement.

Assume the graph shown below is a students distribution of scores with most scores in an "expected" range –  60 to100, with low scores on the left. On the left there are a couple of scores below 10. Notice how the average – that's the X with the little line over it. Notice how it is the lowest of all three measures – modes are rarely a part of evaluation. 

0      10                                          66.8   70.1

The use of the average penalizes students with low outliers. Teachers may have an attitude that precludes accepting the reality of the outlier effect. They may feel that any student who gets a zero has fairly earned it and its effect on the average score. However, zeros beg the question of “How was the zero achieved?” It may have been simply given for missing work. If it is legitimately earned when an assessment is taken, then the teacher should consider its value as diagnostic. I.e., when students honestly make zeros there may be a serious problem interfering with learning. Find out what the problem is and act accordingly.

Some Schools, Districts, and Teachers Manage the Outlier Problem Arbitrarily

Of course high scores can be outliers if a student typically earns 40’s and 50’s consistently, but that is rare. If it happens, that should also call for diagnosis and intervention. Years ago, some schools and district adopted policies that essentially banned zeros and very low scores. It was an arbitrary way to “simulate” median grading. The averages tended to be a bit higher and closer to the median. Statistically, the truth is that student grades had been incorrectly computed and usually to their detriment.I was teaching when the change came to my district and the policy was not popular – it was viewed as giving students an unfair break. This the archaic attitude that grades serve as rewards and punishments. Grades are for evaluation!

Teachers often adopt a policy of dropping the lowest grade because of their recognition of the outlier problem. The Olympic scoring method that drops the highest and lowest score is done for the purpose managing outliers.  

Recording too many grades can make median grading problematic. If 50 or 60 grades are involved then finding the median is a chore. However, if teachers record only summative grades – i.e., tests and quizzes – there will likely be a much smaller number of scores and median grading can be faster than finding a mean.

Teachers Can Improve Grading Accuracy and Motivation with Median Grading

For most sets of student scores, the median will produce a higher score than the mean. In fact the difference in points can be large enough to determine whether or not a student passes or fails. Also, higher grades tend to motivate better than lower grades.

Consequently, the use of median grading could have a duel impact on final grades ­– one is the result of usually raising grades, and the other is due to the effects of positive motivation.

A disadvantage of the median is that it does not have a formula. The median has to be determined by taking the time to find the middle score. Spreadsheet programs like Excel can produce medians and means. Some grading programs can produce a variety of data including the mean and other statistical data.

Teachers might wish to compute the grades of a few different students using medians versus the mean. When computing the median write tests three times, quizzes two times, etc., or some similar method allowing for the different values of various assessments – it would not be a good idea to count a test as much as a homework assignment.

Grades are supposed to give an accurate appraisal of student progress. There are numerous methods of arriving at this “magic number,” and many are not based on viable mathematical practices. The median offers a correct and direct way to add much needed consistency and fairness to the evaluation process.

Tips for Writing GoodTests

Good Teacher-Made Tests are Crucial for Student Success

by Harvey Craft

A test is more than an assessment of learning. Tests should assess and teach. Teacher-made tests should be well-conceived, carefully written, and evaluated.



Teachers are typically evaluated on how they teach. Statistics are hard to find that tell how often teachers are evaluated on how they test. Assessing should produce more than a score — it should cause students to think and exercise a variety of skills. Students should be better test-takers as a result of teacher assessment. Teachers should remember that student scores are an indication of teaching and testing skills.

Principals Should Review Teacher Tests

Principals and anyone involved in the evaluation of teachers should examine tests that teachers make. Other published materials that are used should be reviewed as well. The fact that an assessment has been published is not sufficient reason to assume that is a good instrument. Much of the assessment material that comes with textbook kits is woefully inadequate and lacks validity and reliability. 

Principals should occasionally also look at grades students make on specific tests. One important issue might be the grade distribution. Does the “scatter” of grades seem reasonable, or are there an excessive number of failing grades? Teachers should be able to describe how they grade tests and their rational for evaluation.

Teachers will use assessments of varying kinds, but grades should be derived from summative assessments, not homework grades, pop quizzes, true-false quizzes, classwork, etc. Major tests should have both subjective and objective items. 

There is no need to grade everything a student does — it isn’t even a good idea to do so. Formative assessments don't need grading. Also, the more grades, the less each one affects the final average. Students need to know that somethings they do are for practice and not grades.They should see the results of practice on their assessments.

Teachers Should Strive for Reliable and Valid Tests

Relatively few teachers are thoroughly familiar with statistical procedures, but the concepts of reliability and validity should be understood, as they can serve as guides in developing better major assessments.

Reliability refers to the internal consistency of a test. For example, different forms of the same test should yield very similar results when given to students of equal ability and studying the same standards. Within the same class two versions of a test should produce very close to the same average score.

Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure. Simply put, tests should address standards being taught — content validity. Criterion validity assumes that a test will be correctly aligned with some outside criterion such as a state test on the standards taught.

Good Test Development may Take Time to Learn

Teaching is hard work and very demanding of one’s time. Teachers’ meetings tend to dwell on administrative matters. Although staff development is included during the year, there are so many issues in education that many of the basics are omitted. Test improvement can easily take a back seat to the long list of concerns.

Teachers are just expected to know how to write test. After all, they have endured countless hours of tests in their educations. But like many things not done well in education, many teachers assume that the tests they received as students were properly developed. After all, any adult can write a test. But not any adult can do it correctly.

Good test writing is a skill based on knowledge of subject matter, students, statistical procedures, and analysis of results. One way to begin test improvement immediately is to analyze test results. Machines like Scantrons have special sheets that allow the teacher to view the number of students that missed each test item. Scrutiny of such data can help teachers determine what is good and not so good about a test. For example, if 75% of one class misses an item and 10% of another class misses the same item then there is a clue about instruction that needs addressing.

Use Well-Constructed Tests as Examples

Teachers should always be mindful of standardized tests and how they are constructed. For example, they don’t rely on trick questions, true/false items, matching, and other common classroom practices in poor assessment.

Good tests teach students about test-taking. If teachers give poorly constructed assessments students are not learning an important skill that will assist them in correctly interpreting and answering tests.

States have placed a lot of effort into test development over the past decade. Many samples of well-constructed state standardized tests are available on the Internet. Testing companies like SAT and ACT provide practice questions written by professionals. These are good places for teachers to compare their assessments.

Test-writing is a teaching skill often ignored in education. Principals should examine test samples to help teachers work toward better test development. One must not assume that assessments published with textbooks are reliable and valid. Good examples of standardized test items are available via the Internet.

Sources:

“Teacher-Made Tests,” education.ucsb.edu. Accessed September 22, 2011

The Myth of Teacher Objectivity in Student Assessment

Teachers strive for grading objectivity, but human judgment is always involved. Uniformity might be all that is possible.

The business of determining student grades – whether on assessments or for final evaluations – has always been problematic. Most teachers want to be fair and they want good testing instruments. Many will use assessments that are supplied with textbooks to improve objectivity, as they doubt their test-making ability.

Perfect Assessment is Illusive but Quality is Possible

When teachers create their own assessments, objectivity is a valid issue. Teachers will try to assess those standards supplied by the state or another source. Teaching standards are thereby removed from teacher judgment – objectively.The desire to achieve objectivity may be there, but where humans have decisions to make, subjectivity plays an important role.

As a part of the instructional process decisions are made that render strict objectivity impossible. For example, teachers will choose the materials and design the instructional plan. The materials chosen may vary among teachers. Some will give lots of notes, while others will give lots of homework. Some will grade homework, some will not. The various evaluative components will like be weighted differently among different teachers of the same subject.

For reasons given above, and others not yet mentioned, principals have a valid reason for wondering why different teachers have such diverse pass/fail rates. Teachers will sincerely assert that they have been “objective” in assessment and evaluation, but when administrators compare student grades they are often baffled. 

The temptation is to label some teachers as “good” and some as “bad.” The “good” classification will likely be applied to the teachers whose students achieve the best grades, but without a clear understanding of how individual instructional methods, materials, and measurement – assessment – it is not possible to judge teachers by their students' grades.
Perhaps Objectivity is Not Essential to Good Teaching

When students are given school-wide standardized tests all teachers receive the same instruction booklets, all receive the same testing materials, and all are trained to give the test in the same manner. The tests are secured and machine scored – at least the multiple choice part. Objectivity rules the day – or does it? There are still human factors involved in how well teachers administer the tests. Before the tests even reach the school they had to be written, and subjective measures were applied.

Testing companies spend huge amounts of money to assure that tests are valid and reliable. The process can take years and involve multiple revisions before they are published for use. Sometimes they are referred to as “objective tests,” but human involvement compromises objectivity.

Absolute objectivity is not possible when humans are involved. To improve learning, teachers need to improve uniformity in what they do as compared with what other teachers do. This won’t require robotic teaching, but it will require that teachers discuss among themselves the ways they teach and how they assess students. Uniform materials, methods, and standards will place educators closer to being able to reliably comparing teacher effectiveness.

Improved Staff Development is Important for Uniformity of Instruction

As teacher accountability gains momentum, administrators will need to provide staff development that will enhance the uniformity of instructional techniques and methods. Educators must make clear what is and is not proper in the instructional process. It is not proper, for example, to take points off a student’s grade for disciplinary reasons, yet it is still done by many teachers.


Objectivity is a fine goal, but it is out of reach. Teachers must be willing and able to give credit when it is due. For example, if an otherwise poorly performing student has an unusually strong day in participating and making solid contributions that indicate rarely seen excellence, then the teacher should make a note of it and give credit. What this action lacks in objectivity can be corrected by applying it uniformly with all students. Teachers are supposed to be trained to make subjective judgments about student learning. Evidence of progress in learning is not always visible on a formal assessment.

There is a Place for Subjectivity in Assessment

Before dismissing subjectivity as heretical, imagine the dilemma of a patient suffering from severe, intractable pain. The patient can choose to be diagnosed by a computer program that works by the objective elimination of symptoms – free from emotional contamination. Another choice is to wait a day and be diagnosed by an experienced physician who will undoubtedly draw on subjectivity-based exceptions and personal experiences. Which will he choose? The best answer is likely, "It depends."

Total objectivity should not guide educators in the learning process. It is there to point teachers in a correct direction, but they must understand human fallibility. There may be subjective evidence that a student’s final grade should be one point higher and result in a passing mark. If there is, then teachers should exercise the expertise they have. It is not lack of objectivity that is the problem, but lack of uniformity. Educators will find uniformity an easier issue to address.

No more Extra Credit

Just Another Bad Practice

Maybe Extra Credit in Needed

My experience has shown me that extra credit helps establish an attitude that tells many students early on that someone will bail them out when they perform poorly. 

This begins in the early grades but no grade is immune. Extra credit as a practice is so ingrained in our schools that it is taken for granted. It is so prominent that parents often ask teachers to give their children extra credit. It’s just another way of saying, “Ms. Smith, please help my son avoid his responsibility so he will think the world is a better place.”

Little research exist on whether or not extra credit is a good or bad practice. I have to confess that my concerns are based primarily personal observation in my experience as an educator. My experience tells me that too many teachers offer extra credit assignments that are designed to simply raise a grade without considering whether or not the learner truly learns something relevant to standards.

Is there anything wrong with pulling a student’s grade up? Well, yes, if the assignment is given solely for that reason, and especially if it doesn't address the standards failed in a way that will help the student learn. To say that any and all extra credit is wrong may be extreme, but teachers should be forewarned regarding the practice. If all you want is for a student to get a higher grade, then give a higher grade – grading is not nearly as objective as we pretend anyway. If your goal is to assure quality learning, design an activity that addresses specific standards that are not being mastered. Will a time-line on a poster serve to teach the issues surrounding the Civil War. Will a couple of pages of fill-in-blank items serve to make the contributions of Ancient Greece clear?

Another "Teaching" Method with no Real Purpose

Extra credit is a practice that has been around for as long as I can remember. It's a perfect exampleI’m not sure if I ever received an extra credit opportunity, but I recall it being offered as early as the third grade to those who had performed poorly on a spelling test. Our commitment to the practice is so enduring that some teachers post their extra credit policies on the internet. The assortment is too large and diverse to discuss here, and really isn’t necessay. May it suffice to say that clearly there are no consistent policies that govern how or why extra credit is dispensed or why.

The practice is another example of teachers inventing rules for a policy that is assumed to be part of sound educational practice. We continue to create an expectation among students that they can pull themselves out of a academic hole through some silly, irrelevant assignment without necessarily knowing what they need to know. Extra credit is particularly malignant when it is used to avoid developing a plan to individualize instruction for a child who may be at-risk and require lots of extra effort by the teacher, or when it used in a discriminatory manner– i.e., kids who are cute and well-mannered might get chances for extra credit but the kids who behave badly and smell bad don’t. I know it happens, and it’s wrong.

Assessment Retakes

Actually, I did give a type of extra credit. Students were allowed to take another version of quizzes and tests that they failed. Some of my cohorts complained that this was not fair. The practice, they said, treated failing students differently by giving them a second chance. So what? School is about teaching and learning, and if I can find a way to get a student to learn what he is supposed to learn, then everyone benefits. Teachers are allowed to “individualize.” Besides, taking the test over is a lot more equitable than bringing a grade up by giving students an easy assignment that they are not likely to fail. The oft heard complaint that real life doesn’t offer second chances, and we must prepare students for real life is nonsense.  Life offers numerous second chances. E.g., adults can take all kinds of tests over: drivers’ license, SAT, AGT and GED to name a few. You can survive serious illnesses, you might goof up on the job and the boss forgives you– truthfully, we couldn’t survive without second chances. And if school is about getting students ready for the real world (and I agree that it should), then why aren’t schools more like the real world experience?

I’d like to say that my retake method was a glowing success, but it wasn’t. Usually the students who needed another go at it were the ones who rarely showed up. The students who were the best performers were the ones who took advantage of the policy. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, since high achievers have learned to like success and want to keep that good feeling that goes with it. I was told that allowing my students to retake tests did not help them develop responsibility. Yet those who usually showed up were among the most responsible students I taught.

When the school decided to adopt a retake policy, it wasn’t a big success. The students who decided to retake were most likely the students who wanted to keep their grades above average. Students with poor study habits and low grades (I.e., those who would benefit most from retaking the assessment) took least advantage. Also, there was a belief among many teachers that students in general did not study diligently for the first test or quiz because they knew that they could always retake it. I emphasize that this Announce on day one that you don’t offer it, but you will allow them to take another version of an assessment.   

Bad Ideas in Discipline

Zero Tolerance: Public Education’s Worst Discipline Policy?

CAREFUL! Grandpa has a weapon!

A True Story.Twenty years ago I was an assistant principal at a middle school when a neglected, dirty little boy named “Johnny” was brought to my office by a teacher one morning immediately after the first bell.

“He has a big knife in his book bag,” She said adding a few details, and hurried off for the beginning of school.

According the teacher, Johnny made no effort to hide his “weapon,” but stood at the perimeter of the playground alone, as usual. When the bell rang, he put the knife in his tattered book bag and entered the school, but a teacher caught a glimpse of the implement, grabbed Johnny by the nape of his neck, and brought him to my office, where he cooperated by emptying his book bag on my floor.

“I didn’t do nothing,” he announced angrily as the contents of his book bag scattered revealing two yo-yos, six pointless pencils, a stick of gum, about two-dozen acorns, assorted paperwork, and a mortally wounded roach. No textbooks, but in the middle of the detritus there was the offending weapon, which for lack of a better name would be called “the knife.”

Johnny was a chubby, disheveled kid who “got by” with barely passing marks. He was an only child of illiterate parents. His father, a local junk collector, was in his mid-sixties and looked much older due to his permanently scruffy beard and and several missing front teeth.

“Sam” was married to, Arlene, a woman thirty years younger, but they were separated. 

Johnny lived with his father most of the time. I had met with Child Protective Services about the "family," and they were concerned, and while poverty was clear Johnny was clothed, fed, and happy at home. Johnny and Sam lived in a small, drafty mobile home near the school. Sam drank often and was not shy about showing up at school under the influence. He would drop in to talk about what a problem Johnny was and complain that “He ain’t got no sense,”or he would come to take Johnny home when his son had one of his frequent stomach aches.

The offending “weapon” was a cheap kitchen knife with a four or five inch wooden handle fastened to a flimsy, thin blade with two flat, brass rivets. The blade was worn down substantially and had a rounded point from misuse, leaving it incapable of penetrating Jello.

Johnny picked it up and handed it to me as I asked him why he has brought the knife to school.

“It ain’t much of a knife,” Mr. Craft, he said, “I used it to cut sticks in the woods and build forts, but it don’t cut no more. I can’t even whittle with it.”

“Why did you bring it, Johnny? You know there are serious rules about weapons on campus?” 

“Crap! It ain’t no weapon. I was just seeing if I could cut a path through the grass in the field I have cross, but it won’t cut nothin’ now. I guess that’s why my Daddy let me have it.”

As I inspected “the knife,“ I noticed green streaks of chlorophyll left by grass. I pulled the blade across the palm of my hand – it barely made a mark. It was a knife, but it was less of a weapon than a dull pencil. I tossed it into my “contraband drawer” reserved for various objects which for one reason or another had been surrendered by students – mostly toys that had been the source of a classroom distraction.  I sent him back to class after telling him that I would call for him later.

Soon I would hold Johnny’s fate in my hands. A knife would almost certainly result in expulsion, unless it was a pocket knife with a blade less than two and one-half inches long. One of our students had been expelled two years before for bringing a pocket knife with a three-inch blade to show to friends – it was a gift from his grandfather. The length was arbitrary, of course. Actually, a pocket knife would was clearly more dangerous than Johnny’s benign tool.

Making my rounds that morning, I thought of my childhood days spent playing in the woods and building forts like Johnny. I recalled simpler times when drugs were not an issue, and many of my friends proudly carried gifts from their fathers – big pocket knives – to school.  I had once owned a two-foot long machete purchased from an Army surplus store when I was nine years old, and I wore it out chasing imaginary adversaries in the wooded area near our home. I had to build forts just as Johnny had.

This is NOT a Weapon!

Discipline Should not Be Arbitrary.

I paced at school. Zero tolerance!? It sounded then, and still does sound, antithetical to my Christian beliefs. The year before, I had taken a gifted fifth grader – a model student – to the district hearing officer for bringing his father’s huge and well-honed hunting knife to school. He had been threatened by three larger boys and brought the knife for self-defense. He was expelled. The hearing officer had no choice under the policy, but it didn't feel right to me, as the knife never left the boy’s book bag. Had it not been seen by a teacher doing her job, the incident would likely have passed. The same year I reported another student who, for no particular reason, snuck up behind a classmate waiting for a ride home after school and knocked him cold by striking him over the head with an eighteen-inch crescent wrench. The victim required stitches, and the perpetrator was suspended for two weeks – a crescent wrench is not a weapon.

Years earlier at another school I broke up a fight in the hall between two sixth grade girls, but I was too late to prevent one girl from stabbing the other in her eye with a sharp pencil. Fortunately, the needle- sharp pencil missed her eyeball, entering the bottom of the eye socket and causing a painful and bloody injury.The attacker was suspended for three weeks.

The clear truth is that a weapon can be a toy and lots of other things can be weapons. Whether or not something is a weapon depends largely on intent. One gets no time deducted from a prison sentence if he knocks out multiple teeth with a baseball bat instead of brass knuckles. The most commonly used weapon in schools, in my experience, is the human hand.

Of course, the pivotal issue is whether or not zero tolerance policies improve school safety. The answer is “not likely.” Research on the issue is difficult. There has been a national downward trend in violent acts for decades, but it is difficult to attribute that to zero tolerance policies, which address only five percent of school discipline problems. In fact, expulsion from school puts students at a greater risk for dropping out. One of the factors common to criminals is disengagement from school. Also, the number of school shootings and resulting fatalities continues to increase.

Enough! I called Johnny in and told him that he was being suspended for two days for another disruption of the school environment. I would have to keep his knife. He took the news well, as he always did when he was in trouble and enjoyed time off.  Johnny would not perceive expulsion as punishment – never have I known a kid less enamored of education. He had no close friends at school and was frequently reported for disrupting class. His greatest pleasures were helping his inebriated father collect junk and playing alone in the woods with his mongrel dog.  

I had violated district policy. I took a risk to keep a student in school, and under similar circumstances, I would do it again. To me, sending Johnny home for the rest of the year was immoral and dangerous to him. In my judgment, the knife was not a weapon and the safest place he could be was school. Johnny was harmless and had no record of violent behavior. He needed any bit of education we could give him. He didn’t need to be at home with his an alcoholic father.

I made a judgment call. That’s what administrators do – every day! If education cannot rise above policies that are antithetical to character development and which eliminate the need for judgment, our schools will suffer.

Whenever I hear of zero tolerance being enforced in schools I visualize Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry glaring at the the bad guy. Harry stands taller and wears his distinctive disarming sneer, and he is, of course, saying, “Go ahead! Make my day!” But the "bad guy"is a four-foot tall elementary student and Harry is portrayed by a principal soaring over the terrified child who holds a prize pistol from a Cracker Jacks box in a trembling hand.

I agree that weapons – real weapons – have no place in school. I don’t own a gun. I am opposed to drugs, legal or illegal, being carried around by students at school. But administrators are hired to make tough decisions. Let them do it! 

Improving Tests Scores

Parents Can Help Children Improve Tests Scores

There are fun and helpful lessons in everyday activities.

Tests scores generally are the most important part or a student's score. Parents can make the difference between passing and failing by following a few easy tips.

School can be confusing at any age, but getting off to a good beginning is indispensable. If students get off to a good start, parents will have less trouble later on with unpleasant confrontations about school achievement. School can become a source of positive experiences instead of conflict

.

Parents Can Help Children Develop Positive Attitudes About School and Tests

Children enjoy time with parents doing almost anything that’s not work. Some of that time can be devoted to simple learning games and activities that stimulate interest in early learning. Simple games that exercise memory are helpful. Educational computer games are plentiful and many are beneficial to learning, although computer time needs to be monitored to prevent the development of a bad habit.

Almost anything a child creates with a crayon, pencil, or finger paint should be validated by parental recognition. For preschoolers, mistakes in forming letters or drawing pictures should not be corrected. Their efforts may look primitive, but nerve development determines how fast and how soon children can learn. Insisting that they do better may be insisting the impossible. Beginners are largely self-motivated and improve at a rate determined by neural development as long as what they do gets positive attention.

Parents serve as guides to the learning process by showing interest, patiently answering endless questions, and helping children observe and make sense of the world around them. The seeds of school success are planted early by instilling confidence and curiosity. Successful students typically have parents who supported the school, the teachers, and who read to children and encouraged individual reading.

When School Gets Real Parents are as Important as Ever

New students should not be pressured toward perfection. A few fortunate children can maintain high grades with little effort. Most will encounter problems and may be disappointed occasionally. A desire to perform well is healthy; intermittent setbacks should be viewed as opportunities to learn from mistakes.

A calm parent in the midst of early education can help establish attitudes that become internalized guides for handling future academic emergencies throughout formal learning. Stressed out parents are poor models for kids. Parents can help their children with test success by reinforcing specific skills.

• Practice listening skills so that information presented verbally is at least partially retained. Parents help children with this skill by reading short passages and asking a few questions based on the reading. Parents should be supportive and not critical
• Parents should stay abreast of work done in class. They should look over materials to be sure children understand why they missed questions or performed below par.
• Parents should have high expectations, but take care not to create stress by placing unrealistic performance goals on a child.
• Help children develop the ability to follow directions by creating a game that involves completing simple tasks that require successfully attending to directions.
• Discourage cramming for tests by staying current with test and quiz schedules.
• Children should write assignments down when able. Many teachers use websites to post lessons. Parents should encourage children to learn gradually to avoid cramming.
• Teach children how to use context clues in to answer question
• Teach children how to eliminate choices in multiple choice tests.
• Don’t punish children for failure.
• Fear of failure is stressful.This is especially important if it is obvious that they tried to do their best. Rather, get involved in correcting errors and analyzing what went wrong.
• Some teachers allow students to retake a different version of a failed test. Parents should check with individual teachers.

Parents should obtain a copy of the standards children are responsible for in each subject so they can help with studying and pointing out practical examples in real life. Teachers should be able to provide standards or they are likely available on state department of education websites.

Children Should not be Defined by Their Grades

Discussions about school success should be conducted calmly. School is about learning and learning is about preparing to be an independent and responsible adult. Grades are unavoidable, but most people were not straight-A students. Most graduated without honors.

Always encourage best performance by giving recognition to success. Stress is contagious and parents should take care not to infect children. Attitude is important and can help students perform at maximum capacity. Parents can help maintain a positive attitude by being supportive. If a child feels that a test was not fair there is at least a chance that it was. Get the details, look at the test, and confer with the teacher if necessary.

Tests are an unavoidable part of school life, getting into college, and getting many jobs. The earlier children learn test-taking skills, the better. Avoidance of test anxiety is best acquired early, and parents can help children with stress by treating education as important and involving them in fun learning activities at home. Parents should always be supportive and encourage best behavior and avoid punitive, disheartening reactions when children don’t perform well. Teach specific skills early and confer with teachers routinely.


Sources:

• Bucks.edu. “Test-Taking Strategies" (accessed March 15, 2010).

State.tn.us. "Test-Time: Strategies for Students, Parents, and Teachers” (accessed March 15, 2010).

Teacher Workload

Improving Education by Reducing Teacher Workload

Sometimes a teacher's day is just one, long meeting.

I have held numerous posts in education over the years as a teacher and administrator. I have worked in several different districts and visited hundreds of schools in the eastern United States. I have long been an advocate for educational improvement based on sound research and knowing what works and what doesn't.

Nationwide public education has been around nearly 150 for elementary and high school students. Before 1870 there were numerous private and some public schools here and there that adopted and adapted techniques based largely on common sense – i.e., teachers stood in front of a class, told them what and how to do something, offered practice, and gave tests for assessment. As time passed various procedures were improved by clever teachers and principals often in isolation. Knowledge was gained by educators regarding test construction, individual differences, etc.

Teaching Today

There is a lot of good information about how to teach better. Too much remains that has survived by having been passed from one generation to another with no good basis for application except that “it’s what teachers do.” I’ve addressed these in other articles and they include improper grading, homework, misuse of rewards, discipline techniques, and other arcane practices. Teachers can reduce their own workloads by not giving excessive homework or pop-quizzes to grade. Everything students do doesn’t have to be graded, but might be maintained in a portfolio for teacher/parent meetings.

But there are many great teachers in this country who understand the need to stay involved in learning how to teach. A great teacher who engenders the desire to learn is wonderful to watch! One who is worn out and angry from being totally absorbed by the job is depressing.

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future estimates that one-third of all new teachers  leave after three years – 46 percent are gone within five years. There is no shortage of articles and surveys about “why teachers quit,” but there is a definite shortage of schools that have solved the problems.

Yet with all of the bad practices I see in some schools – principals are guilty too – I cannot but pity today’s teacher. They carry an albatross around their necks that doesn't look like teaching – it looks like paperwork and other ancillary duties that are just expected. Teachers generally accept these tasks and even willingly add more, like too much homework to correct.

I believe that the most overlooked reasons that teachers quit can be found in the stress and resentment created by the many demands on the limited time they have. If this nation is serious about improving education, then we need to spend money on paraprofessionals to handle some of the non-educational tasks that rob teachers of energy and demean their training.

Student work translates into teacher
work

Teachers have Many Roles

Of course, many schools have ample funding for ample resources, but in many schools teachers are burdened with lunch duty, playground duty, general “guard” duty, sponsoring clubs, and so on. Teachers are bookkeepers for various funds collected, secretaries for endless forms to be completed, standardized test monitors, and then there are all of the actual things actually related to education. The workload not only wears teachers out but can affect their time to prepare for teaching well.

Still, with all of the various tasks that teachers perform, most that I know show up for free before school starts to prepare their rooms for the coming year, and spend a day, or two, or three because they feel there will not be ample time for preparation once school officially begins. Teachers, in general, volunteer for lots of extra tasks, and the system has come to count on their generosity, but I question whether or not their charitable gifts of time advance the cause of education. 

College professors are educators, too. They typically have the advantage of less time in the classroom and fewer ancillary expectations like decorating the room, setting up learning centers, or other time-consuming responsibilities that teachers have. They are also paid much more for less work and are respected for their expertise. Is this justifiable to the extent that it exists? I think not.

I wish I could offer a solution other than trying to create awareness in the hope that teachers will be more cognizant of their time. It shouldn't  take unionization to solve issues like workload. Administrators should stand up and be counted for this point, too. Giving teachers more time to teach and less busy work seems not just reasonable, but necessary to improve education.