Grading Smarter, Not Harder: Assessment Strategies That Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn

by Myron Dueck

All the talk of closing the achievement gap in schools obscures a more fundamental issue: do the grades we assign to students truly reflect the extent of their learning? In this lively and eye-opening book, educator Myron Dueck reveals how many of the assessment policies that teachers adopt can actually prove detrimental to student motivation and achievement and shows how we can tailor policies to address what really matters: student understanding of content. In sharing lessons, anecdotes, and cautionary tales from his own experiences revamping assessment procedures in the classroom, Dueck offers a variety of practical strategies for ensuring that grades measure what students know without punishing them for factors outside their control; critically examining the fairness and effectiveness of grading homework assignments; designing and distributing unit plans that make assessment criteria crystal-clear to students; creating a flexible and modular retesting system so that students can improve their scores on individual sections of important tests.

Grading Smarter, Not Harder is brimming with reproducible forms, templates, and real-life examples of grading solutions developed to allow students every opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Written with abundant humor and heart, this book is a must-read for all teachers who want their grades to contribute to, rather than hinder, their students' success.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Professional Development, Nonfiction, School

179 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in love with this book! Since moving to a high school setting after 22 years in elementary, I have been struck time and time again by the amount of time spent and the tone expressed when teachers are talking about grading their students. So many teachers seem to see grading as a "gotcha" opportunity, rather than as a valuable source of information about their students' progress towards learning targets. Meeting after meeting spent discussing whether grades should be total points or weighted categories, whether "passing" in a pass/fail course is 60% or 70%, whether allowing students to turn in late assignments or re-take a test were fair, whether to give zeroes, what to do about the low rate of homework completion...very seldom did those conversations EVER get around to how well the students were learning the content.

Maybe because I spent most of my career in special education, where most assessments are designed to provide information on the specific goals in each student's IEP, I have never understood this culture of carrots-and-sticks we use to determine grades. It doesn't motivate any but the most competitive students and the punitive nature of some grading practices can have real consequence not just on the student's self-esteem and confidence as a learner, but on their future college enrollment and/or employment prospects. WE did this. WE, educators, created a culture where completing classwork has become about accumulating points rather than about accumulating knowledge and skills. Dueck lays out a very cogent argument for why we should change that culture, and includes practical strategies for doing so that worked for him. I am definitely using this book as a book study for my teachers next year.

[Kturley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting things to think about.

[Chris H · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of useful ideas in this book. I think the policies he describes related to late work make sense though I wonder if they would cause problems in a school if other teachers weren't somewhat on board.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that challenges thinking yet offers pragmatic answers to common issues. So glad I had my college students read this, as it triggered great discussions.

[Cathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise with practical examples, sample rubrics, and lots of compelling reasons to consider standards based grading.

[Sharon Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading. Reaffirms my policy of not giving homework and grading on standards

[Sarah Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all teachers! Challenging and thought provoking. We need to change our grading mindsets and habits. They’re archaic and from and industrial time in America.

[Tobye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Dueck gives a great deal of ideas and examples on how to implement. I believe any educator really seeking to innovate their practices could use his evidence and examples to create their new systems. I think the largest issue I see with his ides comes in sustainability, systemic practices, and policy. His homework stations, for example, are a great theoretical idea. Teachers need breaks in the day and so I question the sustainability of the practice if it is not systemic in the department/ grade level team. Affecting grades/homework policies are great unless you have a district that has a policy in place that it violates.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dueck definitely echoes many of the beliefs and concerns I have regarding traditional grading and assessment practices, and he also recommends ways to address this topic- providing some solutions to the "but what about..."s that are often asked by educators. Dueck writes from the point of view and philosophy that what we are doing in assessment and grading is a remnant of what we experienced as students, and that it doesn't serve us or our students. It is very apparent that for him, ensuring that students learn is the most important thing about being a teacher. To that end, he considers what is necessary for learning to take place, and he addresses the issues of poverty, relationships with students, the high pressure to succeed placed on some students, etc. Within the book, Dueck shares issues and strategies related to grading, homework, unit plans (syllabi/ rubrics/ unit "goals"), retesting, and creativity.

I found some great validation of my own personal beliefs and philosophies about teaching, grading, and assessing in Dueck's book. Dueck has conducted thorough research of the topic and has an extensive number of references and works cited, but he also shares personal anecdotes of what he has tried and what has worked or not worked in his own classroom. There are a number of rubric, checklist, and "contract" examples in the book that may be very helpful to educators. This book is a bit more directed to teachers teaching middle and high school than elementary, and that made it only a little less relevant for me. One other thing I sensed was that, even though he believed differently, Dueck found a way to be within the range of what was "accepted practice" at times. It was as though he knew if he went too strongly, people would be turned off and wouldn't read the book. I get this, but there are times when I wish he would just "stick it" to the people who use "gotcha" practices in grading (assigning zeroes, never allowing retests or second chances, etc.). All in all, this was a good read with some practical applications.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Grading Smarter, Not Harder" should be on the reading list of every teacher right now. Great ideas of how to reduce grading by providing better organized projects and less 'busy work'. Ideas, checklists, and things you can use tomorrow are in this book. This book will be in my classroom for easy access!

Online Book discussion guide:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/book...

[Trever · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely love this quote from the book, "in his book outliers, Malcom Gladwell argues rather convincingly that spending 10,000 hours on any given task may just make you both very proficient and very rich."

Are you kidding me, that doing something for 10,000 hours "just" does those two things. Dueck didn't read Outliers he read the back of the book and interpreted meaning from it.

Now I agree with almost everything in the book, but some of what he says is down right ridiculous. I can't even try to comprehend what some of the non-sensical babble tries to convey.

[Amber Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is easy to read and entertaining. While standards based grading often means a system overhaul, there are plenty of strategies that you can immediately implement. I'm really excited to be trying it out this year!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book with some excellent insights into assessment and assessment processes for K-12 students. It will make you re-think some of our more commonly accepted assessment practices.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes, and perhaps if I were a math/science/history teacher, or some kind of teacher who needs to get students to memorize info and then do something with that knowledge, this book would have been awesome.

However, I have already thought and read a lot about alternatives to gradesandtests (as Alfie Kohn puts it), and it seems that Dueck's book has *some* good suggestions for those who haven't yet done that thinking, but I think Kohn would also have some critiques. For instance, I could hear Kohn saying, "Maybe the solution isn't a different KIND of test; maybe the solution is NO test."

Also, while I love the idea of "alternate test formats" like oral or drawing, what if what you're trying to teach is writing? You can't really have a kid answer orally if you're trying to evaluate her writing skills.

Some helpful takeaways: have kids reflect after a test on how they studied (flash cards? Quizlet? etc.) and how often (x days this week).

And for a test that must be multiple choice, award points for "I know I am close" - allow kids to choose two answers and explain why both are plausible. This is a great idea, and if I were teaching to the PARCC or SAT/ACT, I'd do this for sure.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the ideas presented were strategies I have already been implemented. However, I did find things I will use to refine my own work. I struggled to understand how creativity was worked into the regular classroom team. It was clear that it should be used but it remains unclear how it can provide for authentic assessment.

Like many resources of this type, most of the pages are descriptions of anecdotes trying to convince you that it works. This is an interesting phenomenon in professional writings for educators. Consistent movements toward making decisions based on data, then supporting decisions with anecdotes. Granted, I would rather hear how it is seen working, than to peruse through all the numbers that are supposed to tell me it works.

If nothing else, pick this book up and read the headers and subheaders. When one strikes you interesting, dig into that section. It's a worthwhile read. The biggest takeaways for me were to grade kids based on their progression towards targets, not the work they do or don't do and give multiple opportunities to show that progress has been made. Another good piece is to consider that grading should be structured so that if I reached a target today, not having reached it yesterday shouldn't adversely impact my grade.

[Stephane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book overall; light and easy to read, good for book studies, all things considered, because it will spur some interesting conversations. Methods and ideas described are approachable, sound, realist and actually useful, for the most part. I was able to successfully apply some ideas to my classroom right off the bat, and I have some in mind for the future, which is really the yardstick we should use to measure the quality of a title like this one. As such, it is a successful book, although some of the ideas will be a lot of work to implement, at least a lot of up-front work. Still, I would concede that it would probably be worth it.

Dueck intertwine loads of personal stories and experience to illustrate the points he is trying to make. While, in itself, it is not a bad thing, I found that many of those stories has an artificial feel to them. There is only so many Johnny was failing everything and on pace to drop out until I let him do a re-test on a unit about civil war. The confidence he gained allowed him to win multiple awards and he is now a successful brain surgeon... stories I can read before they actually lose their intended impact...

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is NOT a competency-based or standards-based grading book. However, the book explores topics that go along with CBE such as late work, zeroes, separating behavior from academics, homework, and retests. I like the forms, checklists, surveys, and rubrics the author offers. I also like that the book contains information about creativity. It is vital for us to include creativity in assignments, student thinking, etc. (Think of Wagner's books!)

The author includes scenarios and personal stories to highlight his points, and this effectively reminds us that all that we do is about students and what is best for them. Most of the chapters end with FAQs. This is a great summarizing technique, but it could also be used as an activator to determine what topics need further discussion or research.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read with ideas that I am intrigued by but also some that seem to require a school wide adoption of this policy. For example in regards to not giving zeroes Dueck says he insists on students attending Saturday school or homework completion sessions which are not offered at my school. I currently have an issue with getting students to attend office hours/tutorials in order to finish their work and I didn't really see a solution provided for that. Also, and this is more a critique of education books like this in general but it would be really helpful if they came with digital uploads for all of the forms that they say they use - that way you do not have to create them from scratch if you like the idea.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas, some of which I read in Wormeli's books too. The biggest takeaways for me were:

1. If you assign non-uniform homework, post the answers online for students to self-assess from, and then assess students with short quizzes the next day in class-->you can target students needs better, reinforce the learning purpose of homework instead of completion for completion's sake, and actually make less assessment work for yourself as the teacher

2. Eliminating zeros on neglected homework and forcing students into support structures like making up neglected work in study halls, after school or possibly even on Saturdays matches consequences to needs instead of instituting a punishment that is hard to recover from and may end up leaving students satisfied with the tradeoff

[Fanny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely useful book for teachers! This covers myths and misconceptions to burst about grading and help teachers refocus on the "WHY" of grading. For example, we should never report performance and behaviour together. This is influencing me to shift my perception of grading. It also integrates creativity (with a dash of Ken Robinson) by providing tools to grade projects that are diverse in nature. Finally, it also mentions the importance of self and peer-assessment and relationships. This book has reinforced my beliefs in personalised learning and provided me with tools to let students explore and inquire with purpose while being able to receive a grade that is meaningful.

[Brian Hull · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars if you've graduated from effort grades, late marks and understand that building relationships with students and helping them understand where they need to go and how to get there should sit at the forefront of every teacher's pedagogy. There is not a lot new here and reading John Hattie's work provides much more depth and research than you'll find here. If all of these ideas are new to you I'd give it three stars and suggest that you'll gain some much needed insight from this book. Nevertheless, discussions that include antiquated assessment techniques like multiple choice tests and averaging grades impacted the credibility of this book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for all teachers that are looking at changing their assessment and grading practices in the classroom. Whether it is transforming reassessment, homework practices, or implementing standards based grading, this book does a nice job giving practical ideas to include in the classroom. With the author being a high school teacher for many years, he has many examples on how he truly transformed grading in his classroom to make it more accurate and build student confidence. One of the best parts of the book are the question and answers from other teachers at the end of each chapter to help with some of those difficult questions on changing grading practices.

[Ashley Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, there were a few pills in this book that were hard to swallow. Dueck’s ideas and grading practices are transformative and completely different from what I grew up with. However, as I continued to read on, Dueck’s points started making more and more sense to me. Why do we use punitive grading practices that further hurt students in poverty or students with difficult home situations? Shouldn’t we grade students on their academic knowledge instead of their behaviors? As a future teacher, I hope to implement some of Dueck’s strategies is my own classroom.

[Rachel Mullens · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were a high school teacher, I'd be likely to give this 5 stars. As a middle school teacher, I find I'm wanting more concrete examples that are specific to younger students. A lot of his methods depend on students having their own goals and taking on responsibility. While middle schoolers are capable of this, the approach needs to be a little more "hands on". I would, however, recommend this to any teacher who has not yet read it.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because my school is transitioning to standards based grading. It did not explicitly talk about standards based grading as a whole however it did present many ways that students can be assessed more effectively.

I particularly liked the student-friendly unit plans discussed as well as the missing/late assignment form that he would have his students complete.

It was a beneficial read and the author does a good job at keeping you engaged.

[Rick Christiansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed though this book. Some ideas worth considering for sure, especially if you are a newer teacher. As a teacher with 17 years experience though, I feel I have learned a lot of the useful tricks and ways to be efficient, fair, and assist my students the best way possible at this point in my career without anything in this book. One of my complaints is evidence to back up or support his ideas. Good ideas, yes, all claims backed by evidence? not so much

[Tyler Shafer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Myron- good guy, great speaker - details his own assessment and grading paradigm shift, with lots of logistical tips and personal stories. I love his focus on how his changes improved his rapport with students. But he also covers relatively familiar ground here, and the book’s effectiveness wanes as it progresses.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book has a lot of ideas on grading smarter not harder, many of them would be difficult to implement into a math classroom. The creativity chapter did have a few ideas that could be adapted to my classroom.

[Heather Stringham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Assessment

I struggle with grading and assessment and found this had some good ideas on how to face these situations. He clearly exp!wins what is going on and how to face the situation.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides several strategies for making grades more meaningful and holding students accountable for material. It definitely thought provoking and I think I will try using these strategies this year.