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A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades
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125 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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August 10, 2011
The ideas in Ken O’Connor’s A Repair Kit for Grading would work a lot better if students were all identical and self-motivated, and if we only want curricula to be morsels of accomplishment that once digested remain firmly in place.
O’Connor’s premise is that grading in most schools is a “broken” practice, including irrelevant, unfair components that present inaccurate pictures of students’ academic performance. He’s not completely wrong about that in many cases, but his suggestions for how to “repair” those grades are not in touch with reality, especially in large high schools.
For example, O’Connor advocates a no-zero policy in determining grades. If a student does not complete a required benchmark for determining her learning on a specific standard, the student does not receive a grade-crushing zero but instead is marked as Incomplete. That’s OK with me. An “Incomplete” is a more accurate reflection of the student’s learning than a zero. (The zero tells us about her level of compliance but not her level of learning.) But O’Connor goes on to say that the student should have 75 school days from the end of the marking period to complete the required benchmark without penalty.
Whoa, Nelly. 75 days? That means a student who does not complete a benchmark assessment due in February is Incomplete at the end of second semester, approximately June 1. O’Connor says that student should have until approximately January 1 to complete the assessment. This kind of impracticality borders on silliness. What are we saying to students, parents, and anyone who looks at transcripts produced by our schools when we say that grades produced by students on time and in sequence are equally as valid as grades produced by students according to their own whims and schedules, sometimes over vastly different periods of time?
O’Connor’s philosophy is rooted in the standards movement which says that each school should narrow its curriculum to a set number of standards, and then report grades based on summative assessments of those standards. Translation: O’Connor also believes that most homework should not be included in grades. A kernel of wisdom is embedded in this belief. Most student learning happens in class, while homework grades comprise significant portions of report grades.
But schools adopting O’Connor’s approach to homework grades should be prepared to deal with students who lack the intrinsic motivation to do homework. These schools need to answer the question “Is homework a behavioral issue or an academic issue?” If students do not complete assignments, is that cause for disciplinary action or academic action? O’Connor seems to suggest that it is a cause for neither type of action, but my experience says that some students won’t do work if they are not being rewarded for it, either intrinsically or extrinsically. Different students are motivated by different strategies, but O’Connor says that we should adopt policies that rely on specifically intrinsic motivation because students will do academic work because it help them prepare for summative assessments. Again, this indicates a certain naivety on O’Connor’s part. Many students will not do work unless they are getting a grade for it. Sad but true.
O’Connor says that grading practices should “support learning.” Amen to that. Everything in a school should “support learning,” right? But what if it doesn’t? Most educators can probably look around their school environments and identify situations that do not “support learning” but instead are entrenched because of traditions or practical considerations. For example, at my school, first period begins at 7:30 a.m. A lot of research exists that shows this early starting time is not conducive to learning, but changing that starting time has enormous pragmatic (and financial) implications. If schools commit to grading practices that “support learning” but do not conduct thorough examinations of other practices that do not “support learning,” the message sent to the community is that learning is only important sometimes.
O’Connor’s book provides several testimonials from schools and teachers who use elements of his plan. With due respect to those educators, these didn’t really prove anything other than that they were being implemented. Without some meaningful comparisons, the anecdotal narratives were interesting but not particularly compelling.
Maybe these ideas will work in elementary and middle schools. In fact, most of O’Connor’s examples seem to come from those levels. As students mature and become even more complex and adult-like, I have my doubts about whether these narrow approaches can be successful. O’Connor suggests that schools should not report “single-subject grades except for grades 11-12.” This means that report cards for 9th and 10th grade should look more like elementary school report cards that focus on specific skills. I actually see some merit in that, but will that kind of reporting be acceptable to all interested parties—parents, colleges, schools that students may be transferring into?
The biggest question raised by A Repair Kit for Grading is this: Should a grade be a reflection of where students end up academically, or should it also reflect their learning journey, including how they approached their learning behaviorally, and the relative ease or struggles they experienced? Any school considering adoption of Ken O’Connor’s “repair kit” should first thoroughly discuss the community’s beliefs about the relationship between grades, learning, and behavior.
Cross-posted on http://whatsnotwrong.wordpress.com
O’Connor’s premise is that grading in most schools is a “broken” practice, including irrelevant, unfair components that present inaccurate pictures of students’ academic performance. He’s not completely wrong about that in many cases, but his suggestions for how to “repair” those grades are not in touch with reality, especially in large high schools.
For example, O’Connor advocates a no-zero policy in determining grades. If a student does not complete a required benchmark for determining her learning on a specific standard, the student does not receive a grade-crushing zero but instead is marked as Incomplete. That’s OK with me. An “Incomplete” is a more accurate reflection of the student’s learning than a zero. (The zero tells us about her level of compliance but not her level of learning.) But O’Connor goes on to say that the student should have 75 school days from the end of the marking period to complete the required benchmark without penalty.
Whoa, Nelly. 75 days? That means a student who does not complete a benchmark assessment due in February is Incomplete at the end of second semester, approximately June 1. O’Connor says that student should have until approximately January 1 to complete the assessment. This kind of impracticality borders on silliness. What are we saying to students, parents, and anyone who looks at transcripts produced by our schools when we say that grades produced by students on time and in sequence are equally as valid as grades produced by students according to their own whims and schedules, sometimes over vastly different periods of time?
O’Connor’s philosophy is rooted in the standards movement which says that each school should narrow its curriculum to a set number of standards, and then report grades based on summative assessments of those standards. Translation: O’Connor also believes that most homework should not be included in grades. A kernel of wisdom is embedded in this belief. Most student learning happens in class, while homework grades comprise significant portions of report grades.
But schools adopting O’Connor’s approach to homework grades should be prepared to deal with students who lack the intrinsic motivation to do homework. These schools need to answer the question “Is homework a behavioral issue or an academic issue?” If students do not complete assignments, is that cause for disciplinary action or academic action? O’Connor seems to suggest that it is a cause for neither type of action, but my experience says that some students won’t do work if they are not being rewarded for it, either intrinsically or extrinsically. Different students are motivated by different strategies, but O’Connor says that we should adopt policies that rely on specifically intrinsic motivation because students will do academic work because it help them prepare for summative assessments. Again, this indicates a certain naivety on O’Connor’s part. Many students will not do work unless they are getting a grade for it. Sad but true.
O’Connor says that grading practices should “support learning.” Amen to that. Everything in a school should “support learning,” right? But what if it doesn’t? Most educators can probably look around their school environments and identify situations that do not “support learning” but instead are entrenched because of traditions or practical considerations. For example, at my school, first period begins at 7:30 a.m. A lot of research exists that shows this early starting time is not conducive to learning, but changing that starting time has enormous pragmatic (and financial) implications. If schools commit to grading practices that “support learning” but do not conduct thorough examinations of other practices that do not “support learning,” the message sent to the community is that learning is only important sometimes.
O’Connor’s book provides several testimonials from schools and teachers who use elements of his plan. With due respect to those educators, these didn’t really prove anything other than that they were being implemented. Without some meaningful comparisons, the anecdotal narratives were interesting but not particularly compelling.
Maybe these ideas will work in elementary and middle schools. In fact, most of O’Connor’s examples seem to come from those levels. As students mature and become even more complex and adult-like, I have my doubts about whether these narrow approaches can be successful. O’Connor suggests that schools should not report “single-subject grades except for grades 11-12.” This means that report cards for 9th and 10th grade should look more like elementary school report cards that focus on specific skills. I actually see some merit in that, but will that kind of reporting be acceptable to all interested parties—parents, colleges, schools that students may be transferring into?
The biggest question raised by A Repair Kit for Grading is this: Should a grade be a reflection of where students end up academically, or should it also reflect their learning journey, including how they approached their learning behaviorally, and the relative ease or struggles they experienced? Any school considering adoption of Ken O’Connor’s “repair kit” should first thoroughly discuss the community’s beliefs about the relationship between grades, learning, and behavior.
Cross-posted on http://whatsnotwrong.wordpress.com
May 28, 2017
I read this book in preparation for the introduction of standard-based grading at my school. (We're not implementing for a couple of years.) Were there some good points made? Yes. Were there times that I wanted to throw the book across the room? ABSOLUTLEY yes. As a book for the rest of the faculty to read, it would certainly create conversation--probably not of the positive or helpful kind.
I had a hard time with the tone of the book. It seemed like the author kept pointing out that everything I did was wrong. My own grading policies have changed over the ten years that I've been a teacher. It seems like I moved in the opposite direction on most of what the author suggested. Why do I include homework on the grades? If I don't, students won't do it; parents will complain; and I get in trouble with the administration.
I also had an issue with how the author had a conflict between only including summative assessments on a grade, but students should be learning the entire time. Either the journey to the end is important, or it isn't. Make up your mind! I believe that the journey is just as important, if not more so, than the destination. It's important to grow--and know that you're growing and improving. Grades that reflect that growth are what I want to see.
I think that another reason that I had difficutly with this book is that my school's school test scores and growth scores are dramatically higher than either of the schools in our district that currently use standard-based grading. Why would I want to change to something that doesn't appear to be successful as what I'm already doing?
I believe that in order for ALL of the fixes presented in the book to be accepted, a HUGE cultural shift would have to occur. This shift would have to occur not only with teachers, but with students, their parents, school administrators, district personel, and state representatives. The list of complaints that would arise possibly might be enough to drop the whole program before it's even fully implemented. Hopefully, there's a better book out there to introduce standard-based grading to our faculty.
I had a hard time with the tone of the book. It seemed like the author kept pointing out that everything I did was wrong. My own grading policies have changed over the ten years that I've been a teacher. It seems like I moved in the opposite direction on most of what the author suggested. Why do I include homework on the grades? If I don't, students won't do it; parents will complain; and I get in trouble with the administration.
I also had an issue with how the author had a conflict between only including summative assessments on a grade, but students should be learning the entire time. Either the journey to the end is important, or it isn't. Make up your mind! I believe that the journey is just as important, if not more so, than the destination. It's important to grow--and know that you're growing and improving. Grades that reflect that growth are what I want to see.
I think that another reason that I had difficutly with this book is that my school's school test scores and growth scores are dramatically higher than either of the schools in our district that currently use standard-based grading. Why would I want to change to something that doesn't appear to be successful as what I'm already doing?
I believe that in order for ALL of the fixes presented in the book to be accepted, a HUGE cultural shift would have to occur. This shift would have to occur not only with teachers, but with students, their parents, school administrators, district personel, and state representatives. The list of complaints that would arise possibly might be enough to drop the whole program before it's even fully implemented. Hopefully, there's a better book out there to introduce standard-based grading to our faculty.
October 1, 2025
I probably would have given it 4 stars when I read it 15 years ago, but this time reading the new, much longer edition was tedious.
October 21, 2011
Has some good ideas, and others that I don't personally care for. However, almost none of them will work in a real high school setting. I know that he has "Teacher Vingettes" at the end of each chapter, in which teachers state how these practices have helped learning in their classroom, but personally I think some of these will only work in a perfect world - not in a real school.
February 23, 2017
Kind of dry read, but with lovely ideals. A bit hard to implement in the current educational climate.
March 10, 2012
I've been a High School Social Studies teacher for over twenty-five years in five separate school districts located in four different states. I've been a facilitator at many state and regional social studies conference. I was chosen to participate in seminars with the National Endowment for the Humanities and Gilder Lehrman Institute on various occasions. I was selected as a Fulbright Hay participant to travel and study for six weeks in Africa in 2006. In 2009 I was chosen as Michigan's James Madison scholar, which goes to one social studies teacher per state per year. The Madison Fellowship comes with a $26,000 scholarship towards a MA in Education, Political Science, or History. In 2011 I graduated with a MA in Political Science from Western Michigan University where I received a "Teaching Excellence Award" for my work with WMU undergraduate students. I feel competent and qualified to comment on Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor.
I find this book to be simplistic and an in a way dangerous. Mr. O’Connor has proposed fixes that instead of repairing public schools will, if adhered to, add more problems to an already broken society. In the state of Michigan he has cashed in on the state by convincing Republican lawmakers to use it for changing grading procedures around the state. Consequently, many districts have been designated to adjust their grading policies to follow the fixes. Mr. O’Conner is a member of the consortium hired to create a computer-grading program that has been purchased by many of the districts following his program. Mr. O’Connor is making a lot of money re-writing grading policies around the state of Michigan, despite not having been in the classroom since 1996, never having taught in the United States, and completing his own studies without ever earning his doctorate.
I currently teach in a low-income school district in Muskegon, Michigan. 73% of our students are on free and reduced lunch. Many of them live in broken homes, with parents who are struggling in a very tight economy. The unemployment rate in Muskegon is far higher than in the state. A majority of students come from homes where neither parent has a four-year college degree. Never the less our students are increasingly finding their way to two and four year colleges. I feel we have been successful in providing them the structure that is sometimes lacking in the home, which has led to success following high school graduation.
Mr. O’Connor’s book undercuts accountability in the school, in the classroom, and in the community. This book offers fifteen major changes to the American grading system that he says will make grades more meaningful. Instead these changes undermine basic life lessons and the accountability necessary to learn responsible habits that result in success in later life. Below, I take issue with four of Mr. O’Connor’s “fixes.”
#2 – Late Work. #4 – Cheating. #5 – Attendance. #12 – Zeros.
Fix #2 – “Don’t reduce marks on “work” submitted late...” Mr. O’Connor believes it detrimental to effective grading for teachers to subtract credit for work submitted late, and instead provide extra time to make it up and receive full credit. This behavior undermines societal accountability dealing with deadlines. As a teacher and a contributing member of society I have deadlines that I must meet on a daily basis. April 15 is one. Contractual time for me to be in my classroom is another. If I promise a friend or a family member I will meet them at a particular time I have a responsibility to be there at that time. Life is filled with deadlines…if we are to re-enforce young people in our classrooms, that this is not the case we will be enabling them to practice habits detrimental to their future success. I disagree with Fix #2.
Fix #4 – “Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades...” If a child cheats…do not fail him. Give him another chance to do the work so that you can measure his real academic progress. And if he cheats again – do the same. How can this possibly be a guideline for healthy behavior and future success? I disagree with Fix #4.
Fix #5 – “Don’t consider attendance in grade determination...” According to Mr. O’Connor absences should not count in grade evaluations. According to Mr. O’Connor being late doesn’t matter. According to Mr. O’Connor cheating isn’t relevant to learning. How can a student who is being evaluated by the above criteria learn accountability in the classroom, in the workplace, in life? I disagree with Fix #5.
Fix #12 – “Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing…” Mr. O’Connor claims that the use of zeros for work that has not been turned in is counter-productive to measuring that child’s grade. He believes that a score for doing nothing should be inserted into the student’s grade. And as he has noted above in Fix #2 the student should be allowed as much time as needed to complete the assignment. I disagree with Fix #12.
Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor encourages students to be less accountable, less reliable, less honest, and lazy. Even so he awards them with an open-ended invitation, to turn in your school work when you get around to it. In the meantime, he has convinced the State of Michigan to give him an awful lot of money to circulate his theories throughout the state.
O’Connor cites the following quote in the introduction of Fix Number 2, “Teachers turn things in late all the time, as do working in every profession. The idea that “You can’t get away with turning work in late in the real world, mister” isn’t true.
I have no idea what real world Mr. O’Connor is referring to.
I find this book to be simplistic and an in a way dangerous. Mr. O’Connor has proposed fixes that instead of repairing public schools will, if adhered to, add more problems to an already broken society. In the state of Michigan he has cashed in on the state by convincing Republican lawmakers to use it for changing grading procedures around the state. Consequently, many districts have been designated to adjust their grading policies to follow the fixes. Mr. O’Conner is a member of the consortium hired to create a computer-grading program that has been purchased by many of the districts following his program. Mr. O’Connor is making a lot of money re-writing grading policies around the state of Michigan, despite not having been in the classroom since 1996, never having taught in the United States, and completing his own studies without ever earning his doctorate.
I currently teach in a low-income school district in Muskegon, Michigan. 73% of our students are on free and reduced lunch. Many of them live in broken homes, with parents who are struggling in a very tight economy. The unemployment rate in Muskegon is far higher than in the state. A majority of students come from homes where neither parent has a four-year college degree. Never the less our students are increasingly finding their way to two and four year colleges. I feel we have been successful in providing them the structure that is sometimes lacking in the home, which has led to success following high school graduation.
Mr. O’Connor’s book undercuts accountability in the school, in the classroom, and in the community. This book offers fifteen major changes to the American grading system that he says will make grades more meaningful. Instead these changes undermine basic life lessons and the accountability necessary to learn responsible habits that result in success in later life. Below, I take issue with four of Mr. O’Connor’s “fixes.”
#2 – Late Work. #4 – Cheating. #5 – Attendance. #12 – Zeros.
Fix #2 – “Don’t reduce marks on “work” submitted late...” Mr. O’Connor believes it detrimental to effective grading for teachers to subtract credit for work submitted late, and instead provide extra time to make it up and receive full credit. This behavior undermines societal accountability dealing with deadlines. As a teacher and a contributing member of society I have deadlines that I must meet on a daily basis. April 15 is one. Contractual time for me to be in my classroom is another. If I promise a friend or a family member I will meet them at a particular time I have a responsibility to be there at that time. Life is filled with deadlines…if we are to re-enforce young people in our classrooms, that this is not the case we will be enabling them to practice habits detrimental to their future success. I disagree with Fix #2.
Fix #4 – “Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades...” If a child cheats…do not fail him. Give him another chance to do the work so that you can measure his real academic progress. And if he cheats again – do the same. How can this possibly be a guideline for healthy behavior and future success? I disagree with Fix #4.
Fix #5 – “Don’t consider attendance in grade determination...” According to Mr. O’Connor absences should not count in grade evaluations. According to Mr. O’Connor being late doesn’t matter. According to Mr. O’Connor cheating isn’t relevant to learning. How can a student who is being evaluated by the above criteria learn accountability in the classroom, in the workplace, in life? I disagree with Fix #5.
Fix #12 – “Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing…” Mr. O’Connor claims that the use of zeros for work that has not been turned in is counter-productive to measuring that child’s grade. He believes that a score for doing nothing should be inserted into the student’s grade. And as he has noted above in Fix #2 the student should be allowed as much time as needed to complete the assignment. I disagree with Fix #12.
Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor encourages students to be less accountable, less reliable, less honest, and lazy. Even so he awards them with an open-ended invitation, to turn in your school work when you get around to it. In the meantime, he has convinced the State of Michigan to give him an awful lot of money to circulate his theories throughout the state.
O’Connor cites the following quote in the introduction of Fix Number 2, “Teachers turn things in late all the time, as do working in every profession. The idea that “You can’t get away with turning work in late in the real world, mister” isn’t true.
I have no idea what real world Mr. O’Connor is referring to.
March 2, 2025
Quick read highlighting the challenges with how we grade students. After reading this, I was left with three thoughts:
First, I didn’t disagree with any of the fixes even to grading practices I had used.
Second, the longer we delay in making these grading changes the longer students will be damaged by the practices we continue to use.
Third, the time is now, this is urgent work that we can accomplish, what are we waiting for?
First, I didn’t disagree with any of the fixes even to grading practices I had used.
Second, the longer we delay in making these grading changes the longer students will be damaged by the practices we continue to use.
Third, the time is now, this is urgent work that we can accomplish, what are we waiting for?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2017
no groundbreaking or revolutionary ideas in this book, but a good reminder of sound grading practice.
August 5, 2017
O'Connor's quick read walks teachers through several changes to grading that love them towards standards based grading. The tips are fairly straight forward and include teacher and student examples. He is open about applying these to your own classroom and not following the examples to the letter.
As someone in the process of transitioning as a district to standards based grading I found this book informative. It also provides clear rationale for why some of these ideas should be implemented.
Some reviewers have mentioned that his ideas are hard. Yes, they are. And some of his ideas are a bit exaggerated. Yes, they are but you can change the number of days for an extension while still offering an extension. And as far as this being tough, it is a better grading scale for our students so we owe it to them to at least give it our best effort. We all know the downfalls of the standard average grading scale and it has failed our students for far too long.
As someone in the process of transitioning as a district to standards based grading I found this book informative. It also provides clear rationale for why some of these ideas should be implemented.
Some reviewers have mentioned that his ideas are hard. Yes, they are. And some of his ideas are a bit exaggerated. Yes, they are but you can change the number of days for an extension while still offering an extension. And as far as this being tough, it is a better grading scale for our students so we owe it to them to at least give it our best effort. We all know the downfalls of the standard average grading scale and it has failed our students for far too long.
April 24, 2025
Quick to read with some good information to take away. It's pretty dated at this point so I would love to see a revised version where we hear from classrooms post-COVID. Our society is motivated by extrinsic motivation because we are valued by our ability to produce, so until that changes, I think it will be an uphill battle to get students to have intrinsic motivation, especially for schoolwork. There are concrete examples of how teachers have taken the tenets of equitable grading and adapted them to work for their classrooms, which I found very helpful.
September 22, 2025
A great curation of expert voices in grading reform accompanying a set of concrete steps that should be taken. I’ll apply a lot of insights from this book in my work relating to grading. With that said, the book does not have a writerly flow and seems disjointed at times. Overall, I’d encourage anyone who is on board with grading reform to read this…but I would not use it as a tool to convince others.
May 23, 2017
A Repair Kit For Grading offers lots of possibilities for how to change the way grades are thought about, many of them I agree with like not putting zeroes in the grade book or not giving extra credit. I'm just not sure how practical some of the suggestions are. Certainly good conversation though.
December 31, 2017
Thought-provoking!
June 10, 2018
Just what the (assessment) doctor ordered.
March 8, 2019
This book is about fixing grading in classroom curriculum and assessment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2021
A lot of thought provoking and common sense ideas.
March 26, 2024
Read this as part of a committee for my district. Has good ideas to make grades more CALM….along with a lot of samples to help with understanding.
July 22, 2025
Some solid ideas here. The entire school needs to buy in, not just one teacher
March 16, 2017
This is an easy book to read. It is concise and too the point. It has some of the best advice I have seen on grading and assessment. This is the standard that all teachers need to use. I don't see how they could justify grading and assessment any other way.
March 9, 2017
had to read this for work, for a staff book study. I disagreed with most of it but it definitely made me consider my grading practices. wish there would have been something like this in my undergrad degree, so I could have thought about grading practices before 3rd semester of my 1st year.
March 19, 2011
Our building principal is asking all our teachers to read this book. I think it has some really great ideas about "fixing" grading. There are some things in there that have bugged me as a parent for a long time such as giving all kids in a group project the same grade. We all know that not everyone participates equally in a group project most of the time. Often there are a couple that end up doing all the work. That's just one practice the book addresses there are many others. The basic premise in a nutshell is that students should be graded on what they have learned and growth they have made. The book of course explains it much better than I could. I would be interested to get the opinions of this book from my two sisters who are actually teachers. I thought it should be a must-read for everyone who is a teacher. And actually for anyone who has a student because it makes you more knowledgeable about what you should be expecting when it comes to your kid's grades. Then from knowledge you can effect change!
November 2, 2011
I really liked some of the book. A lot of it connects with my own teaching philosophy and other parts made me rethink issues that I had taken from granted (such as assigning zeros for academic dishonesty) though I can't say I agree with O'Connor on everything he wrote.
I definitely agree with the idea of assessment for learning and removing behaviour from achievement.
In terms of not marking things like homework, I think that's ok. Although some students may not have the intrinsic motivation to do the homework on their own, using marks as extrinsic rewards has been shown over and over again to decrease intrinsic motivation, so we're actually just making the problem worse. As educators, we're trying to foster lifelong learning and attaching a mark onto everything they do in school causes students to lose focus on the learning and instead keep trying to just get more points.
I definitely agree with the idea of assessment for learning and removing behaviour from achievement.
In terms of not marking things like homework, I think that's ok. Although some students may not have the intrinsic motivation to do the homework on their own, using marks as extrinsic rewards has been shown over and over again to decrease intrinsic motivation, so we're actually just making the problem worse. As educators, we're trying to foster lifelong learning and attaching a mark onto everything they do in school causes students to lose focus on the learning and instead keep trying to just get more points.
October 5, 2020
We live in a culture where grades are an entrenched part of schooling. However, what they communicate is often counterproductive to the very purpose of schooling. That is to say, that the point of schooling is to aid students in learning. However, grades often function not just as communication of what students have learned but as external motivators, and they often can damage intrinsic motivation for learning. In addition, grades are often distorted by practices that consider behaviors that have nothing to do with achievement.
O'Connor offers a practical guide to how to combat the problems with grading so that they can communicate effectively about student achievement without being distorted or causing negative effects in student learning.
O'Connor offers a practical guide to how to combat the problems with grading so that they can communicate effectively about student achievement without being distorted or causing negative effects in student learning.
February 18, 2013
Loved some of the ideas--enough so that as I re-work curriculum for next year I will make some major changes. That said, there's a couple of points I strongly disagree with. Part of it is that I'm a social studies teacher. Social studies is different from math in some major ways. Part of what we teach IS socialization-- the skills that are important to be successful in our culture. It's not all just documentation of facts and concepts. Not to cheat, not to plagiarize, to turn work in on time with an acceptable degree of neatness and completeness. These are all components of a successful American worker. And it's part of what I teach.
July 24, 2017
3.5/5
I read this book as part of a learning team comprised of school psychologists, special education consultants, and professional learning providers. We felt this would be a good introduction to standards-based grading for school teams looking to make a transition from traditional grades and would generate a lot of discussion. Some of the information that I found interesting related to giving extra credit (don't), assigning zeroes (assign an incomplete instead), and involving students (do). Consensus/buy-in will be very important as schools consider making a change in how they grade student work.
I read this book as part of a learning team comprised of school psychologists, special education consultants, and professional learning providers. We felt this would be a good introduction to standards-based grading for school teams looking to make a transition from traditional grades and would generate a lot of discussion. Some of the information that I found interesting related to giving extra credit (don't), assigning zeroes (assign an incomplete instead), and involving students (do). Consensus/buy-in will be very important as schools consider making a change in how they grade student work.
May 5, 2010
4-2-10: I'm about halfway. Very quick reading. Very good ideas about grading, but we are expected to include all those "bad" things in our grades. We need to change the whole system before an individual teacher can make many changes.
5-2-10: Finally picked it up and finished it before my interview tomorrow! Lots of good ideas--we should be grading on achievement, and what students know and can do, but are the parents really ready for that, and will the stuents really take responsibility? Apparently, Tucker High has gone to this so I will elarn these answers soon enough!
5-2-10: Finally picked it up and finished it before my interview tomorrow! Lots of good ideas--we should be grading on achievement, and what students know and can do, but are the parents really ready for that, and will the stuents really take responsibility? Apparently, Tucker High has gone to this so I will elarn these answers soon enough!
June 28, 2016
Sets a new standard for schools by calling us back to the old question: How well did the student learn?
Schools are like ships. The older they get, the more barnacles stick to the bottom. And shipping gets slower and slower.
This is what has happened to grading in American and Canadian schools. We have attached so many things to our gradebooks. A lot of these things are NOT measures of learning. As a result, that single number in a report card hides more than it reveals about an individual's learning.
Back to clarity!
Schools are like ships. The older they get, the more barnacles stick to the bottom. And shipping gets slower and slower.
This is what has happened to grading in American and Canadian schools. We have attached so many things to our gradebooks. A lot of these things are NOT measures of learning. As a result, that single number in a report card hides more than it reveals about an individual's learning.
Back to clarity!
May 2, 2018
While I appreciate the discussion of broken grades, this book did not impress me. I feel it speaks down to teachers who are already working towards fair and accurate assessments. As long as teachers are limited by district, state, and college requirements/expectations, we simply do not have the freedom needed for all of these fixes. I do agree with the need for standards-based grading, and I am working towards that, but it is a struggle (for students and teacher). Timely feedback for formative work is also hindered by very large class sizes.
November 11, 2012
I am excited to read this book and that doesn't happen often when I have been required to read a book for work. I went to a workshop on this subject today and love what I have heard. I hope that book will help me move towards implementing better standards based grading.
It has changed how I look at grading and now when my students see their grades they know that it is a direct reflection of their mastery of state standards. Loved it!
It has changed how I look at grading and now when my students see their grades they know that it is a direct reflection of their mastery of state standards. Loved it!
August 18, 2015
Everything is based on the statement that grades should only reflect learning of learning standards. Hence, don't give grades based on group work, don't give grades based on attendance, don't give zeros, give incompletes, or I.
This will make me think about how I do my grading this coming year, _but_ it leaves a number of open issues,like what to do with grading homework, work not turned in, how to record formative assessments...
This will make me think about how I do my grading this coming year, _but_ it leaves a number of open issues,like what to do with grading homework, work not turned in, how to record formative assessments...
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