What My Grades Mean

I probably should have titled this post, "What My (fake) Grades Mean."

I found this assignment a bit difficult, as I have never actually taught a class in an academic setting and assessed students. The following is a description of a hypothetical grading system I might use, based on grading systems I have experienced as a student. I believe that it meets the goal of giving me something to reflect on and evaluate the purpose of grading.

Here are the grades that I give: A+, A, B+, B, C+, C, I, F.
Notice that there are no "-" grades. This simplifies the classic grading scheme a bit and focuses on the positive.

Starting from the bottom:

F: An F is failing grade. The student's performance was very poor, and they mastered very few of the learning objectives. The student will need to repeat the class to receive any academic credit for it. An F means that the teacher failed to reach the student, and the student failed to learn.

I: An I stands for incomplete. The student showed at least adequate performance and progress on the activities they completed, but they did not complete enough of the course to earn academic credit. The teacher and student will make a plan for the student to complete the course work in a timely manner and the instructor will adjust the grade based on work the student completes. If the student does not complete coursework in a timely manner, the grade is adjusted to an F.

C: A C means that the student has mastered a minimal but acceptable amount of the content and skills. They have completed enough of the course to earn academic credit for it. This grade means that the student is preforming acceptably, but that the teacher needs to figure out what can be done to help the students performance increase to at least an "average" level. The C student is mastering about half of the learning targets, which is minimally acceptable, but they are barely proficient overall.

C+: This grade reflects slightly higher performance than the minimal required to pass, but not by much. A C+ student is performing somewhere between the minimal required to pass and the "average" performance expected in the class.

B: A B is the grade that an "average" student is expected to receive in my class if they complete almost all or all of their work and put some effort into it. This grade means that the student is doing just fine, but that there is still plenty of room to improve. They are mastering most of the learning targets, but not all.

B+: This grade means that the student is performing slightly better than "average." Their work is not at the exemplary level, but it is close. They have a very good grasp of the content and skills learned in the class. Most of the learning targets have been mastered, and there are no to very few targets that the student is far from mastering.

A: This grade means that the student is performing very well. They are mastering close to all of the learning targets, and there is little room for the student's performance to reasonably improve. An A means that the student has mastered almost all of the learning targets, and the few that have not been mastered have been almost mastered.

A+: This grade means that the student is performing exceptionally well. Within reason, there is almost no room for the student's performance to improve. The quality of their work is significantly better than what is expected from an "average" student. They have mastered all of the content and skills that I expected them to learn.


This grading system meets the needs of administrators. They want a datum to record, and this gives them one. From this grading system they can tell weather the student did or did not complete the course, and if they barely passed, performed acceptably, or performed exceptionally. Administrator are not usually looking for explanations or justifications, and this system give the administrators the minimal amount of information that they desire.

This grading system meets the needs of some parents. They know the relative performance of their child, but almost nothing about how and why their student received that grade. A concerned and/or dedicated parent would need to seek out additional information from the teacher to truly understand their child's performance. A letter grade does not give strengths and weaknesses or tell a parent how they might help improve their child's performance, but it does tell them the general level at which their child performed in the class.

This grading system does not meet the needs of most students. Most students have learned to adapt to similar systems, but that does not mean that their needs are being met. The letter grade describes the level of their performance as assessed by the teacher. A letter grade does not tell the student what they did well, what they struggled at, or what they could do to receive higher grades in the future. The student does have a record of their achievement level, but they should already have an idea of what it should be.

I Personally Believe

I disagree fundamentally with the premise behind Nitko and Brookhart's responsibilities for teachers regarding assessment. They write that teachers have legal, ethical, and moral responsibilities in 6 areas concerning assessment. I believe that a teacher's responsibilites are to TRY and meet those 6 areas of responsibilities. The best course of action can differ from the ideal when actually meeting one of those responsibilites is detrimental to the students, the school district and the educator themself.

Three of the responsibilites that I believe educators cannot and should not always meet are crafting assessment procedures, chosing assessment procedures, and communicating assessment procedures. I will use the NYS Regents Exams as an example, but I know that there are a vareity of other similar exams at other grade levels and in other states. Individual educators cannot always have a large impact on crafting and choosing assessment items for the NYS Regents Exam in their content area. For example, I believe that the last few Living Environment exams have placed far too much emphasis on genetics as compared to the emphasis placed on genetics by the mandated curriculum. I could choose to give a modified Regents exam in my classroom for a vareity of reasons, but doing so would be harmful to the students, endanger my job, and look bad for the school district. I also have very little control of how the assessment results are communicated. I would like the assessment results to include data on strengths and weaknesses of individual students and the class in general, but I have no control over that. Again, trying to meet this responsibility would be detrimental to all involved.

I agree with the other responsibilites that the authors wrote about. Teachers always have responsibilites for how they administer an assessment, score it, and interpret the results. To continue with the NYS Regents example, teachers can have an impact in these categories. For example, an individual educator can keep the Regents in mind when developing IEPs and make sure that they include appropraite modifications and accomidations. An individual educator also has control over how they interpret and use assessment results. For example, an educator may recieve praise from their supervisors for an overall imporvement in student scores from one year to the next. Rather than accepting this interpretation of the data, that educator can examine the exam itself and reflect on the individual students to determine the true reason for the increased scores. An easier exam does not correspond to better instruction, and educators do have a responsibility to recognize that.

I also believe that educators do not have a legal responsibility to meet all of these responsibilites. Their legal responsibility is be able to prove that they tried to meet these responsibilites, regardless of what they actually did or did not do. For example, consider the situation referecnced in Professor Browne's blog post. These educators met their legal obligation by meeting with the press and trying to explain their results. When individuals misuse and misinterpret their results later on, it is not the researchers' fault. They did what they could be reasonably expected to in order to prevent misinterpretation, and they can prove that they did so. If the founders of Facebook tried to sue them for slandering Facebook, they can prove that they never did anything of the sort and furthermore took actions to prevent it from occuring. Their legal responsibilites have been met.

I believe that teachers have the ethical and moral responsibility to try their best in terms of assessment, but sometimes their actions need to be restricted in the best interests of the students, school district, and themselves. Legallly, their only obligation is to be able to prove that they tried to do what is right. I believe that the book gave a good overview of teachers' responsibilities regarding assessment, but that the situation is often more grey than the black-and-white situation they present. Our education system is complicated, and every situation calls for an educator's best professional judgement.

Unit Pre-test DRAFT

I chose to base my pre-test on Approach 1:Profiling Content Strengths and Weaknesses(Nitko & Brookhart, 2007). I was interested in the second approach, but this one seems more realistic for application within an typical classroom in an efficient manner. This assessment targets knowledge that students shoud have gained in middle school in science and possibly health class. Students would not benefit from the planned unit without this information. The content all falls under the topic of genetics, so I chose to only use one subtest. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, as always!


1.) What is the name of the molecule that stores genetic information?
2.) The unit of genetic information that determines the particular trait expressed by an individual is known as what?
3.) The last names of the two men credited with discovering the double-helix structure of the genetic material are what and what?
4.) During human reproduction, what percentage of the offspring’s genetic information comes from the mother?
5.) During human reproduction, what percentage of the offspring’s genetic material comes from the father?
6.) Human reproduction is known as what specific type of reproduction?
7.) An alteration to the genetic material is known as a what?
8.) The traits encoded by an individual’s genetic information are known as a what?
9.) The traits that an individual actually expresses are known as a what?
10.) An individual that contains both a dominant and recessive gene for the same trait is known as a what?
11.) The genetic material is stored by a cell as long stands that encode multiple traits and is known as what?
12.) What is the name of the 19th century Augustinian monk known as the father of modern genetics?
13.) Which cells contain genetic information?
14.) The genetic material is transcribed into another type of molecule and then translated into what other kind of molecule, which does the work of the cell?
15.) How many strands of genetic material bond together to make a double helix?
16.) The type of trait found in a wild, normal individual is known as what?
17.) An altered trait that differs from the one normally found in a wild population is known as what type of trait?

Final Draft of Summative Assessment Blueprint

This is the final blueprint of my summative assessment blueprint. Thank you to everyone for their kind words and suggestions on the first draft! The changes you will see in this draft are the tweaked relative point values to reflect the amount of time and effort involved in responding to each item as well as the relative value of the learning target that each items is assessing. I have color-coded this draft and included a key in an attempt to better illustrate my thought process.

I would also like to explain my purpose in response to Professor Browne's questions/suggestions. I have less than a single hour of actual classroom experience, so my purpose here is to master the basics and underlying concepts. I would inject creativity into the actual assessment, enough to engage students without distracting them, with the actual questions. For example, the genetics traits would be "unique" and the situations for the Punnett squares and pedigree charts would be interesting as well. Within the criteria for the assignment. I wanted the process and product to be as close to what I will actually be doing one day in my classroom as possible.

I also feel that the point distribution is excellent. First, I weighed each learning target relative to the others. Within each learning target, I made sure that the point distribution among items was also balanced. I then made sure that the point distribution was consistent throughout the assessment and that values are consistent with time and effort involved in responding to each assessment item. To sum it up, I put a lot of thought and time into the point distribution, and the relatively flat distribution is deliberate and reflects the relatively close importance of each learning target within the assessment.

Summative Assessment Blueprint

Here is a copy of my Summative Assessment Blueprint. I could not figure out how to attach a file to a post, so I was able to insert it as a picture after a bit of tinkering. Clicking on the picture should open a new window or tab with a much bigger copy of the picture. If anyone would like the original by email, just ask. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Final Assessment Project Description

I would like to focus on a pen-and-paper exam type assessment. I feel that tests are a very common and will be seen as appropriate for most situations by my future colleagues and administrators regardless of where I am teaching. The content of the exam will focus on key idea 2 from standard 4 of the Living Environment Core Curriculum, which is where my learning targets line up. I do not have an exact scope in mind, but I am thinking about a 45-60 minute exam for a Regents-level Living Environment class. I am envisioning a unit exam because of the rather narrow scope of my learning targets, but I could expand it to a cumulative, final exam if the scope is otherwise too narrow. The exam questions will span many different formats, so that I can practice writing each type, and require higher-level thinking, rather than memorization and recall. I have never constructed or administered a high school exam before, so any and all input is welcome.

Final Learning Targets (For now...)

I am fairly happy with my original learning targets, with one exception. I sadly realize that RNA is not actually in the NYS standards. The understanding they promote is that genes encode proteins, but nothing about how (that would be RNA). So, I have changed learning target 5 to focus on the structure and function of DNA instead. This learning target is directly related to Major Understanding 2.1f under Standard 4 of the NYSED Living Environment Core Curriculum. My original learning targets can be found here.

******************************

My unit focuses on Key Idea 2 from Standard 4 of the NYSED Living Environment Core Curriculum: Organisms inherit genetic information in a variety of ways that result in continuity of structure and function between parents and offspring.

1. Students are able to explain how traits are transferred to offspring during sexual reproduction.
-Mastery
Verbs: Describe, outline, give examples, state, illustrate.

2. Students understand where and how genetic information is stored within a cell.
-Developmental
Verbs: Describe, diagram, illustrate, explain, identify.

3. Students are able to explain why cells containing identical genetic information can differ greatly in structure and function within a single organism.
-Mastery
Verbs: give examples, describe, explain, contrast, diagram.

4. Students can construct a pedigree chart for sex-linked, dominant, and recessive traits.
-Mastery
Verbs: Interpret, compose, diagram, distinguish, predict.

5. Students understand the basic structure and properties of DNA and their significance in DNA replication.
-Mastery
Verbs: Explain, diagram, summarize, describe, support.

6. Students are able to construct a Punnet Square based on the laws of Mendelian Genetics.
-Mastery
Verbs: Create, break down, categorize, illustrate, diagram.

7. Students understand how the expression of genes can be modified by interaction with the environment.
-Developmental
Verbs: give examples, explain, predict, appraise, design.

My Fav Alternative Assessment

As a Bio major at a small liberal arts school in Vermont, I had many classes with professors that did not have much of a background in Education. They had undergone very traditional educations and then spent time doing professional research. However, the department chair came up with the idea of doing once a month professional development with the professors in the field of Education, rather than Biology. I'm pretty sure it involved a lot of home-brewed beer and wine, but they picked up the idea of alternative assessments and took it to heart.

There is no one particular assessment that stands out above all the rest, but I can remember a few. I had an Aquatic Biology midterm the involved an overnight class field trip to the southern coast of Maine, where we set up research at low tide in the evening and then collected data at low tide the following morning.

A second memory involved a writing an essay for a Literature class while exploring the abandoned town of Upper Tahawus in the Adirondacks where Theodore Roosevelt was vacationing when President McKinley died. We then traced (by van) the route he took to the North Creek rail station in a milk wagon on his way to being sworn in as President.

I can remember quite a few other "performance based" assessments in the lab, but I think the two examples above are some of the most interesting to hear about. Creating cDNA libraries and analyzing them with a gene chip doesn't mean much to most people.

NYSED Standards linked to my Learning Targets

NYSED Standards mapped to my Learning Targets from NYSED Living Environments Standard 4:

1) 2.1b
2) 2.1a
3) 2.1c
4) 2.1j
5) 2.1g
6) 2.1e
7) 2.1k

Learning Targets Draft

My unit focuses on Key Idea 2 from Standard 4 of the NYSED Living Environment Core Curriculum: Organisms inherit genetic information in a variety of ways that result in continuity of structure and function between parents and offspring.

1. Students are able to explain how traits are transferred to offspring during sexual reproduction.
-Mastery
Verbs: Describe, outline, give examples, state, illustrate.

2. Students understand where and how genetic information is stored within a cell.
-Developmental
Verbs: Describe, diagram, illustrate, explain, identify.

3. Students are able to explain why cells containing identical genetic information can differ greatly in structure and function within a single organism.
-Mastery
Verbs: give examples, describe, explain, contrast, diagram.

4. Students can construct a pedigree chart for sex-linked, dominant, and recessive traits.
-Mastery
Verbs: Interpret, compose, diagram, distinguish, predict.

5. Students are able to describe the role of RNA in protein synthesis.
-Mastery
Verbs: Explain, diagram, summarize, describe, support.

6. Students are able to construct a Punnet Square based on the laws of Mendelian Genetics.
-Mastery
Verbs: Create, break down, categorize, illustrate, diagram.

7. Students understand how the expression of genes can be modified by interaction with the environment.
-Developmental
Verbs: give examples, explain, predict, appraise, design.

Me:

My name is Glen Wallace and I am in my second semester at Brockport. I completed my BS in Biology at Saint Michael's College in Colchester Vemont in 2007 and then came back to the Rochester area. As I began looking for jobs and thinking about furthering my education I realized that while science is great, my real passion is working with children. The bulk of my prior work experience consists of 2 years teaching swimming lessons at a local YMCA near my parent's home in Pittsford, 6 summers as a camp counselor at YMCA Camp Gorham in the Adirondacks, and a few semseters tutoring undergraduates in Chemistry. While considering my interests and experiences in life, the obvious choice was to pursue a career as a science educator.

I am currently employed as a Recreation Therapist in the Emergency Services/Short-Term Residential Program at Hillside Children's Center. This means that I get to plan and run activites for 24 clients who face various social, emotional, and mental challenges. My job continues to provide me with experiences that will greatly benefit my career as an educator each and every day. The most invalueable lesson I have learned is that when it comes down to it, kids are just kids. They have the same basic needs and wants regardless of ability level, race, background, age, gender or any other factor. A second is that there are no inherently "bad" children. Some of them may face challenges that are hard to understand or even identify, but there really is potential in every single child.

My favorite hobbies include canoeing, kayaking, reading, sailing, and biking. I have had the priviledge of teaching canoeing and kayaking at both YMCA Camp Gorham and Hillside's summer camp, Camp Possibilities, and I taught sailing for a year at Gorham as well. Reading is a mandatory, daily part of life as a graduate student, and I'm the guy riding his bike around campus regardless of the weather. My heroes include Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and MacGyver. I drink a lot of green tea and I have three pet goldfish. That is all of the personal information I can think of at this time that I feel like publishing to cyberspace.