Help with high school grading scheme!

[DH in Las Vegas]

My ds will be starting 8th grade this year and, being our last transition year before high school, I feel obligated to begin more formal grading (i.e. a letter grade for each subject every term and a final overall grade in each subject). Up to now I have corrected every assignment and had him correct any deficiencies as we went along. Only in math did he have a real idea of a grade - 90% correct was an "A", etc.

 

The problem is that I want to have a way of evaluating him and holding him responsible for his effort level without getting sucked into a public school type grading scheme which would seem to be extremely labor intensive on my part. I don't want to have to come up with a rubric for each and every assignment. This is not something I want to be stressing over! What are grades for? To me they are a way to set standards and to show how the student has met those standards. Does anyone have a simpler way of assigning letter grades? I'm not brave enough to do the pass/fail on his HS transcript. Right now he wants to go to a top engineering university and grades have loomed darkly on my planning horizon. Thank you for your guidance. I learn so much from you every day!

[Cedarmom]

My son's community college classes grade homework as complete/not complete. They expect the students to have checked to make sure their answers are correct. So, he gets points for having it done but it is not checked over by the teacher. Then, the quizzes and tests are graded by the teacher. I adopted this method for math/science/Latin and it is much easier. I did ask my son to correct his work in a differant colored pen, so that I could see that he had actually done the corrections. I gave him a set amount of points for doing the working and handing it in on time. All I checked for was that he had done it. Most of his grades came from quizzes and tests.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I don't have any answers, but I've been thinking about this as well because I must provide grades for NCAA. I have had to provide report cards for school sports before, and I just kind of scratch my head, squint my eyes, shrug my shoulders, and pick a letter. Not really, it has to do with if I think ds could have done better mostly.

 

I'm taking a Statistics class at the CC this summer. Grading is very clear.

3 Tests @100pt each

3 Quizzes @50pts each

3 HW @ 33pts each

1 Final Project @75pts

So, final grade is based on the % of 625pts received:

100 – 90% =A 89 – 80%=B 79 – 70%=C 69 – 69% = D

 

I'd like to be able to intelligently explain my grading scale, but I have no idea especially for English and History. So, I'm waiting for those who have BTDT to share.

[DH in Las Vegas]

Sue,

 

Your college class illustrates part of my concern, but I can't quite articulate what I feel. Maybe it's the idea of grades based almost solely on testing that bothers me. I did pretty well in school because I was a great test taker, but looking back I feel that I was not (and am not) particularly educated. I know that testing has its place, and that kids need to be comfortable with sitting for exams. However, I don't want to get sucked into the idea that doing well on exams (regurgitating the material) is our ultimate goal and that I have to teach with that in mind. Lord knows I don't want to have to teach to any test! KWIM?

[Sunshine State Sue]

Hmm. I went to a high school seminar once and the lady had a handout titled "200+ Ways to Show What You Know". It included things like:

make a mural

draw a map

design a brochure

produce a video

make a poster

 

I like the idea, but I would still have to give it a grade. Now, how would I do that in any sort of intelligent manner?

[FaithManor]

It is an unfortunate hoop through which many will have to jump. We graduated dd last year and I found that it was impossible to avoid.

 

Every college she applied to required that I, as a homeschooler, provide a grading scale and at least some justification for how I weighted the grades. We didn't have to provide a portfolio of work and although it was never requested, I did include a curriculum list (though not exhaustive) and a Great Books reading list. I consider grading to be a lot like the ACT/SAT, no true indicator of what the student knows and is capable of, but an entrenched mechanism in the American educational system that can not be avoided. She applied to six or seven universities and was accepted at all of them

 

I never allowed dd to grade her own work. I know that a lot of homeschoolers do this, but the reality is, public school kids (unless they cheat) are not privy to the contents of a teacher's/solution's manual and I observed the same rule. I graded all of her work. No, it wasn't fun, but I also felt that it was necessary for the integrity of the grades I would issue.

 

In math, I gave 35% of the grade for daily work, 50% for exams, and 15% for quizzes. It was kind of arbitrary but similar to what the schools in our area do. I never gave credit just simply for completing work. There are a couple of teachers in our district who have done this with daily work and they have come under intense criticism for doing so.

 

For science, since the daily work was very much in the lines of reading and notebook keeping, I assigned 60% of the grade to exams and 40% to labs/notebooking. I never provided a rubric for grading to any college but just a general explanation of how I weighted the grades and the scale used. I deducted points on labs if the process wasn't followed properly, otherwise I issued full points as long as she completed lab sheets and did a little write up on the lab.

 

For history, 50% exams and 50% essays or research papers. Again, not a great indicator of what a student really understands but necessary for college admissions.

 

Literature was exclusively writing and that was much harder. Dh and I gave a letter grade for content and a letter grade for grammar/writing style. Depending on the assignment, the content could be worth more or less of the grade - it always hinged on what our desired outcome was. We kept examples of her writing in case we were ever asked to substantiate grades. This never happened. I did occasionally call upon some high school teacher friends to give me "input" on certain assignments. I usually ended up being far more "harsh" in my grading than they would have been.

 

A few of her electives were more along the lines of "boxed" curriculum that came with their own grading suggestions which we usually followed.

 

I kept a grade book and had quarterly as well as semester averages. Every college that dd applied to expected to see semester averages and letter grades plus cumulative scores. Though I was never asked to provide "proof" of an earned grade, dh and I felt that we should be able to if necessary in order to show the integrity of her grades. Dh and I are pretty tough but we chose not to give 1.5 credits for any "AP" classes as some high schools do because again, this is very subjective. Frankly, dd did more and harder work, than her best friend who took all AP classes her junior and senior year.

 

I know there have been some who really did not want to go through with a traditional grading system and record keeping. I agree that it doesn't seem to really show "mastery" of work. But, having graduated one from homeschooling, I will say that I am glad we went through the grunt work of doing so. Colleges and Universities cling to their "vested" notions of how to evaluate an education and because I took the time to do the record keeping, we were able to issue a high school transcript that we knew we could defend within traditional educational parameters.

 

You don't necessarily need an elaborate system, just a consistent one.

Faith

[Joan in GE]

This is only one example, from a University of California accepted high school course description...

 

Here is the website page just for Modern World History... and their assessment methods and tools (you have to open the course description - a Word doc). You can search other subjects and courses to see other methods...

 

for Modern World History

25. Assessment Methods and/or Tools:

Content exams = 25%

Research papers = 25%

Projects = 25%

Active participation = 25%.

 

Here is French I

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment Assessed

 

 

 

 

Percent of

 

 

 

 

Total Grade

 

 

Homework

 

 

20%

 

 

Class work

 

 

25%

 

 

Oral participation

 

 

25%

 

 

Quizzes and tests

 

 

15%

 

 

Projects

 

 

15%

 

 

 

 

Descriptions by subject.

 

Joan

Edited May 24, 2010 by Joan in Geneva

[DH in Las Vegas]

FaithManor,

 

I'm beginning to realize the hoops you're talking about as I research the whole college-track process! I really liked what LoriM said in a later post:

 

Most of my children's home school work (including high school) was "ungraded." That is, I didn't expect them to do less than "A" quality work, and if they did, they did it again. So, transcripts were heavily laden with A's, but my children did excellent work. We always had an understanding that grades were a reflection of a fulfillment of a contract between us. I presented a body of work I expected them to master (Biology, or Algebra II), and a year to do it in...and in the end, mastery yielded an "A." Average or mediocre work certainly would have yielded a B or a C, but my daughters never gave me that burden. :)

 

 

This is more in line with my feelings on the matter of grades. Thanks again, ladies, for more food-for-thought.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Thank you, Faith and Joan! You were very, very helpful.

 

:Angel_anim:

[FaithManor]

I too understand what you mean about mastery. We have high expectations and work that is sub-standard has to be re-done.

 

That said, I did up the stakes with dd when she hit high school. The first grade always stood. So, if she struggled with an assignment, that low grade stayed in the grade book. She had to do the work again because I wouldn't allow her to move on without fully understanding the concepts, but a C was a C and it stood, etc.

 

This didn't happen often, but because I knew that most of the local kids were not given another opportunity to re-do their schoolwork, I made sure her grades did not reflect re-do's. This wasn't that much of an issue because dd is a great student. She nearly always turned in 90% or above on every assignment or test. However, a few times it did hurt. She once got a C on a chemistry exam that, in retrospect, I could have held off giving to her. We'd recently had something upsetting happen in the family and I knew her mind was elsewhere. But, I also knew it would be a learning experience. I certainly was not given the opportunity to bring a grade up in college or put off an exam because it was a bad day. Rarely, was extra credit given or a chance to re-do anything. So, I went ahead and made her do the exam. There were a few other times as well. She was required to re-do the chapter and I made up a new exam which she then aced but that first C was averaged into the final grade.

 

As a result, dd's final g.p.a. was 3.89. Not high enough for the presidential scholarships at most universities. Her mastery level of understanding was 4.0 because we made sure she conquered the concepts before moving on. The grades that kept her out of 4.0 were in English Literature. She did a lot more and far better work than her public school friends but she is also the first to admit that she hated literature and didn't apply herself as she should have. There are days that it still bothers me that I didn't issue her a 4.0. But, I think that would have been padding the transcript. Other students are not given the opportunity to do the exact work over again and I wanted to be completely honest about my grading.

 

Personally, I wish they'd rely a whole lot more on interviews, essays, and portfolios. Goodness, I know kids who have gotten A's in AP English classes that somehow can not form a coherent sentence much less a paragraph. Same for science.....locally....all science classes do nothing but take multiple choice vocabulary exams with some occasional labs that would be easy for my 6th grader to accomplish unsupervised! I'd lay bets on DD's portfolio against any local valedictorian. But, alas, those traditional transcripts and standardized tests seem to be the main criteria. It is frustrating.

 

I think I ate a lot of M&M's while doing my grading. It seemed to help the nasty medicine go down! More than once, I scarfed down large mocha latte's while working on transcripts!

 

Faith

[Firestar Academy]

.... and I just kind of scratch my head, squint my eyes, shrug my shoulders, and pick a letter.

 

:lol::lol::lol::thumbup1:

 

Robin in NJ

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I realize this is a thread from last year. But I found that there was some great thoughts here.

 

This will be the first year I assign grades to my older kids (other than a rather brief "if I were giving a grade" sort of comment for pre algebra). I want to come up with grading schemes for each of the major subjects at the beginning of the year, so they understand what is expected of them.

 

Does anyone have any more BTDT advice or examples of grading formulas?

 

FWIW, my kids are both interested in service academies or ROTC programs, so they will be in a competitive, selective college admissions foodfight. Our current home is very competitive academically, with students completing IB diplomas or several AP courses in high school.

[Teachin'Mine]

This is only one example, from a University of California accepted high school course description...

 

Here is the website page just for Modern World History... and their assessment methods and tools (you have to open the course description - a Word doc). You can search other subjects and courses to see other methods...

 

for Modern World History

25. Assessment Methods and/or Tools:

Content exams = 25%

Research papers = 25%

Projects = 25%

Active participation = 25%.

 

Here is French I

 

Assignment Assessed

Percent of

Total Grade

Homework

20%

Class work

25%

Oral participation

25%

Quizzes and tests

15%

Projects

15%

 

 

Descriptions by subject.

 

Joan

 

Seriously??? Quizzes and tests only 15 percent??? Sounds like the public schools where you could fail every test and still end up with a B. :confused:

[LillianinAL]

This thread is very helpful. My oldest is starting 9th grade, and I am taking notes. Thanks for starting it and for all the information. Blessings, Lillian