I need help from you seasoned hs'ers(you know who you are:angel: ). I know with some in the hs world grading is not popular, but here is my quandry. I have only been grading math(tests only), spelling and grammar for the pst 3 yrs. I need a system or standard for grading writing and also some in-put on math grading. My dd's were in school for a few years and they do like and respond well to grades. It really does motivate them(this is just us personally). *How do you grade writing? It is NOT my forte. Do you give pts. for neatness? (what if they are doing them on WORD?) Grammar? how much weigh in grading does that recieve? You see my dilema. *math- do you grade their daily work? What portion of their total grade is it? How much weight to you give the tests? Is it 50% of total grade or only 25%. Any feedback would be great. I really want to get this nailed down as I have a 6th and 7th grader and I want to get them used to grading standards by high school. Thanks ladies.
I don't give grades with my young ones. I do on and off with my older ones though. You may already have this: Grading Scale 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D Or A 95-100 4.00 A- 93-94 3.67 B+ 91-92 3.33 B 87-90 3.00 B- 85-86 2.67 C+ 83-84 2.33 C 79-82 2.00 C- 77-78 1.67 D+ 75-76 1.33 D 72-74 1.00 D- 70-71 0.67 Typical grade scale: 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D; 59% and below = F How to grade: Determine the total number of questions. Take the number of correct answers and divide by the total number of questions. Multiply this number by 100. Which gives you your percentage. You can choose not to use grades and teach by mastery. Which is, you work on it until it is understood and then move on. http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/grade.htm Grade Recording Forms http://www.homeschoolviews.com/resources/grading-chart.pdf http://www.homeschoolviews.com/resources/rubric-1.pdf http://www.homeschoolviews.com/resources/rubric-2.pdf A Rubric is basically a numerical grading system. Writing -I would grade by neatness and content. If they are typing them, then I guess just content and how it is laid out; paragraphs. Math -Some problems I give half off, yes daily work, tests would be 25% of the grade. The good thing is that it is really up to you to make up your own system. Extras you might like to read: http://www.homeschoolviews.com/articles/feature/grades.html http://www.home-schooling-today.com/Articles/Article-Grading-Childs-Work.htm
Are most universities expecting the 10 base grading scale or the traditional 93-100? I'm really interested in weight of the different aspects of subjects ie. in highschool you don't have separate grades for spelling, grammar and writing, so what % of total English grade would each of these typically be?
I have only recently started grading, b/c my kids were both wanting it, lol. I grade maths for ds, everything as per his request, but i only include test scores in the final grade. To my way of thinking classwork is for learning, not grading. For dd, I only grade tests (but I do mark everything and we talk about errors/corrections etc) I have been using rubrics for grading writing, as it is much harder to be consistent with this, I find. Some I get online, others I make myself. I will post a couple of links below to sites I have gotten the rubrics from, but when i can't find what I'm looking for I google 'assessment rubrics' - you get hundreds of hits! Anyway, hth. http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.shtml www.teach-nology.com
I think you can find criterion for grading writing on-line. If not, send me a PM, and I got a paper I will mail you. Basically, you assign points to different things, such as grammar, neatness, spelling, content. Say the paper is worth 40 points. You can assign 10 points for each thing. Or you may want to put less emphasis on neatness. Whatever! So each spelling mistake you take off one or two points from spelling, etc. Rachael's grammar teacher graded on these five areas: Organization an structure: this essay has a clear structure appropriate to its thesis and subject Development: The various parts of this essay are fully developed Sentence structure: Sentences in this essay are free of errors and are appropriately varied. Word Choice: The words in this essay are free of errors and are appropriately varied. Grammar, usage, and mechanics: This essay demonstrates control of conventional usage Is that helpful?
http://www.virginia.edu/french/resource/teachers/admin/write.htm http://writing.umn.edu/tww/responding_grading/creating_rubrics.htm http://www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/AZ/wright_writing_skills_checklist.pdf
Thank you ladies....now I feel guilty for not doing more of my own leg-work Do you all use the 90-100-A or 93-100 -A (informal poll)
I use the 93-100 because when I didn't know what I was doing that is what the person who helped me did.
These answers are all very helpful. I'm not sure what I could add, except not to excessively "worry" about grades. I do know what you mean about grades motivating some students, though. Our dd (16) would like a grade for every assignment in every subject every day! The two colleges we have dealt with requested a transcript, but had no questions about the courses or how we graded. The ACT or SAT tests seemed to interest them more. What you could do is to contact various colleges already and ask them what they would like to see in the way of transcripts, summaries, port-folios, etc. and report back to the rest of us! (This could be a mini research project, and you could give a grade on it. )
Alpha Omega uses the Grading 93-100 A down the line... they have built in tests/quzzes... In their system (which is what I'm using). Total Quizzes (usually 3 or 4 a unit - even Math) counts for 25% of final grade. The Final exam for each unit counts for 60% of the final grade, then they factor in an Oral and Written score (can't remember what they are called right now). I use the oral & written to grade for attitude, presentation, conduct, etc. And written work - neatness, usage of concepts learned etc. And for projects they do in conjunction witht he unit. Our state doesn't require grading, BUT when we go to register them for the High-School Coop (yea, I know 7 years from now!), they will want to see them. Good luck, hope you find what you're looking for!
Wow you guys are really nice with your grades. I don't generally grade my kids but I have to report grades for my paper work so I generally consider the grades as follows: A= excellent work; shows mastery of subject material; well above average B=good work; shows some mastery of subject material; above average C=satisfactory work; shows basic comprehension but little mastery of material; average D=below satisfactory work; shows little comprehension and/or is confused about the concepts; subject set will be retaught. F=unsatisfactory; student didn't try; will do subject again So when I report that my child has an 'A' on my quarterly, this is what I mean, she has mastered the material and is performing well above average in subject area. When I give letter grades based on numbers, this is the scale I use. There's a whole educational philosophical reason why I do it this way but I won't bore you unless someone is deeply interested in knowing: A= 96 to 100 B= 91 to 95 C= 86 to 90 D= 81 to 85 F= 80 or below For writing, someone mentioned that you could likely find criteria online which is true. . .look for writing rubrics. I personally prefer to come up with my own rubric based on what I'm teaching. I wouldn't count neatness unless we were talking about the final draft of a project OR if I gave a writing assignment for the purspose of working on handwriting or neatness. For graded writing (as opposed to journal writing) my rubric would contain key points that I was trying to teach. (The student btw would be fully aware of what was on the rubric.) So if I told my kids that I'd check there handwriting for this assignment, it would be on the rubric. There's a whole educational philosophical reason I do this too--but I'll spare you for right now. :angel: HTH. . .Actually I hope I was clear and made sense! UGH:lol:
Actually, sneaky, I'd LIKE to hear your reason! Those things always inspire/help me! (If you don't mind sharing that is)
How about I start another thread? It's a bit long winded and I'm already a known thread jacker head! LOL So that way, people can keep talking about what they do for grades in writing and math here. . .and anyone whose interested in my grading scale can talk in the other thread! Okee-dokee? ;-)
sneaky - I'd be interested in that too! Although AO has a grading scale - they do suggest anything under an 80 be retaught and retested b/c it shows no mastery of the subject. And the way they "stack" things moving on with an unmastered subject creates a cascading effect where you end up having to go back ANYWAY! So I'll be looking for the new thread...
