Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen of Fair Isn’t Always Equal connects with chapter thirteen, in that it is about report card formats. Chapters thirteen and fourteen both have to do with the final product of assessment; the only difference is that one is what mostly teachers see, and the other is what mostly parents see. The quote at the beginning of the chapter is very telling to me. In it, Linda Starr writes about the different ways teachers and parents perceive report cards. In the teacher’s mind, the report card is a report of how the student is progressing; the learning process is a continuous spectrum, and as long as the student is constantly bettering herself, everything is okay. However, to the parent’s mind, this is not enough. The parent wants to know how their child is doing when compared to everyone else’s children. This doesn’t seem healthy to me. I think there needs to be better communication between educators and parents, so the parents can really know what the teacher is trying to do with grades.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen of Fair Isn’t Always Equal focuses its lens on gradebook formats. It talks about listing assignments by date, category, and objective. The last one it talks about, after all of those, organizes assignments by topics. This is one of the most intriguing things in the book thus far, because it asks the teacher to not only put grades into the book differently but to actually grade assignments differently. Rather than giving one grade for a whole assignment, the instructor looks at different competencies demonstrated by the assignment and records different grades for each one. For instance, in a writing assignment involving research, a separate grade might be recorded for spelling and grammar, organization of ideas, and quality of research, along with other factors, depending on what unit the assignment is a part of. I might not implement this style of grading immediately, but it will be something to consider down the line.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 12

Chapter twelve of Fair Isn’t Always Equal talks about grading scales. It contains a comparison between several popular and widely-used grading scales, including the letters (A, B, C, etc.), the 100-point scale, and the 4-point scale. The author seems to be on the side of the 4-point scale, along with other scales that are similarly small. The argument is that a smaller grading scale allows the focus to be taken off grades and put where it should be: on learning. I agree with this. The important thing a student should be looking for shouldn’t be the number we decide to attach to their work. What they should care about is the feedback we give them in order to continue their learning. In addition, on a purely functional level, it seems like it’s much easier to be consistent with a 4-point scale.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 11

Chapter eleven of Fair Isn’t Always Equal discusses six specific issues within grading. These include what grade to record for an incomplete assignment, grading gifted students, weighting grades, automaticity versus concept attainment, grading late work, and grading special needs students in inclusion classes. I was particularly interested in the author’s take on the problem of late work. His advice is to first take into account the student’s individual situation as regards turning in work (i.e., does the student do this frequently or is this a somewhat isolated occurrence?), and then to record two grades for the student. When it comes time to use grades for what they’re useful for (That is, to reflect mastery of subject matter), the grade that doesn’t take into account lateness of work will be used.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 9 Abstract & Synthesis

Chapter nine of Fair Isn't Always Equal is a list of ten ways to avoid common mistakes teachers make in grading. These mistakes include incorporating nonacademic factors into the final grade, not allowing students to redo work for full credit, grading homework (Because homework is practice), withholding assistance, assessing students in ways that don't reflect mastery, allowing extra credit, using group grades, grading on a curve, recording zeros for incomplete work, and using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes. As you can tell, these mistakes represent a wide range of different elements of teaching, but they all build toward a common theme that seems to go against the established expectations in the field of education, and they all represent an increased trust of students.

The most common aspect of grading connected with in this chapter seemed to be the part about not grading homework. Almost everybody, in their reflection paragraphs, talked about the part of the chapter. There was a lot of support for the idea that homework is practice, that it shouldn't be used to address new learning, and that it sometimes shouldn't be used at all. This Powerpoint presentation (Converted by Google to HTML for ease of viewing) addresses many of these concerns and questions, and gives additional perspective to the issue. It should be noted that the information at the link clashes sometimes with the information from Fair Isn't Always Equal; this suggests that the treatment of homework is something that teachers should decide for themselves, based on their subject and what they want their classroom culture to be like.
This is the first part of an article that provides more general tips on how to implement differentiation in the classroom. It should provide some illumination on the basic implementation of DI, and addresses some of the tips in FIAE. (Part 2, Part 3)
Finally, this brief article discusses differentiation of instruction as it relates to assessment.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 10

Chapter ten of Fair Isn’t Always Equal contains several excellent ideas on how to handle retaking work. The current that runs through most of these suggestions is that teachers should not be like robots. One of the strengths of education as a career is that it’s pretty hard to outsource, and, when it’s done right, can’t be done by a robot. This should be embraced; teachers should know when to be strict and when to be lenient. We have to be able to read the emotions our students are feeling, and know if it’s appropriate to let them redo an assignment or not. This is certainly harder than just having a blanket policy that covers everything, but hey, life is hard. In addition, several excellent strategies exist for ensuring that students don’t take advantage of your redo policy, like having them justify the redo, having them turn in their first attempt along with their redo, and changing the format of the redo. All of these fall under ensuring that students remain accountable for themselves and their work.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 9

Chapter nine of Fair Isn’t Always Equal discusses more about grading, and links it into the concept of the differentiated classroom. Many of the points have to do with making sure our assessments of students take into account the fact that they are growing as learners at the same time we are teaching them. With this being the case, a student shouldn’t feel discouraged to make up work whenever they aren’t satisfied with how they did. A policy where makeup work receives less credit than work turned in on time may tend to discourage students from making up the work at all, because they won’t believe it will do much good. However, at the same time, if students feel they can just do the work whenever they want, some teachers may find it difficult to motivate their students. I feel it’s part of the work of the teacher to help students understand why it benefits them to complete assignments, even if students weren’t receiving a grade at all.