Chapter Nine: Ten Approaches To Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading

Chapter ten of Fair Isn't Always Equal discussed ten different things to avoid when differentiating assessments and grading. Approach number one spoke about avoiding the mistake of incorporating nonacademic factors such as behavior, attendance, and effort into the final grade of the student. Teachers should avoid penalizing students' attempts at trying to master the content. If a teacher penalizes a student for trying to learn in a different intelligence, then that teacher is denying them the opportunity to learn. The chapter also suggests to the teacher that (s)he should avoid grading homework. Homework is meant to serve as practice. The content is new to the students, so if they do not fully understand the new content, and it is evident in the homework that they do not comprehend the material, then the teacher should seize this opportunity to teach them what they do not understand while providing the students with a non-threatening environment (a place where the students can have the opportunity to learn at their own pace and revise their work). The point of homework is to help the students become comfortable with the new content and new ideas, not for them to perfect it on the first try. Teachers should withhold assistance with learning when it is needed. Teachers should help their students understand the content, differentiate and tier assignments. Teachers should never assess their students in ways that do not depict the children's mastery. Teachers should avoid using extra credit and bonus points. If grades are about mastery of content, then using methods that alter grades to encourage motivation and participation are not being constructive to the students' knowledge. Teachers should avoid group grading because every student works differently. Teachers should also avoid grading on a curve (similar to what Dr. Grace was talking about in class with a positive alternative of teaching with the J curve). Teachers should avoid handing out zeros for unaccomplished work. Students should be given an opportunity to attempt the content. The last suggestion warns the teachers to avoid using norm-referenced terms to describe criterion referenced attributes. Teachers simply cannot use a grade that shows a student's average in order to demonstrate a mastery of a standard. This chapter was extremely valuable to me as a teacher because it displayed the many negative aspects of grading in a classroom. I can use this information to remind myself that it was used ineffictively in other classrooms and that I should not practice these questionable methods in my own classroom.