Formative+Narrative+Assessment+Grading

The goal of the Personal Narrative Formative Assessment is to increase student learning. Instead of having an assessment situation where there are “winners and losers,” Stiggins’ (2007) analogy for this is using “assessment as a road map to ultimate success, with signposts along the way for both students and their teachers” (p. 72). Think of each formative assessment as a signpost that students and teachers can use to direct themselves toward a common destination (i.e., their learning goal). Of course, as teachers we assign grades to assessments so that our grades reflect the degree of student learning. In order to keep grading fair we need to follow a fair, consistent model when we grade. When assigning points to the Narrative Formative Assessments we need to make sure that the earlier grades that students earn (when they first start learning) do not impact their overall grade as much as the later scores students earn (after they have learned and practiced Personal Narratives many times). The first two weeks of the unit students will receive full credit in their grade books. This is their period of introduction and intense learning. For weeks 3-5 students earn points according to the chart below. As students learn more, the tests become worth more points. In this way, poor early performance does not negatively impact student grades.

Use this chart to assign point values to student scores after you use the rubric to grade student writing:

 * ~ === Week ===

||~ === ...Point Value... ===

||~ === ...4 (100%)... ===

||~ === ...3 (80%)... ===

||~ === ...2 (70%)... ===

||~ === ...1 (50%)... ===

||
 * = 1 ||= 20 ||= 20 ||= 20 ||= 20 ||= 20 ||
 * = 2 ||= 30 ||= 30 ||= 30 ||= 30 ||= 30 ||
 * = 3 ||= 40 ||= 40 ||= 32 ||= 28 ||= 20 ||
 * = 4 ||= 50 ||= 50 ||= 40 ||= 35 ||= 25 ||
 * = 5 ||= 60 ||= 60 ||= 48 ||= 42 ||= 30 ||

Remember, the point of this is to help students learn--not to assess and punish.