Standards Based Assessment

At the dawn of a new year I find myself reflecting on the many things in life for which I have to be thankful.  I am grateful for the simple pleasures - an ice cold Diet Coke, a challenging hot yoga class, or the crisp pages of a really good book.  I also take stock in my larger gifts, such as my health and an incredibly supportive network of family, friends and colleagues. I am privileged to work in a community that I love, one that prioritizes education and cares deeply about the experience of its students and teachers.  This community puts its money where its mouth is and within it there are passionate groups of people working tirelessly in the PTO, Wayland Public Schools Foundation, Wayland Boosters, Creative Arts Parents Association, etc. to support and improve the schools. For example, I am grateful that this fall WPSF gave ten educators (three high school and seven middle school teachers) the gift of professional development, as they funded their attendance at Rick Wormeli’s two-day institute on Standards-Based Assessment where they learned “principles and practicalities” of transitioning their grading practices and systems.  This opportunity directly supports our school-wide goal for elevating achievement. This fall, we committed to extend the experiment the math department began four years ago to our other departments and move away from traditional grading to developing a standards-based report card in all subjects over the next 3-5 years. Through assessing around standards our aim is to offer more specific, actionable feedback about students’ academic growth and performance.

Wormeli advocates for the nationwide trend of shifting grading practices away from a traditional A-F average structure that we grew up with, to a standards-based approach, as the entire state of Maine has done in grades K-12.  In standards-based assessment, grades are short-hand reports of what one knows and can do at the end of the learning journey, not the path one takes to get there. Assessing is done exclusively in reference to evidence of standards - nothing else.  Wormeli proclaims, “If it is listed in the course curriculum, it can be evaluated and included in the final grade. If not, it can be reported, but reported in a separate column on the report card or progress report” (such as homework production, or work-habits).  In standards-based assessment, grades are based on the most consistent evidence. Teachers look for the pattern of achievement, including trends -- not the average of the data.

We have come to believe that averaging doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. A single letter grade in a subject gives us less information that one might think.  The following four students have very different learning profiles but identical averages:

The more we pool into the average, the less valid the grade is. Once homework completion, participation, effort or extra credit is factored in, the muddier the story is about what a student actually learned can become.

The move towards standards-based assessment is a philosophical match for Wayland Middle School educators for the following four reasons:

1) Standards-based reporting is built on the philosophy of a growth mindset. This philosophy asserts that intelligence can be developed.

Someone with a growth mindset..

2) Standards-based reporting recognizes that grades should first and foremost be a tool for communication, not a form of compensation. Grades are not rewards but instead a feedback tool that allows us to capture the jaggedness of learning profiles. Through it, we specifically identify skills and content areas that have been mastered as well as areas that require more instruction and practice.

3)  Chosen standards to report against should be consistent across the grade and subject. Everyone is working towards the same clearly defined targets, regardless of who the teacher is. What mastery looks like should be calibrated in our grade level professional learning communities.

4) Students’ and teachers’ conversations should be focused on learning, rather than focused on grades. Under a standards-based reporting system, discussions shift to mastering a standard rather than earning (back) points on a test, quiz or project. The focus is on what is learned rather than work completion.

For these reasons we are committed to making this transition and finding a way to move grades to what feels their underlying purpose – a source of non-judgmental feedback about progress towards a learning goal . As educators we believe all of our students can learn at high levels, but we know children take different paths to get there. Some get it with the first explanation while others need many more opportunities and varied approaches to master an idea or concept. Needing more time should not lead students to develop the misguided self-perception that they are dumb. Nor should an ability to hit the mark on the first try lead to a sense of superiority. My wish would be that the need for multiple tries be seen as a natural part of the learning process – and that our grading system honors the messy, circuitous process learning can take. This is one of the reasons why so many middle school teachers require work that does not yet meet expectations to be revised. My hope is that mistakes can be embraced and used diagnostically to determine next steps in the learning journey rather than seen as a verdict of one’s intelligence. Thomas Edison certainly knew the value of failure, and we have working light bulbs to prove it.

As you can imagine grading in this way is a major paradigm shift that requires multi-faceted changes. It is a messy, uneven process that is more challenging in some subjects than others. The following include some of the steps we are wrestling with across departments:

I began this newsletter with the notion of gratitude, and I find my self circling back to it. Know that I am grateful to be on this complex journey of standards-based grading with the thoughtful, talented group of educators from Wayland Middle School who care deeply about teaching, learning and your children and are are dedicated to this process.

Respectfully

Betsy Gavron

Wayland School Committee

FY 2020 Budget Presentation Meetings

The School Committee invites the community to attend the following special sessions where the Superintendent's Recommended FY 2020 Budget will be presented. Community members are then welcome to ask questions and share comments. The School Committee will consider this feedback as it begins its budget deliberations for the 2019-2020 school year.

The School Committee will also deliberate the budget at its regularly scheduled meetings to which the public is always welcome. 

Please join :   https://www.facebook.com/groups/WaylandMiddleSchoolPTO/

During the transition period, we will post in both the public page and the closed group, but we’d like to transition as soon as possible.

More Action Required! Other Parent Checklist items:

Middle & More Coffee: Parent Seminars

Math, Science, World Languages and Placement Process 

Thurs, Jan 17, 8:45 – 9:45 am

WMS Library

 We will be joined by department heads and Ms. Gavron for an overview of the curriculum in these departments, including plenty of time for parent Q & A.

PTO Thanks….

Holiday Gift Drive 2018 Team, 6th and 8th Grade Community Service Clubs and Donors : We did it! 80 teens and tweens living at Wayside because of neglect, abuse, or trauma had a self-selected gift to open on Christmas! Thank you to the Holiday Gift Drive 2018 Team of Colleen Morneweck, Peg Burgess, Jenny Harding and a special shout out to Barrett Brountas for all the marketing support. We also had support from students in the 6th and 8th Grade Community Service Clubs, and of course the many donors who gave so generously …. 80 kids … 140 gifts. THANK YOU!

Artist: John Chausse

Grade: 6

Medium: Colored Pencil & Marker

Important Traffic Reminder - Afternoon Pick-up

For everyone's safety, please pick up students in the designated pick up area ONLY . The designated pick-up area is the sidewalk along the gymnasium (see map below) . Having students cross though traffic in the pick up lines is not safe, nor is it safe to have parents attempting u-turns into the lanes where bus and car traffic are exiting. We appreciate your patience and attention to the safety of all of our children during afternoon pickup.

Thank you.

PM Wellness - New Policy

In an effort to keep everyone safe during PM Wellness, we are implementing a new sign-in/sign-out policy for students effective Thursday, January 3rd. Students who are participating in PM Wellness will check in with the adult supervisor for the day. They will be asked for their name, time in, time out, and if you are choosing to play in the gym or wellness center. 

Once a student signs out for the afternoon they will not be allowed to return to PM until the following day. If you have any questions please contact Pam Riddle . Thank you!