Classroom Assessment (RES 5560) Preliminary Survey
Your Name:
______
The purpose of this survey is to gather some information from you to help structure the forum discussions.
To begin, SAVE THIS FILE TO YOUR DESKTOP (or to a personal flash drive) AS
RES 5560-<section no.>-<your last name>
where, of course, you should make the appropriate substitutions for <section no.> and <your last name>.
Several of the questions call for careful, thoughtful responses. For those questions, spend some time thinking about your answer before posting it. DO NOT post a response without first pondering your response. Most of the questions ask you to provide an explanation. Be sure you do include an explanation; otherwise, I will send the survey back to you for further elaboration.
When you have completed the survey, save it again (in fact save it several times while responding to it), and email it to me at:
______
What is your current position?
□ Teacher
□ Local school administrator
□ Central administrator
□ Other:
If you are a teacher, what grade(s) do you teach? If you are not a teacher, what grade(s) did you teach previously? Type your response in the expandable box below:
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If you currently are an administrator (local or central) what is your responsibility? Type your response in the expandable box below:
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Which of the following components (you can include more than one) do you believe should be taken into consideration when deciding what grade to give students on a report card?
Improvement
Effort
Ability
Motivation
Comportment
Individual responsibility
Achievement
Type your response in the expandable box below. For each component, provide an explanation/justification for including it as part of a report card grade.
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Do you (or did you) grade homework or, if not, do you think homework should be graded?
□ Yes □ No.
If Yes, in the expandable box below, explain…
- how you graded the homework or how you believe homework should be graded,
- whether or not homework grades counted (or should be counted) toward report card grades..
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Teachers give many tests and other assessments during a semester. In your opinion, how should grades on these tests and assessments be used? For instance, should all tests and assessments carry the same weight? Should assessments given later in the semester be weighted more heavily than those given earlier in the semester? Give your response, along with an explanation in the expanding box below.
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How should classroom assessments be used? What is (was) their purpose? What does students’ performance on classroom assessments tell the teacher? Give your response, along with an explanation in the expanding box below.
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Consider three students’ report card grades in some academic. One of these students receives an “A-” (or a 94), another a “B” (or a 89), and the third, a C+ (or an 84). Now give a verbal description of how these students are differentiated by their grades. In other words, how would you tell a parent, another teacher, or anyone else how these students differ academically? What, in a practical sense (or a real sense, for that matter) do the different grades mean? Give your response in the expanding box below.
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Now, select three students, a high performing student, an average performing student, and a poor student (note: if you are currently teaching, select three actual students from your class (or one of your classes; otherwise, imagine that you may have had in the past.)
Now, think about what report-card grade you would give these students if you had to prepare a report card today.
First, however, identify the subject area?
For each of these students, describe how you would arrive at his or her grade. Describe what factors you would take into account and the evidence you would use to justify the grade. Be specific.
Best student:
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Average student:
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Poorest student:
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What do you think about zeros? When are they appropriate? When are they inappropriate? What kind of student work would justify a grade of zero? Give a carefully justified response in the expanding box below.
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Some educators believe that tests and other classroom assessments should be constructed after the instructional curriculum has been established; others believe that the assessments should be determined first and then the instructional curriculum established. What do you think? Give your carefully considered response in the expandable box below.
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Should factors like effort, academic growth, and ability be taken into account when assigning REPORT CARD grades? Explain your reasoning in the box below.
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When you have completed the survey, save it again and email it to me at: