Chapter 8 UbD/DI: Grading and Reporting Achievement

This chapter discussed how to grade in a differentiated classroom, and the differences between grading and assessments. Grades “should represent a definable degree of proficiency related to important goals” (130). I found this statement to be very helpful when thinking about providing grades for my students in the future. It also helped me with thinking about the second E in the WHERETO model. Because, if the students know the goal at the beginning of the unit, then they know what it is that they need to achieve or acknowledge to be able to receive an acceptable grade at the end of the unit. From this chapter I found, that in order to grade your student’s you need to gather information about your student’s progress throughout the unit, so you have an idea of how they are doing, before you start grading them. One new thing I learned in this unit was that there’s a way of grading called Reporting, which supports standards based teaching, and differentiation. It grades for achievements and goals, it shows progress towards goals, and produces good work habits. When I am in the classroom, I will more likely resort to the reporting way of grading my students. That way they are always aware of what they are going to get for a grade, and they are never ambushed with the grade they received.