Grades in a Diploma Plus School

Grades in a Diploma Plus School This document is designed to explain the Diploma Plus grading system to teachers at Diploma Plus schools. It details how individual assignments are graded, and how those grades from assignments are used to calculate grades on report cards 1. Why are grades different at my Diploma Plus school? Grading in Diploma Plus schools is designed to give your students feedback in how well they are applying new skills and concepts to what they are learning in your classes. To do this, Diploma Plus teachers give scores on each key learning objective (the Diploma Plus, and in some schools the state s prioritized learning standards) instead of just one number or letter grade like in traditional schools. This way you and your students have a better understanding of their strengths and areas to improve since you are able to look at each different key learning objective separately. In all Diploma Plus schools, teachers use Diploma Plus and state learning standards to plan and teach classes. Teachers in all Diploma Plus schools also grade student work using the DP, and in many schools are required to grade student work with the state s prioritized learning standards as well. How do I grade assignments? During your curriculum planning process, you choose the content and personal competencies - and the prioritized standards if your school also grades them- which your students will be able to demonstrate by completing a given assignment. You then use the rubrics for the competencies (and standards where applicable) you identified for the assignment and look for evidence in your students submitted work of how well they met these learning outcomes. Using the evidence found in the students assignments, you then assign a score -from No Credit to Advanced- for each DP Competency (and prioritized standard). How are competency grades calculated for students report cards? When a competency has been graded five or more times (meaning the student earned an Emerging or higher at least five times on the competency), then DiplomaPlus.net determines a trend 2 in the work on that competency throughout the marking period and reports that result on the student s report card. If a student has completed three or four assignments that showed her or his use of a particular competency, then DiplomaPlus.net suggests a competency grade for the report card by taking the mean of those assignment grades. For example, suppose a student completed seven assignments that demonstrated her use of Social Studies Competency SS4 and earned the following scores on that competency: 1 More detailed information about grading can be found in the DiplomaPlus.net FAQ at: <http:// wiki.classdrive.net/index.php/grading_faq>. 2 The trend used is called the Power Law. Please refer to Robert Marzano s Transforming Classroom Grading for more information on how to calculate a Power Law regression. www.diplomaplus.net Page 1 of 7

Grades in a Diploma Plus School Assignment Number Competency Grade on SS4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 1 2 2 3 2 4 The graph below shows the data from the table above as the blue points, and the gray curve shows the trend line. The final competency grade is found by using the trend line for the last assignment completed. In this case, the trend line predicts a competency grade of nearly a 3, or a Bridging for the seventh assignment, and is marked by the red star. Every competency score on the report card is calculated this way, by using either the mean for competencies graded three or four times, or the trend line for competencies graded five times or more. DiplomaPlus.net applies the same rules to calculate grades for Prioritized Standards in schools that use these to grade as well. Can an overall course grade be determined for a report card? Because Diploma Plus has schools in many different districts, there are some differences in what information, besides the DP, is reported on report cards. However, many schools report not only the competency (and sometimes standards) scores but also some overall grade for a course for each marking period. This overall grade may be either a percentage score, or a letter grade, or both. In order to earn an overall grade, a student must first meet all the requirements for the course (for example, completing the portfolio, presentation, and internship, meeting attendance requirements, etc.) and not have any competency (or prioritized standards) scores that are No Credit. If a student either does not meet all the requirements or has any competency (or standards) grade for a course that is a No Credit, the student should receive a No Credit or an NC for the overall grade for the course. How is a percentage grade determined for schools that grade only with DP? If a student meets all the course requirements and has all competency grades above a No Credit, then the percentage grade would be found by taking a weighted average of the final competency grades. First, the mean of the content competencies, and the mean of your personal competencies are calculated. The content competencies are worth 65% of the percentage grade and the personal competencies are worth 35%, so the means of the content and personal competencies are scaled by.65 and.35 respectively and those weighted scores are added together. www.diplomaplus.net Page 2 of 7

Grades in a Diploma Plus School Then you use the table below to convert this score into a percentage. For example, suppose a student earned the following grades on his report card in a math course: Content M1: 3 M2: 4 M4: 2 M5: 3 Personal P1: 2 P2: 4 P3: 4 P5: 5 P6: 3 The mean of his content competency grades is a 3. and the mean of his personal competency grades is a 3.6. The scaled scores of his content and personal competencies are 1.95 and 1.25, which gives a total weighted average of a 3.2. By the table below, this student would receive a 73% if he completed all the requirements for the course as well. How is a percentage grade determined for schools that grade using DP and Prioritized Standards? If a student meets all the course requirements and has all competency and standards grades above a No Credit, then the percentage grade would be found by taking a weighted average of the final content and personal competency grades and final prioritized standards grades. First the mean of the final grades on each content competency, the mean of the final grades on each personal competency and the mean of the final grades on each prioritized standard are calculated. The content competencies are worth 32.5% of the percentage grade, the personal competencies are worth 17.5%, and the standards are worth 5%, so the means of the content and personal competencies, and the prioritized standards are scaled by.325,.175, and.5 respectively and those weighted scores are added together. Then you use the table to the right to convert this score into a percentage grade. Again, suppose a student earned the following final competency grades in a math course: Content M1: 3 M2: 4 M4: 2 M5: 3 Personal P1: 2 P2: 4 P3: 4 P5: 5 P6: 3 Prioritized Standards G 1.: 5 G 3.: 2 G 7.: 3 G 1.: 2 G 12.: 4 G 16.: 4 based on your district requirements. Weighted Overall Average of Percentage Final Grades Grade 3. 7 3.1 71.5 3.2 73 3.3 74.5 3.4 76 3.5 77.5 3.6 79 3.7 8.5 3.8 82 3.9 83.5 4. 85 4.1 86.5 4.2 88 4.3 89.5 4.4 91 4.5 92.5 4.6 94 4.7 95.5 4.8 97 The mean of his content competency 4.9 98.5 grades is a 3., the mean of his personal 5. 1 competency grades is a 3.6, and the mean of his prioritized standards grades is a 3.3. The scaled scores of his content competencies, personal competencies, and prioritized standards are.975,.63, and 1.65, respectively, which gives a total weighted average of a 3.3 (or exactly 3.275). By the table above, this student would receive a 74.5% if he completed all the requirements for the course as well. How is a letter grade assigned for a course? The conversion from percent to letter grades is determined by each individual Diploma Plus school, although it may be www.diplomaplus.net Page 3 of 7

Purpose: This guide has been developed to enable faculty and staff at Diploma Plus schools to be able to understand and apply the different steps that are used within DiplomaPlus.net to calculate students final grades. Step 1: The teacher identifies the Content, Personal, and where applicable, state standards that will be assessed on a student assignment. For instance, suppose the assignment To Kill a Mockingbird Journal Reflection will be graded using the competencies ELA2, ELA5, and P3. Step 2: The teacher grades every student s work using the rubric for each of those competencies. Suppose in this case, the teacher determines from the rubrics that Simone Adamley s work on her To Kill a Mockingbird Journal Reflection demonstrates a Capable level of understanding on ELA2, Proficient on ELA 5, and Needs Improvement on P3. What would the screen look like if John Bender earned an Advanced on ELA 2, Emerging on ELA 5, and an Advanced on P3? www.diplomaplus.net Page 4 of 7

Step 3: At the end of the marking period, the Power Law is used to determine each competency grade by looking at all the assignment grades related to that competency and calculating the trend line based on the power law of learning, as described by Marzano. DiplomaPlus.net will determine the competency score using the mathematical regression for the Power Law automatically, and Microsoft Excel will also do this when the Analysis Pak is installed, the scatter plot of the data series is selected, and the Power trend line is chosen. Suppose Simone Adamley earned, along with her grades from the To Kill a Mockingbird Reflection (assignment A), the following scores on the other eight assessments given in a term: Competency Assignment A B C D E F G H I ELA1 2 4 4 3 4 5 ELA2 2 3 2 4 3 5 4 ELA5 3 2 1 2 3 3 2 3 P1 3 5 4 3 5 5 P3 1 1 2 3 2 3 4 3 While DiplomaPlus.net will calculate the competency grade of ELA1 for the report card automatically, teachers and students can also make a reasonable prediction by plotting each grade for that competency in order of the assignment, and estimating a Power Law curve. Where the curve ends at the final assignment (in this example, H) is a good estimate of the report card grade for that competency. 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1.5 Series 1 Here, DiplomaPlus.net would assign the student an Advanced (5) score for ELA1, since the black regression curve ends closer to a 5 than a 4. Use Simone Adamley s scores on ELA2 to make a prediction for her report card grade on that competency using the chart provided on the following page. www.diplomaplus.net Page 5 of 7

I Note: Her predicted score from DiplomaPlus.net would be a Proficient (4). Step 4: For schools that choose to use the option, an overall course grade in the form of a percent and/or a letter grade can also be determined from DiplomaPlus.net. Once the competency grade has been determined using the Power Law for each competency, the percentage grade is calculated by first taking a weighted average of these grades, where the Content are worth 65% and the Personal are worth 35%, and then scaling that value by multiplying the weighted average by 15 and then adding 25 points. (In the case of schools that use standards for grading as well, the standards grades are worth 5%, the content competencies are worth 32.5%, and the personal competencies are worth 17.5%, and then scale the score.) Continuing with the example above, using the Power Law for each competency, Simone Adamley would receive the following scores on her report card: Competency Report Card Grade ELA1 5 ELA2 4 ELA5 2 P1 5 P3 4 Her percentage grade can be found by first calculating the weighted average: 5 + 4 + 2 5 + 4. 65 ( ) +. 35 = 3. 78 3 2. Then scale that score: 15 3. 78 + 25 = 81. 7. Simone Adamley s overall percentage score would be 81.7%. If a school uses a letter grade as well, DiplomaPlus.net would then use the conversion defined by the school to assign a letter grade. www.diplomaplus.net Page 6 of 7

John Bender s competency grades on his report card are shown below. What would be his overall percentage score for his report card? Competency Report Card Grade ELA1 5 ELA2 5 ELA5 4 P1 2 P3 1 First calculate his weighted average:. 65 +. 35 Then scale that score: 15 + 25 ( ) = = www.diplomaplus.net Page 7 of 7