Behavior and 2nd chances

It’s good to be merciful, to allow students to redo things so that if they have messed up, they can remedy that. However, if students can redo anything, there are students who don’t try the first time. There are also perfectionists who want to redo things if they get anything less than 100%. It takes time for teachers to have to do retakes outside of school hours, especially if they create a new exam for the retake. 

To retake assignments, Silverado asks you to fill out a reflection form, in which you are supposed to put what concepts you did not understand and what you did to study it. If a student retakes a test without studying, they likely would get the same grade. If you study before reassessment, you will understand it better and get a better grade. Also, you can use the back of the form as scratch paper for a math test. 

“Grading reform has minimized the impact of non-academic factors for students by focusing on students’ knowledge and skills,” said Lutchen. “At Silverado, we now have consistent weighting and categories in the grade book and we have a consistent reassessment policy that includes opportunities for reflection to ensure student mastery.”

A lot of grading reform is an effort to separate grades from behaviors. The idea is that your grade should solely reflect what you know, and that your grade is not a measure of your ability to be on time and respectful. That’s a completely different grade, your citizenship or behavior grade. 

“Academic grades represent your mastery of course standards and curriculum,” said Christine Mamaradlo-Rodriguez, Assessment Department Coordinator. “On the other hand, behavior grades represent how well you can perform habits of work. If you smash both of these things together into one grade, it makes it hard to understand what the grade really means.”

The point of trying to separate behavior grades from academic grades is to show students what they need to work on, to show whether you don’t understand the concept or have a behavior issue. It is quite possible students are struggling with a standard because of a behavior issue. Although sometimes it is difficult to tell exactly what a behavior grade means because the decisions behind them can be fairly subjective, teachers can now add more specific comments to identify specifically where students are struggling. The thing about behavior is that grading it is always going to be fairly subjective, which is why it shouldn’t be included in your academic grade.