Grading

Ken O'Connor
Ken O'Connor, a.k.a. The Grade Doctor, is an independent consultant who specializes in issues related to the communication of student achievement, especially grading and reporting. Through books and articles, presentations and working with small groups Ken helps individuals, schools and school districts to improve communication about student achievement. In 1995 Ken developed eight guidelines for grading, and he has continued to refine those guidelines. In 2007 the same ideas were organized into fifteen fixes for broken grades. He has also designed eleven guidelines for standards-based reporting. He is now generally acknowledged to be one of a small group of leading experts on how to grade and report effectively. "PowerTeacher supports all of the fundamental tenets of 'Grading for Learning,' and does so in a way that is accurate, transparent, and easily understood by all stakeholders. PowerTeacher has a clean, thoughtful design that appropriately supports the use of evidence from both formative and summative assessment in ways that can be quickly mastered by not just a handful of enthusiastic individuals, but virtually all teachers within the school or district." -Ken O'Connor

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Ken O'Connor's 15 Fixes - Grading for Learning
[|Fix 1: Separating Achievement from Behavior]

[|Fix 2: How to Handle Late Work]

[|Fix 3: How to Avoid Inflated Grades]

[|Fix 4: How to Handle Academic Dishonesty]

[|Fix 5: Separating Attendance from Achievement]

[|Fix 6: How to Handle Group Work]

[|Fix 7: Using Standards as the Basis for Assessment]

[|Fix 8: How to Measure Proficiency]

[|Fix 9: Using Criterion Referencing]

[|Fix 10: Quality Assessment]

[|Fix 11: How Grades are Determined]

[|Fix 12: Avoiding the Zero]

[|Fix 13: Formative and Summative Assessment]

[|Fix 14: Learning Over Time]

[|Fix 15: Student Involvement and Understanding of Assessment and Grading]

More on Ken O'Connor's Grading Philosophy
 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4a709f; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4a709f; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Visit Ken O'Connor's website]