© GREG MABLY/thEiSPOt
practice work. Some teachers argued
instruction. But when practice work is
It’s About What Students Can Do
that practice work taught responsibil-
part of the overall grade, students don’t Beginning in the mathematics class-
ity and should be included in a grade,
take risks, and teachers don’t get valu-
rooms and then extending to all content
whereas others maintained that it
able glimpses into their understanding. areas, teachers developed course
should be formative and not puni-
Instead, students do whatever it takes to competencies (that is, performance
tive. A breakthrough in the discus-
submit the work correctly the first time, assessments). They analyzed the content
sion occurred when an athletics coach
even if that means copying from a peer. standards and discussed their essential
observed, “We don’t score practices. We
The question before us, then, as
components, and then designed assess-
score real games.” As the group reflected teacher leaders and a school director,
ment tools that could ascertain what
on the idea of scoring practices, which
was how to create a grading system
students know.
are designed to build skills and habits,
that reflected understanding while still
Given the wide range of methods
a teacher added, “Practice doesn’t make encouraging students to practice. Our
of determining student understanding
perfect; practice makes permanent. So
answer was to develop course competen-
(Popham, 2010), teachers developed
we’d better be sure students practice
cies. Course competencies are perfor-
a broad set of measures. Some are
things that build the habits we’re look-
mance assessments that teachers use
traditional tests consisting of multiple-
ing for.”
to measure what students know and
choice and short-answer items. Experi-
We want students to practice, both in can do with the concepts they’ve been
ence with this type of assessment is vital
and out of class, but they should prac-
taught. At the same time, we agreed that because students are expected to dem-
tice things they understand; when they staff would be responsible for teaching
onstrate their understanding using this
make mistakes, teachers need to teach
students about various attitudes and
format on state accountability measures.
them again. Much like a coach who
behaviors—and that those issues would
But tests are not the only way to
observes practice and gives an athlete
not be reflected in grades. We would
assess student learning. In addition,
feedback and instruction, a teacher can reserve our grades for showing content
competencies comprise oral presenta-
use students’ practice work to inform
proficiency and mastery.
