Effective Grading Practices for Secondary Teachers: Practical Strategies to Prevent Failure, Recover Credits, and Increase Standards-Based/Referenced Grading

In life, most of us are given second chances. Why should school be any different? A growing body of evidence suggests that many traditional grading practices are not only ineffective; they are also potentially harmful to students. Effective Grading Practices for Secondary Teachers provides specific, concrete, and practical alternatives to some traditional and ineffective grading practices. By effectively implementing these changes, secondary teachers and administrators, and central office personnel, can drastically decrease failure rates, improve overall achievement, and significantly reduce potential dropouts. Coverage includes: - guidance for secondary teachers and leaders in the implementation of new and effective failure prevention strategies such as Safety Net Programs, WIN Programs, and Amnesty Days - approaches to credit recovery such as extending the semester, "re-culturizing" summer school, and on-line credit recovery - alternatives to strict standards-based grading that doesn't require a total abandonment of letter grades - how to conduct action research to measure the effectiveness of grading reforms - numerous examples of successful practices and programs that have been enacted in a range of secondary settings. Dave Nagel is an international educational consultant and researcher, whose educational career started as a former middle and high school biology teacher. His administrative experiences involved being a middle school assistant principal, high school associate princi pal, and director of extended day and credit recovery programs. In his former district, Dave was instrumental in implementing power standards and performance assessments. He was honored numerous times as a "Senior Choice" winner, with graduating seniors selecting him as someone who dramatically affected their life in a positive way.