How is student motivation related to student’s perception of a traditional letter grading system compared to an alternative grading system and whether the alternative grading system allows for an accurate depiction of student mastery of the content provided?
Goals/Objectives:
- Determine whether students are highly motivated by traditional or alternative grading system
- Evaluate the accurate depiction of student mastery when the alternative grading system is implemented.
Activities:
- Develop method of evaluating student motivation
- Evaluate current and traditional letter grading systems with student motivation
- Define alternative grading system
- Implement alternative grading system in the classroom
- Compare results of traditional grading versus alternative system.
Resources and Research Tools:
- District and school grading policy
- Campus Administrators
- Related literature
- Student evaluation tools
Timeline:
The qualitative data will be collected during a class project, which is projected to last two to three weeks. Multiple assessment checkpoints will be scheduled through out the duration of the project.
Persons responsible for implementation:
I am responsible for the implementation of the research action plan with the support of my site based administrator.
Process for Monitoring:
Through weekly assessments, I will monitor the progress of my action plan to meet the goals and objectives.
Assessment:
Based on Nacy Fichtman Dana’s, Leading with Passion and Knowledge, an assessment instrument will be designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study.
My school administrators have inquired about the perception of a traditional letter grading system compared to an alternative grading system within our campus. A change in the grading system has been mentioned but further research has not been completed. Due to the schools interest on the subject, I intend to provide my data and research to provide insight and recommendations on the current grading system compared to an alternative grading system. Within my communication with my school officials, I will provide background information regarding our current grading system, the process of data collection for the alternative grading system, provide findings, analysis, claims, assertions, and arguments, and conclude with additional questions of inquiry.
Interesting topic. What kind of alternative grading system is going to be implemented? Will it be a point based system, kind of like how we earn our Master's courses? Will they have a rubric to follow?
ReplyDeleteHow are you going to measure their motivation? Is this going to be done by their grades only? Have you thought about surveying the students? Do you think 2-3 weeks is enough time to get all the data you need?
Hello Josh, I agree, this is an interesting topic and I don't know that I would've even considered it - very creative!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amy and share some of the same questions/concerned. I see that you've already noted that you have to find some way to measure motivation (Sheesh! Shat a task that is - you are far braver than I).
My concern would be with reliability of your data. I don't know that your timeline is realistic. You could probably get through the steps of the process but is it enough time to truly measure a difference in motivation?
I also noticed that you are planning to collect samples from your own classroom. I totally understand the practicality behind that but if that's the only place you collect data then you won't really know if there is a substantiated trend/relationship between grades and motivation or if it is more reflective of some idiosyncratic teaching style. If you could enlist colleagues to participate as well it will increase your sample size and the reliability of your data. Just something to think over.
I am impressed with your topic and look forward to seeing how your project turns out!
This is such an interesting topic. Do you teach at a high school? I was just wondering how an alternative grading system would look for colleges or universities. I think this might be something important to consider. Great job and good luck!
ReplyDeleteI too am looking forward to seeing the out come as I have always wondered "Does it really matter that we change the current grading to something different when it all boils down to meaning the same thing?" Have fun and can't wait to see the results of your work!
ReplyDeleteJoshua, good job! I noticed you posted revisions above, but I wanted to comment on the original plan. You made some very wise choices with your plan, and topic. Your plan is very well structured. It is clear you put a lot of forethought into the plan, and it will pay off with impactful results.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Dr. Abshire