‘$@NEB Formative Assessment Dilemma- CFG 2/25/14 Last year, | worked at a very different school. The homework | assigned was much shorter and easier but | created and graded every single problem. This took a significant amount of time. At St. Agnes, | spend lots of time outside of class on planning, preparing for class, and grading quizzes and tests. One way | save time is grading homework during class. Currently, | assign homework almost every night (unless there is a test]. Students are expected to check the answers to the odd problems in the back of the book before they come to class. ‘Two or three days a week, | grade homework. As the students work on their warm up, | walk around the classroom to see if the students have completed the assignment. ‘Those who can show me that they have attempted all of the assigned problems are given a 100, students who have attempted half of the assignment receive a 50, and so on. Ifa student is absent that day or was absent the day before, itis considered a missing assignment and can be turned in later for full credit. Students who cannot show me the assignment (but should be able to) receive a zero. Generally, | do not accept late assignments. Each day during class | provide the answers to the evens and give students the opportunity to ask questions about the homework problems. Typically we spend about 5 to 10 minutes on this task, One or two students asks a question and | discuss the solution with them. This is a whole group task. Often we are able to address challenges that we could not the day before but some students seem to ignore this part of the lesson. | have been reconsidering my formative assessment policy. Although | believe it is important to encourage effort and organization, | wonder if it is fair that these impact students’ grades. The hardest working, most organized student might not know the first thing about what we are studying in class. Students receive 0s for forgetting work at home or in their locker or accidentally doing the wrong assignment (even if they did the assignment completely and correctly). Students may miss every single homework problem and still receive a 100. Ona more concerning note, students could copy their assignment from a friend or key or solutions manual and still earn a perfect score. They could earn full credit by sloppily jotting down something that looks like the type of work we are doing: a few graphs, a few problems, or just write the problem and something that looks like it. Additionally, this puts a lot of responsibility ‘on the student. She must self-asses her own comprehension until the quiz or test. When a student fails a quiz or a test, it can be hard for me to determine if she has simply forgot the material, is unable to apply the material or if she never knew it. | will add | have had strong, conflicting parent feedback in this area. One said that grading for accuracy was unfair. Another said that grading for completion was uncaring. | want to grade in such a way that I encourage the students to do their best and hold them accountable for what they should know. How can I change my formative assessment policy to make it as fair to the students as possible without making more work for myself?