Chapter 5

GRADING AND REPORTING SYSTEM

TOPICS
K to 12 Grading of Learning Outcomes
The Effects of Grading on Students
Building a Grading and Reporting System
Developing Effective Reporting System

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:
Demonstrate skills in interpreting test results and reporting of grades.
Assess the effectiveness of parent-teacher conference as a venue for reporting learner’s performance.

Assessment of learning during instruction and after instruction may be achieved in a

number of ways. One of the challenges in grading is that of summarizing the variety
of collected information from different types of assessment and come up with a
standardized numerical grade or descriptive rating or brief report.

TOPIC 1: K TO 12 GRADING OF LEARNING OUTCOMES

The K to 12 curriculum have specific assessment requirements and design catering to

the delivery modes of learning i.e., the formal education and alternative learning
system.

The K to 12 assessment is learner-centered and carefully considers its learning

environment system. The 21st century skills such as research, analytical/critical,
practical and creative are part of the indicators included in the K to 12 assessment.
Both cognitive and non-cognitive skills which includes values, motivation, attitude,
behavior, traits, and interpersonal relations are part of the assessment.

Formative assessment (assessment FOR learning) is given importance to ensure

learning. Learners are encouraged to take part in the process of self-assessment
(assessment AS learning). Summative forms of assessment (assessment OF learning)
are also part of the curriculum assessment under K to 12.

The K to 12 curriculum prescribes that the assessment process should utilize the wide
variety of traditional and authentic assessment tools and techniques for a valid,
reliable, and realistic assessment of learning. Traditional and authentic assessments
complement each other though they are not mutually exclusive. Furthermore, it gives
greater importance on assessing understanding and skills development rather than on
mere accumulation of content.

In K to 12 curriculum, assessment will be standards-based to ensure that there is

standardization in teaching and learning. Previously, assessment was being done in
four levels and weighted accordingly.

The four levels are the following:

 Knowledge refers to the essential content of the curriculum, the facts and
information that the student acquires.
 Process refers to cognitive acts that the student does on facts and information
to come up with meanings and understandings.
 Understanding refers to lasting big ideas, principles, and generalizations that
are fundamental to the discipline which may be assessed using the facets of
understanding.
 Products/Performances refers to real-life application of understanding as
shown by the student’s performance of authentic tasks.

The assigned weight per level of assessment are shown in the following table:

Level of Assessment Percentage Weight

Knowledge 15%
Process of Skills 25%
Understanding 30%
Products/Performances 30%
Total 100%

However, the DepEd the K to 12 grading system and is now currently using the
following with only three components.

Components Languages AP EaP Science Math MAPEH EPP/TLE

Written 30% 40% 20%
Work
Performance 50% 40% 60%
Tasks
Quarterly 20% 20% 20%
Assessment
At the end of the quarter, the student’s performance will be described based on the
prescribed level of proficiency which has equivalent numerical values. Proficiency
level is computed from the sum of all the performances of students in various levels of
assessment each level is described as follows:

 Beginning. The student at this level struggles with his/her understanding of

prerequisite and fundamental knowledge and skills that have not been
acquired or developed adequately.
 Developing. The student at this level possesses the minimum knowledge and
skills and core understanding but needs help throughout the performance of
authentic tasks.
 Approaching Proficiency. The student at this level has developed the
fundamental knowledge and skills and core understandings, and with little
guidance from the teacher and/or with some assistance from peers, can
transfer these understanding through authentic performance tasks.
 Proficient. The student at this level has developed the fundamental knowledge
and skills and core understandings, and can transfer them independently
through authentic performance tasks.
 Advanced. The student at this level exceeds the core requirements in terms of
knowledge, skills and core understandings, and can transfer them
automatically and flexibly through authentic performance tasks.

Translating these proficiency level into its numerical value is described in the following
table.

Level of Proficiency Equivalent Numerical Value

Beginning 74% and below
Developing 75 – 79%
Approaching Proficiency 80 – 84%
Proficient 85 – 89%
Advanced 90% and above

Comparison of Levels of Proficiency

Indicators Beginning Developing Approaching Proficiency Advanced

Proficiency
Acquisition of Struggling Minimum Fundamental Fundamental Exceeding
knowledge, or have
skills, and not
understanding acquired
Transfer of Needs help With little Independent Automatic
knowledge/ guidance and
application of from teacher flexible
knowledge or some
assistance
from peers
 TOPIC 2: THE EFFECTS OF GRADING ON STUDENTS

Over the years, studies have also been made on how grades and the comments of
teachers written on students’ papers might affect students’ achievement. An early
investigation by Page (1958) focused specifically on this issue. In the said study, 74
school teachers administered a test to the students in their classes and scored in the
usual way. A numerical scores was assigned to each student’s paper and on the basis
of the scores obtained, a corresponding letter grade of A, B, C, D or F was given. Next,
teachers randomly divided the students papers in three groups. The first group
received only the numerical score and letter grade. The second group aside from the
score and grade, received standard comments. A: Excellent! Keep it up; B: Good work!
Keep it up; C: Perhaps try to do still better?; D. Let’s bring this up; and F: Let’s raise this
grade. For the third group, teachers marked the score, letter grades and then wrote on
each paper a variety of individualized comments. Page asked the teachers to write
anything they wished on these papers but to be sure their personal feelings and
instructional practices. Papers were then returned to students in a normal way.

Page then evaluated the effects of the comments by considering students’ scores on
the very next test or assessment given in the class. The results showed that students
who received the standard comments with their grade achieved significantly higher
scores than those who received only a score and grade. Those students who received
individualized comments did even better. This led him to conclude that grades can
have a beneficial effect on student learning when accompanied by specific or
individualized comments from the teacher (Steward & White, 1976). Studies
conducted in more recent years confirmed Pages’ conclusion.

Based on the study presented in the previous paragraphs, its relevance are:

1. It illustrated that while grades may not be compulsory for teaching or learning,
it can be used in positive ways to enhance student’s achievement and
performance.
2. It showed that positive effects can be gained with relatively little effort on the
part of teachers. Stamps or stickers with standard comments such as these
could be easily produced for teachers to use. Yet the effect of this simple effort
has significant positive effect on students’ performance.

TOPIC 3: BUILDING A GRADING AND REPORTING SYSTEM

The Basis of Good Reporting is Good Evidence

Whatever is preferred and required of the teacher when it comes to format, grading
and reporting should provide high-quality information to interested person by means
of any schema they can understand and use. The basis of such high-quality
information
is critical evidence on student learning. Evaluation experts stress that if one is going to
make important decisions about students that have broad implications, such as
decisions involved in grading, the more that good evidence must be ready at hand
(Airasian, 1994; Linn & Gronlund, 2000; Stiggins, 2001). In the absence of good
evidence, even the most detailed and hi-tech grading and reporting system is useless.
It simply cannot serve the basic communication functions for which it is intended.

There are three qualities that contribute to the goodness of evidence that are
gathered on student learning. These three qualities are described in the following
table.

Quality Description Example

Validity Refers to the appropriateness IF an assessment is to be used to
& adequacy of interpretations describe students’ reading
made from that information comprehension; evidence should
(Linn & Gronlund, 2000) actually reflect reading
comprehension and not other
irrelevant factors.
Reliability Refers to the consistency of Attain very similar scores when the
assessment results same assessment procedures are
used with the same students at
two different times, results have a
high degree of reliability.
Quantity The more sources of evidence Any single source of evidence of
on student’s learning, the student learning can be imperfect,
better the information can be it is essential that multiple sources
reported. of evidence in grading and
reporting students is utilized.

Major Purposes of Grading and Reporting

The following are the major purposes of grading and reporting:

 To communicate the achievement status of students to parents and others.

 To provide information that students can use self-evaluation.
 To select, identify or group students for certain educational paths or programs
 To provide incentives for students to learn
 To evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs
 To provide evidence of students’ lack of effort or inappropriate responsibility

Below are possible sources of grading and reporting system

 Major exams or  Students’  Students’

composition portfolios notebook or
 Class quizzes  Exhibits of journals
 Reports or students’ work  Class
projects  Laboratory observation
projects
 Oral completion  Class
presentations  Homework participation
 Homework quality
  Work habits  Punctuality behavior or
and neatness of assignments attitude
 Effort  Class  Progress made
 Attendance

Grading and Reporting Methods

Letter Grades
 The most common and best known of all grading methods
 Mostly composed of five-level grading scale
 Letter grade descriptors

Despite their apparent simplicity, the true meaning of letter grades is not always clear.
What the teachers would like to communicate with particular letter grade and what
parents interpret that grade to mean, often are not the same (Waltman & Frisbies,
1994). To give more clarity to the meaning of letter grade, most schools include a key
or legend on the reporting from in which each letter grade is paired with an
explanatory word or phrase. Descriptors must be carefully chosen, to avoid additional
complications and misunderstanding.

Advantages:
 A brief description of students’ achievement and level of performance
including students’ potential can be provided to parents and other interested
persons.
 Based on parents’ experience when they were still studying, it is easier for
them to believe and understand what letter grade means.

Disadvantages:
 Requires abstraction of a great deal of information into a single symbol
(Stiggins, 2001)
 Despite educator’s best effort, letter grades tend be interpreted by parents in
strictly norm-referenced terms. The cut-offs between grade categories are
always arbitrary and difficult to justify.
 Lacks the richness of other more detailed reporting methods such as
standards- based grading, mastery grading, and narrative.

Different Interpretation of Letter Grades

Grade Criterion-Referenced Norm- Combined- Based on

(Standards-Based) Referenced Norm Improvement
Referenced
and Criterion-
Referenced
A Outstanding or Outstanding: Outstanding: Outstanding:
advanced among the very high level much
 Complete knowledge highest or best of improvement
of all content performance performance on most or all
Mastery of all targets targets
Exceeds standards
B Very good or Very good: Very good: Very good:
proficient performs better than some
Complete knowledge above the class average improvement
of most content average performance on most or all
Mastery of all targets targets
Meets most standards
C Acceptable or basic Average: Average Acceptable:
command of only performs at Some
basic concepts or skills the class improvement
Mastery of some average on some
targets targets
Meets some standards
D Making progress or Poor: below Below average Making
developing the class or weak: progress:
Lacks knowledge of average minimum minimal
most content performance progress on
Mastery of only a few for passing most targets
targets
Meets only a few
standards
F Unsatisfactory: lacks Unsatisfactory: Unsatisfactory: Unsatisfactory:
knowledge of content; far below lacks sufficient no
No mastery of targets average; knowledge to improvement
Does not meet any among the pass on any targets
standards worst in class

Percentage Grades
 Are the ultimate multi-category grading method
 Can range from 0 to 100
 Generally more popular among high school teachers than elementary

Advantages:
 Allows for maximum discriminators in evaluation of students’ achievement and
performance
 Maximizes the variation among students, making it easier to choose students
for honors or representative for special programs

Disadvantages:
 Requires a great deal of abstraction
 Interpretation of meaning of a percentage grade extremely difficult
 The cut-offs are no less arbitrary but a lot more
 Because of a large number of grade categories, it is less reliable and more
subjective
Standards-Based Grading

In an effort to bring greater clarity and specificity to the grading process, many
schools initiated standards-based grading procedures and reporting forms. Guskey
and Bailey (2001) identify four steps in developing standards-based grading. These
steps are:
1. Identify the major learning goals or standards that students will be expected to
achieve at each grade level or in each course of study.
2. Establish performance indicators for the learning goals.
3. Determine graduated level of quality (benchmarks) for assessing each goal or
standard
4. Develop reporting tools that communicate teachers’ judgments of students’
learning progress and culminating achievement in relation to the learning
goals and standards.

Advantages:
 When clear learning goals or standards are established, standards-based
grading offers meaningful information about students’ achievement and
performance to students, parents and to others.
 If information is detailed, it can be useful for diagnostic and prescriptive
purposes.
 Facilitates teaching and learning processes better than any other grading
method.

Disadvantages:
 Takes a lot of effort
 Often too complicated for parents to understand
 May not communicate the appropriateness of students’ progress.

Pass/Fail Grading

Simplest alternative method available to educators reduces the number of grade

categories to just two: Pass or Fail. In the late 1800s Pass/Fail grading was originally
introduced in college-level courses in the college in order for students to give more
importance to learning and less to grades they attained. By lessening the emphasis on
grades, many educators believed that students would be encouraged to take more
challenging subjects.

Pass/Fail was popular in most universities and colleges in 1970s. These universities
and colleges utilized this pass/fail grading to various programs.

Advantages:
 Simplifies the grading process for teachers and students.
 Use of a single minimal cut-off and only two grade categories improve the
reliability of grade assignments.
 Pass/Fail grading has the potential to make learning environments more
relaxed by focusing students’ attention on learning rather than on grade
(Goldstein & Tilker, 1971).
  Pass/fail grading is what students will face in many real-life situations.

Disadvantages:
 Students gain very little prescriptive information.
 Students spend less time studying if pass/fail grading is used than when a wider
range of grading system is utilized.
 Students only study to attain minimum passing level and show less effort in
striving for excellence.

The table below provides a summary of the different grading methods discussed:
Method Advantages Disadvantages
Letter Grade  Convenient  Broad, sometimes unclear
 Concise indication of performance;
 Familiar  Often includes a jumble of factors
including effort and improvement
Percentage Grade  Easy to calculate,  Broad, sometimes unclear
record, and combine indication of performance, false
 Familiar sense of difference between close
scores;
 High scores not necessarily
signifies mastery
Standards-based  Focused on high  May not reflect student learning
standards for all in many areas;
students;  Does not include effort or
 Pre-established improvement
performance levels
Pass/Fail  Simple  Little discrimination in
 Consistent with performance
mastery of learning  Less emphasis on high
performance

TOPIC 4: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE REPORTING SYSTEM

The most critical issue to be addressed in selecting the tools included in reporting
system m is what purpose or purposes it is to serve. Why we need to convey this
information and what we need to accomplish.

To determine the purpose or purposes, three aspects of communication must be

considered.

Critical Aspects in Determining Communication Purposes:

a. What information or messages do we want to communicate?
b. Who is the primary audience for that message?
c. How would we like that information or message to be used?
Tools for Comprehensive Reporting System

Reporting systems most highly regarded by parents typically include a mix of

traditional and more modern reporting tools.

Tools that might be included in comprehensive reporting system:

 Report Cards
 Notes: Attached to Report Cards
 Standardized Assessment Report
 Phone Calls to Parents
 Weekly/Monthly Progress Reports
 School Open-Houses
 Newsletter to Parents
 Personal Letter to Parents
 Evaluated Projects or Assignments
 Portfolios or Exhibits of Students’ Work
 Homework Assignments
 Homework Hotlines
 School Web Pages
 Parent-Teacher Conferences
 Student-Teacher Conferences
 Student-Led Conferences

Guidelines for Better Practice

To ensure practice of grading and reporting systems, the following statements serve as
guide on how to utilize effectively the grading and reporting systems:

a. Begin with a clear statement of purpose.

b. Provide accurate and understandable descriptions of learning.
c. Use grading and reporting to enhance teaching and learning.

Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Grading

DO DON’T
 Use well-thought-out professional  Depend entirely on number crunching.
judgments  Allow personal bias to affect grades.
 Try everything you can to score and  Grade on the curve using the class as
grade fairly the norm group.
 Grade according to pre-established  Keep grading procedures secret.
learning targets and standards  Use effort, improvement, attitudes,
 Clearly inform students and parents of and motivation for borderline
grading procedures at the beginning students.
of the semester.  Penalize poorly performing students
early in the semester.
  Base grades primarily on student  Return assessments weeks later with
performance. little or no feedback.
 Rely most on current information  Be inflexible with borderline cases.
 Mark grade and return assessments  Use zero scores indiscriminately when
to students as soon as possible and averaging grades.
with as much feedback as possible.  Include extra credit assignments that
Review borderline cases carefully, are not related to the learning targets.
when in doubt, assign the higher  Rely on one of two assessments for a
grade. semester.
 Convert scores to the same scale  Lower grades for cheating,
before combining. misbehaving, tardiness, or absence.
 Weight scores before combining.
 Use a sufficient number of
assessments.
 Be willing to change grades when
warranted.
(McMillan, 2007)

Planning and Implementing Parent-Teacher Conference

The parent-teacher conference is the most common way teachers communicate with
parents about student progress. It is typically a face-to-face discussion, though phone
conferences and calls can also be used. Parent-teacher conferences may be initiated
by either the teacher or the parent, based on purpose.

There are two types of parent-teacher conferences, based on two purposes.

a. Group Conferences

These are conducted in the beginning of the year to communicate school and class
policies, class content, evaluation procedures, expectations, and procedures for
getting in touch with teachers.

b. Individual Conferences

These are conducted to discuss the individual student’s achievement, progress or

difficulties.

It is important to plan the conference to be prepared. It means having all the

information well-organized in advanced and knowing what to achieve from the
conference. It will include a list of areas pertaining to student that need to be
discussed with parents. The conference is an ideal time to discuss and point out
specific areas of strength and weakness that is not communicated through the report
card. Note that conference is not a lecture type of gathering or meeting, it is a
conversation. Listening is the primary key to understanding. Listening to parents will
help the teacher understand the student better:
McMillan (2007) shared the following checklist in preparing for parent-teaching
conferences.

Checklists for Conducting Parent-Teacher Conferences

 Plan each conference in advance.

 Conduct the conference in a private, quiet, and comfortable setting.
 Begin with class discussion of positive student performances.
 Establish an informal, professional tone.
 Encourage parent participation in the conference.
 Be frank in reviewing student strengths and weaknesses.
 Review language skills.
 Review learning targets with examples of student performances that show
progress.
 Avoid discussing other students and teachers.
 Avoid bluffing.
 Identify two or three areas to work on in a plan of action.

Indeed, parent-teacher conferences entail hard work to be successful. It is necessary

that preparations of the logistics as well as teachers for their face-to-face encounter
with parents be carried out so as to ensure that the objective of the parent-teacher
conference is met. The table below summarizes some recommendation for effective
parent-teacher conference.

Before the conference… During the Conference… After the Conference…

 Encourage parents to  Provide child care,  Provide parents with a
review student work at refreshments, and telephone number and
home, not concerns or transportations if schedule of specific
questions, and bring necessary. times so they may call
those to the conference. you with concerns.
 Show multiple samples
 Schedule times that are of student work and  Follow up on any
convenient for both discuss specific questions or concerns
working and non- suggestions for raised during the
working parents. improvement. conference.

 Notify parents will ahead  Actively listen and avoid  Plan a time to meet
of scheduled conference the use educational again if necessary.
times. jargon.
 Encourage parents to
 Provide staff  Communicate discuss the conference
development for new expectations and with their child.
teachers on the purpose describe how parents
for conferences, can help.  Ask parents for written
preparation, and evaluation of the
scheduling.  Develop a system for on- conference and
going communication
 Consider alternative with each parent that encourage them to make
locations, such as church recognizes parents as suggestions.
or community centers partners.
for parents’  Debrief with colleagues
convenience.  Provide resources to look for ways to
materials that parents improve future
 Print conference might use at home to conferences.
schedule and materials strengthen students’
in multiple languages, if skills.
necessary.