Email: MAAP Con 2012 - Expecting Knowledge Mastery

MAAP Con 2012 - Expecting Knowledge Mastery
	For the last few days, I've been covering the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs (MAAP) conference in Rochester and passing on some of the most interesting, exciting, and thought-provoking concepts.

The final presentation I attended was given late on Friday morning by a teacher from the Wayzata Focus Program, which is an alternative program aimed at helping students build the skills for success in a more conventional classroom environment. His focus was on a grading philosophy that expects knowledge mastery from all students. It was a powerful reminder that, though the conference was organized around “alternative” programs, “alternative” doesn't mean weak standards or low expectations.

The Wayzata Focus Program grading policy requires students to score 70% proficiency or higher on all assignments and assessments in a given term. If a student scores less than 70% on an item, the student must revise or correct it in order for it to count as complete. During the first two terms, students must have all work completed, thereby earning a minimum grade of C-. Students who with incomplete work receive an “I” course grade (for “Incomplete”) and have two weeks to complete all work at 70% or higher. Students who do not complete all work during those two weeks see that “I” become an “F”.

During the second two terms, the policy toughens up. 70% is still the minimum for each assignment, but students now have only one week from when an assignment was due to complete or revise the work. An assignment that is still missing or incomplete after that week receives a zero.

What has this grading policy done for the program's students? The first class of students to finish the program while this policy was in effect saw assignment completion rates in the 85-95% range depending on the term. These, again, are students who have traditionally struggled with skills like work completion in more conventional classrooms.

The Focus Program is still working to improve the consistency of the policy – some subsequent classes saw completion rates around 75% – and this policy wouldn't work for all students. The real point here is that increasing the variety of programming in the public school system and creating interventions for struggling students doesn't have to mean lowering standards.

Your Information:

Name

Recipient:

Subject

Please enter the word you see in the image:

visit mn2020.org

Home

About Hindsight

Issues that Matter:

Multimedia

Hindsight Staff

Daily Email

Related Topics:

Email: MAAP Con 2012 - Expecting Knowledge Mastery

Your Information:

Recipient: