Drawing from his own and others' extensive research, the author provides comprehensive answers to questions such as these: *What are the characteristics of an effective assessment program? * Why does the traditional point system used for scoring often lead to incorrect conclusions about a student’s actual knowledge? * What types of scoring and final grading systems provide the most accurate portrayal of a student’s progress along a continuum of learning?
Teachers speaking from their own experience and theorists consider whether the conventional systems for grading individual papers and portfolios support their pedagogies as they shift toward practices that focus on writing as a process. They cover directions and misdirections in grading practices, the power and authority of graders...
This book is a stunning display of sheer intellectual and literary prowess! The authors have created a rollicking, sensual experience out of what is really a very boring topic. The plot twists and turns in unexpected places, but invariably comes back to the same dull old subject of grading papers. A true masterpiece that you'll find riveting.
Evaluating Children's Writing: A Handbook of Grading Choices for Classroom Teachers introduces and explains a wide range of specific evaluation strategies used by classroom teachers to arrive at grades and gives explicit instructions for implementing them. Samples of student writing accompany the instructions to illustrate the techniques, and an appendix of additional student writing is provided to allow readers to practice particular evaluation strategies.
More than just a catalog of grading options, however, this is a handbook with a point of view. Its purpose is to help teachers become intentional about their grading practices. Along with recipes for grading techniques, it offers a philosophy of evaluating student writing that encourages teachers to put grading into a communication context and to make choices among the many options available by determining the instructional purpose of the assignment and considering the advantages and disadvantages of particular grading strategies. Specific grading techniques are integrated with suggestions about the craft of evaluation--guidelines for instructional objectives, for student audience analysis, and for teacher self-analysis that help define communication contexts.
