Truth in Grading: Troubling Issues with Learning Assessment

by Paul T. Brooksher, John J. Culligan, David T. Whitney

Book Overview

In the past decade, an unprecedented trend toward accountability has emerged in American public education. With the advent of computerized grading, stakeholders often have instant access to student... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595316018
• ISBN13: 9780595316014
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

will open your eyes

This really made me open my eyes to how/why I grade. I have been teaching for 18 years and and never really thought about some of the things that were brought up in this book. I am also a Computer Resource Person for our high school and the book made me think about some thing from the technical side as well. A must read for the tech support people as well as if doing any kind of staff development on grading.

VERY useful and easy to read...

I purchased this book along with Harry Wong's "First Days of School". Wong's book is very well-known throughout the education community, but I was not familiar with this one. After checking out the book's website (www.truthingrading.com) I came to the conclusion that this book was a must-read for me. The book forced me to reconsider how I was assessing the learning that was taking place in my classroom. I realized that my philosophy of classroom assessment had a few holes in it that I had never considered. This guide definitely helped me fill those holes so that I could better give parents a true reflection of the work and learning that their children were doing in my classroom. I am going to recommend this book to my principal for our entire faculty to read as a staff development resource.

Don't Wait Until it Happens to You

As a veteran teacher who has earned much praise over the years, I thought I was safe. I've been teaching 17 years and never had a serious problem--at all. That is, until the controversy I caused at the end of last year. Apparently, I (and most of my colleagues) have been miscalculating grades for a number of years. Nobody figured it out until I averaged one of my students grades too low (for a recommendation to an advanced language arts class). "Truth in Grading" is a book whose time has come. In education, times are changing due to technology. Electronic grading and "accountability" is causing our feet to be held to the fire. We need to be prepared for the heat. Unfortunately, I was not. I got burnt badly, and took half of my faculty down with me. It was embarrassing to say the least. Reading this book was like therapy for me. Next time I'll be prepared to defend my grading practices (mainly because they are now defensible!). If you are a teacher in a high school that uses an electronic gradebook, consider purchasing this book. It'll be well worth your while to read.

Friendly Read/Wonderful Content

I admire anyone who can take an educational issue like grading and make it interesting. That is exactly what these authors have done. From the philosphy behind grades to the practical implementation of different grading systems, they cover it. How to avoid (or at least minimize) the pitfalls that accompany each type of system is addressed as well. One look at the chapter where they instruct you to figure out a set of "mock grades" by hand (without your trusty computer), and you'll be wondering how you didn't notice all of the subtleties of grading before. I believe that this book is a must-read for teachers.

Very Important Book

I am a high school principal, and I came across this book at a leadership conference. The concept of fair and justifiable grading practices was already an issue at my school. I bought a copy for each member of my faculty, and the response has been very positive. This book does an excellent job of simplifying potentially complex grade related issues. Excellent staff development resource!