Grading Pod
Grade to support growth.
Pod is a credit-bearing, graded course. It is not, however, a traditional academic course. Let's keep grading manageable, humane, and collaborative. In our search for a simple, usable, and learning-friendly means of grading, we like Steve Peha's "Real World Grading" scale. If we have to grade, we like the real world system for what it communicates to students about their grades and their effort. Peha breaks down grades like this:
You can find more great resources from Steve Peha at his website, and you can download his complete grading tool here.
- "A" means "Above and beyond"
- "B" means "Basically fine"
- "C" means "Could've done better"
- "D" means "Didn't try"
- "F" means "Forget about it!" ...because, of course, if you're getting an "F" you either forgot about it, or you've heard the teacher's lecture about responsibility before, and you forgot about that. If we had an "E" it would mean "Excuses, excuses!"
You can find more great resources from Steve Peha at his website, and you can download his complete grading tool here.
Grade to support principles.
In pod we want to reflect a real world grading scale while focusing on the principles we uphold. We encourage the simple daily tracking of the ways in which students are present, positive, and participating. You might quickly track behaviors with simple symbols on your role sheet. You might then review your marks periodically in order to assign a daily or weekly grade according to the extent to which each student upheld our principles. This review should be done, periodically, with students. Students should also be self evaluating themselves in these areas and reflecting upon growth. Advisors meeting with students to discuss these grades will assist in the growth process. Extending this to the student's learning team, including teachers and families, is also helpful.
A daily/weekly rubric might be as simple as this:
Be a present, positive, participant.
Of course, we encourage you to find a method that works the best for your pod. We want to be sure, though, that all pods are working hard to reinforce and uphold our principles by factoring them into all students' pod grades. Visit the Principles to Uphold page for more information about our principles.
A daily/weekly rubric might be as simple as this:
Be a present, positive, participant.
- A: all of the time
- B: most of the time
- C: some of the time
- D: a little of the time
- F: very little or never
Of course, we encourage you to find a method that works the best for your pod. We want to be sure, though, that all pods are working hard to reinforce and uphold our principles by factoring them into all students' pod grades. Visit the Principles to Uphold page for more information about our principles.
Assess progress beyond the numbers.
Although students should not be graded on our values, discovering how well individuals and the whole group are becoming students that embody our values will be an important task. Using the Long Term Values Plan rubrics for each grade (9th, 10th, 11th) will be an asset to you. These will help you understand if each student is growing and help you to determine your next steps. Using the values activities is a resource available to you.