FAST Grading: A Guide to Implementing Best Practices (Common Mistakes Educators Make with Grading Policies) - Softcover

Douglas Reeves

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936763877 ISBN 13: 9781936763870

Publisher: Solution Tree, 2016

Synopsis

Embrace effective grading procedures that have the power to reduce failure rates, improve student discipline, encourage learning, and enhance morale. In this three-part guide, the author presents practical strategies teachers and administrators can use to ensure their grading practices center on four essential criteria: fairness, accuracy, specificity, and timeliness. Apply case studies, real-world feedback models, and interactive reflection questions gain support for grading reform, navigate implementation challenges, and more.

Benefits

• Discover effective guides to resolving student behavior problems, tardiness, and academic dishonesty.
• Learn about the five mistakes educators often make that cause grading reform to fail.
• Understand how to gain the support of stakeholders for grading reform, even when opinions differ.
• Study how bad grading practices waste teachers time and how improved practices can save time.
• Consider the experiences of schools that have tackled grading challenges.
• Reflect on grading practices and plan improvements using exercises in every chapter.

Contents
Introduction FAST Grading: Fair, Accurate, Specific, and Timely
Part I Building Relationships with Teachers, Parents, and Communities
1 Preparing for FAST Grading
2 Finding Common Ground in the Grading Debate
3 Gaining Teachers Perspectives on Grading
Part II Implementing FAST Grading and Improving Best Practices
4 Establishing FAST Grading
5 Implementing Time-Saving Strategies for Busy Teachers
6 Grading Student Behavior
Part III Considering FAST Feedback Throughout Schools, Systems, and Communities
7 Learning from Physical Education and the Arts
8 Considering the Contexts of Teaching and Leading

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Reeves, PhD, is the author of more than thirty books and eighty articles about education, leadership, and organizational effectiveness. He has presented his work on effective grading practices to audiences around the world. His research appears in Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, American School Board Journal, and many other publications. His comments on grading appeared on the cover of USA Today, and his work remains frequently cited in professional and academic publications. Douglas's honors include the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Brock International Prize, and the Contribution to the Field Award from the National Staff Development Council (now Learning Forward). He is the founding editor and copublisher of The SNAFU Review, where he provides one-on-one support for disabled veterans whose writing and art inspire others with post-traumatic stress disorder. He is also the founder of Finish the Dissertation, a free and noncommercial service for doctoral students. He lives with his family in downtown Boston.

Review

Want to discontinue arbitrary, even harmful, grading practices and embed practices that are fair, accurate, specific and timely? Douglas Reeves provides both the why and how to do just that. FAST Grading is more than a must-read; it is a must read-then-act manifesto for implementing best grading practices. --Robert Eaker , Professor Emeritus, Department of Educational Leadership, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

In FAST Grading, Dr. Reeves takes the conversation about improving grading practices to the next level with hard-hitting rationale for rethinking archaic paradigms. Reeves provides the language, strategies, and best professional development practices that educators at all levels of the organization can use to support this critical shift in education. --Cassandra Erkens, Author and Consultant, Anam Cara Consulting, Inc., Lakeville, Minnesota

Douglas Reeves has another winner in FAST Grading. With years of experience working with parents and educators, Reeves prepares schools to implement meaningful grading practices. The reproducibles and end-of-chapter reflection questions will be helpful for educators for years to come. --Matt Townsley, Director of Instruction and Technology, Solon Community School District, Solon, Iowa

Edition details

• Publisher: Solution Tree
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1936763877
• ISBN 13: 9781936763870
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176