| Summary: | Adopting a new assessment system is a layered process that involves changes to
both grading philosophy and educator practice. This study examined teacher and administrator
perception of the adoption of proficiency-based grading. The purpose of this descriptive
case study was to understand how teachers and administrators in one Northeast US middle
school experienced the change from traditional grading to a system of proficiency-based
grading. The central research question driving this study was: how did Highland Middle
School staff experience the implementation of proficiency-based grading so that others can
learn from their change initiative? Data was collected and analyzed from semi-structured
interviews, document review and observation of a professional development meeting. Seven
participants, made up of two administrators and five teachers, were interviewed for this
study. Two cycles of coding and a detailed analysis of the data resulted in four emergent
themes: communication, rigidity, clear vision and the meaning of grades. This study has
implications for school leaders planning to adopt or currently implementing
proficiency-based grading. The key findings of this study yielded two conclusions: Teachers
need to be considered and involved in the planning and implementing of proficiency-based
grading and the vision behind changing grading systems is made more complicated by community
perception of grades.--Author's abstract
|
|---|
