Grading Quizzes & Tests

Recommendations from a Veteran Teacher

During a conversation with a veteran math teacher (who was preparing to retire), she mentioned ONE thing that she would recommend when grading that was beneficial to those students who focus on the grade rather than the learning.

As she "graded" quizzes and tests, she circled an error and/or left feedback for the student. She did NOT mark the answer with an "X" or show a loss of points. 

In her "old school", lesson planner she would record the fraction score such as 75/80 and then enter the grade into the grading system, which happened to be PowerSchool.

When students got their assessments back, they only got a paper with comments and feedback. No grade. 

Students had to read the feedback to see if an answer was correct or not. They could later go into PowerSchool to see the percentage or letter grade. They never saw the fractional grade.

Tracking Common Misunderstandings

While grading a quiz/test, I have a completed test next to me to correct student work. One thing I never considered was using this same answer sheet (or another blank quiz/test) to track the incorrect answers supplied by students. 

What a GENIUS way to collect data, attend to student misunderstandings, and/or look at material I need to reteach.  

Giving Back Assessments

Before giving back a quiz or test, a strategy is to group students according to common misunderstandings. Place at least one student in the group who got the problem correct but don't tell the student this is the case. Give the group a problem to work through that is very similar.