The Grading Podcast 48 - Implementation Challenges and Opportunities: A Conversation with Becky Peppler and Don Smith on Working with K-12 School Districts to implement Alternative Grading
In this episode we talk with Becky Peppler and Don Smith from First Educational Resources, an organization dedicated to providing K-12 school districts in North America with affordable options for professional learning to support social emotional learning, instructional coaching, professional learning communities, and grading reform efforts. We discuss their experiences with supporting grading reform efforts in thousands of districts across North America, the challenges, the opportunities, and where we go from here. We also talk about the STAGR center and conference. STAGR stands for "Standards, Targets, Assessment, Grading, and Reporting". The STAGR conference, a 1-day virtual event held twice a year, provides a platform for K-12 educators to come together to understand the landscape of grading reform, identify strategies that reduce complexity and enhance understanding of reform efforts, and work to implement effective changes to grading systems.
Links
Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!
- The STAGR Conference
- Extinguishing the Fires within Assessment and Grading Reform, Garth Larson, Becky Peppler, Don Smith, and Matt Townsley
- Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, Rick Wormeli
- Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (An Actionable Guide to Implementing the PLC Process and Effective Teaching Methods), Richard DuFour
- College Bridge
- Repair Kit for Grading: (3rd Edition) 15 Fixes for Broken Grades with Discussion and Repair Guide, Ken O'Connor and Rick Wormeli
Resources
The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.
Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:
Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):
- Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
- Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
- Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel
- Grading for Equity, by Joe Feldman
The Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.
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Music
Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation
Country Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.