I am passionate about AFL and had come to learn more about it during my last few years in public education.  Bottom line, AFL helps kids learn about their learning, learn in a fear-free environment, and learn how to realize their academic potential.

In return, AFL helps teachers understand how well their students are learning the content, assess student prior knowledge and what needs more work, and provide descriptive feedback to students to help them comprehend the course content.

AFL does not work in isolation.  How teachers assess students is closely tied with grading practices and instructional strategies.  Teachers do implement AFL at various degrees… depending on what grade they teach, what subject area they specialize in, level of understanding of AFL, and years of experience.

What I would like to address in this NEW workshop offered by Younghusband Consulting is effective grading practices.  Grading practices reflect student achievement.  In the end, teachers use their professional judgment to assign grades or percentage to students that reflect their level of understanding of the prescribed learning outcomes.

The ultimate goal is for teachers to report out a grade that best reflects student achievement.  Within this premise, there are NO bonus marks, NO zeros, and NO participation marks in the grading process.  Bonus marks reward students for going beyond the curriculum.  Zeros punish students for poor work habits.  And, participation marks tokenizes student engagement.

Effective grading practices should authentically “measure” student understanding.  AFL is instrumental to how teachers evaluate student achievement.  What counts for marks?  Anything that allows students to demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned.  What shouldn’t count?  Anything that helps students learn the course content.