Grading Students With Disabilities

Published: Tue, 01/08/19

Do you ever wonder, how in the world did the teachers come up with the grades on your child’s report card?

What do the grades really mean?

Chances the teacher, parent, and student will probably interpret the grade in different ways.

Let’s be brave and open this can of worms.

On this Part I of our discussion of grades we’ll be looking at 13 different purposes of grades and a process for determining what your child's grades will mean.

Next week in our Part II we’ll look at 5 different adaptations that can be made when grading a student, a process to use to determine which adaptation would be most appropriate and some advocacy steps you can take.

How to Get Meaningful Grades on Report Cards

If you want to watch the video later, catch it on my YouTube channel.

Check out these Key Take-Aways by going to the specific time stamp in the video, or on the podcast.

* 5 Big issues around grades and report cards 05:16

* What grades may mean to a teacher, student, parent 09:41

* 13 different purposes of grades - which one(s) do you

think are most important 10:30

* Can your child's grades tell us if instructional strategies

are working or not working? 15:53

* Starting the conversation about grade adaptations in your

school district 17:48

* A process to use when considering grade adaptations 23:55

Here are some quotes from the recent The Art of Advocacy show.

Whenever you hear somebody say that's our policy, then what you need to do is say, I would love to read that. Please share the written policy with me so I can understand it better.
Charmaine Thaner

You want to check in your state for what the implications are if your child is receiving modifications. In some states that puts them on a track for not receiving the typical high school diploma.

Charmaine Thaner

What we really want from our kids is that internal drive to do better, to learn more, to be excited about learning versus external motivation.

Charmaine Thaner

If a child isn't doing well at school, it's up to me as the adult, as a teacher, to try to figure out what I can do differently so the child will learn.

Charmaine Thaner
You always want to have student voices on your district and school committees.

Charmaine Thaner

You want to describe what the grading adaptations are going to be and roles for each of the team members.

Charmaine Thaner

Grading Students With Disabilities

Dennis D. Munk and William D. Bursuck's article about what kinds of grading adaptations can produce fair and meaningful grades for all students. Click here.

Grading Flow Chart
An example of how to determine if grading adaptations are needed. Click here.

Grading and Progressing Monitoring Students with Disabilities

Written by the Texas Education Agency, but helpful for teachers and parents in other states. Thanks to Cindi Paschall for letting me know about this resource. Click here.

We have a tremendous line-up for you!

Thursday, January 10th: How to Get Meaningful Grades on Report Cards Part 2. You'll learn:

* which laws have an impact on grades
* examples of grade adaptations
* pros and cons of grade adaptations
* advocacy strategies

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Thurs. Jan. 17th: Sarah Davis, advocate extraordinaire from the Washington D.C. metro area. Topic: Failings/difficulties with current dispute resolution options.

Thurs. Jan. 24th: Kathie Snow, author of Disability is Natural and international speaker. Topic: Moving Beyond The Status Quo.

Thurs. Jan. 31st: Courtney Hansen, blogs about special education at inclusionevolution.com and is an advocate in the state of Washington. Topic: Creating Change Through Legislation.

Thurs. Feb. 7th: Marcie Lipsitt, is a Michigan-based advocate and founder of the Michigan Alliance for Special Education. Topic: Filing Office of Civil Rights complaints.

Our live shows are at Noon Mtn. Time, 2pm ET, 1pm CT, 11am PT.
We’ll be live at www.facebook.com/VisionsandVoicesTogether.
The replays will also be available.

Put these shows in your phone calendar now! Need a reminder? We've

got you covered. Just click here and my IEPBot will send you a friendly reminder.

See you soon!

P.S. Did you see Dr. Paula Kluth's December newsletter? She gives a big shout out to my Facebook live show.

3 THINGS I AM LOVING RIGHT NOW by Dr. Paula Kluth

Visions and Voices Together

"Speaking of motivating….one of my “loves” lately is the work of Charmaine Thaner and specifically her “live” weekly spots on her Visions and Voices Together page on Facebook. I participated in one a few months ago and now I am pretty much obsessed with them.

I have always loved Charmaine’s work, so I am thrilled there is now more of it to love; she conducts these workshops for free (you read that right…totally free) every week and they are as informative as they are fun. They are great for all audiences in our field, but they will be especially helpful for parents, advocates, and self-advocates.

You can learn more about this amazing educator and her work on her website at www.cspeda.com."

I wrote Paula to thank her for that shout out and told her I wish she had a Paul Kluth summer camp I could go to. Wouldn't you love to soak up all her knowledge and creativity?

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