Board of Education Muscatine Community School District Monday ...

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Franklin Leadership Team
Director of Elementary Education and Instruction Shane Williams stated that the Franklin Team had
embarked on the use of standards based grading and that this dovetails nicely with the states emphasis
on the Iowa Core. He noted that the team has researched the topic and put a lot of time and passion in
what they have done for the benefit of students and are here tonight to present their findings to the
board.
Franklin Principal Jason Wester introduced the team: Julie Cook, 3 rd grade teacher, Kat Nietzel,
kindergarten teacher, and Kyle Sustich, 3 rd grade teacher. He noted that Franklin’s first quarter report
cards in grades 3-­‐5 had 29 F’s and 49 D’s and as teachers looked at the grades, it was hard to determine
where the gaps in learning were and they couldn’t tell what specific skills needed to be addressed. With
that in mind, the building leadership team asked what was needed to be done in order to determine
these things.
Kyle Sustich reviewed the current reporting of two imaginary students and explained why it is difficult to
answer questions on the skills needed and concepts not mastered by the students by looking at the
letter grades. He shared that the current system does not help the teacher find the specific skills that
the students need to be successful.
Julie Cook then shared how the team needed to come up with a system that accurately reflects the
student’s growth based on specific learning targets derived from the Iowa Core. She shared that they did
not want to re-­‐invent the wheel and wanted to build a support system that works best for teachers,
students, and parents based on PLC, Iowa Core, Response to Intervention, and the Leader in Me. All
components work together instead of separately.
Kat Nietzel then explained the first steps in the process and this involved creating a K-­‐5 grading team to
examine the current system. She explained that this team developed and distributed a staff survey to
determine the mindset on current grading practices at Franklin; began a book study of Grades Don’t
Matter: Using Assessments to Measure True Learning; and visited Solon Elementary to look at how they
have used standards-­‐based grading for the past 25 years.
Survey results were shared as well as their mission and vision that embraces standards-­‐based grading as
well as expectations of moving forward with this grading system.
Director Mather asked about developing the assessments.
Mr. Wester shared that the team is at the point where they want to develop the proficiency scales for
the report card, and this will take place over the summer.
Director Mather asked if there will be five separate grades on a test.
Mr. Wester stated that a rubric and proficiency scale will be developed and used to measure and report
out those different competencies.
Mrs. Cook noted that those would then be consistent. She also shared that differentiated instruction is
used now. She shared that if students did well, teachers do extension of learning, and if students are
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