| dc.description.abstract | The important components of district support to facilitate a fundamental change in teacher
grading practices are not known. This mixed methods case study explored a school district’s
organizational development as standards-based grading (SBG) practices were partially mandated
in high schools. The overarching goal of this study was to understand the influence of support on
teachers’ ability to implement reform and how institutional reforms impact the relationship
between grading practices and external measures of student learning. Twelve implementing
teachers with various levels of support were interviewed and surveyed. Focus groups of leaders
and PD materials provided additional insights. Comparisons of assigned grades before and after
the initiative’s partial implementation were made and correlations between assigned grades and
state assessment scores were analyzed. There were three types of support that were most
influential to teachers feeling supported during implementation: having a collaborative team of
teachers implementing SBG together, attending district-led SBG PD, and being provided an
SBG-configured grade book. Helpful characteristics of SBG PD were purposeful grouping
strategies, content matched to readiness for change, and discourse-centric delivery. Adopting
SBG practices led to moderated grades— generally increased course GPAs for core subjects,
decreased for non-core subjects. In Algebra I and English I, grades were better aligned with state
test scores after implementation, but the reform did not improve overall student achievement.
Supports necessary to implement effective organizational reform in schools, specifically those
that require change to deeply embedded teacher practices such as grading, include a clear vision
for change, trusting relationships between and among actors and agents that are developed over
time and through collaborative discussions that recognize the emotional journey teachers must go
through to change. The working environment of teachers must also support the change. | en_US |
