Backwards Design

Backwards Design (BWD) is a method of planning instruction that we have used in the St. Mary's masters program.  It works almost exactly how the name describes it.  Instead of focusing first on individual lessons, you focus on overall ideas for the unit and then the assessment that will be used in the unit and then finally individual lessons.  The most helpful part of BWD for me is the first stage.  This past summer I took an elective class that focused only on the first stage.  It was helpful for me to look at what I really wanted my students to learn in that unit.  I wrote essential questions and overall enduring understandings more thoroughly and made it more clear for myself what I needed to focus on.  The unit I focused on was for my honors geometry class and it is a fairly simple unit that mainly introduces students to introductory vocabulary that is used throughout the class.  It was really nice to take time to think about how I could enhance that unit with better essential questions.  When I taught it this year, I was able to get students to think about two and three dimensions more deeply.  By planning the unit using the BWD method, I was able to better implement critical thinking in the class, which is one of my goals for the year.   

Action Research Abstract

This action research centers around standards based grading and how it improves student proficiency in two Intermediate Algebra classes.  Through research it was determined that standards based grading consists of separating the grade into standards, basing the grade only on academics, reporting the grade using defined levels of proficiency, allowing students to improve their scores, and communicating the grade in a clear manner. 

Standards based grading was implemented in each class by separating the tests into learning targets and reporting a separate score for each target in the gradebook.  The grade was weighted so that 90% was based on test scores and 10% was based on homework.  Work ethic, extra credit, and participation were not included in the grade.  Students were allowed a chance to improve their grade through retaking individual learning targets after each test. 

For this action research, data was collected in multiple ways.  Students and parents were given surveys regarding pre-conceived notions about grades.  Observations were made about student’s on-task time when given a review focused on improving specific learning targets as opposed to a general review.  Data was compiled showing student proficiency on each exam as compared to student proficiency after retakes had been factored into the grade.  Each of these types of data collection helped to give an overall idea about standards based grading and how it improved student proficiency.