CIT COLLEGES OF PANIQUI FOUNDATION, INC.

Burgos St.Pob.Norte, Paniqui, Tarlac- Philippines

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
School Year 2023-2024

Chapter 9
Grading and Reporting System
Overview
The past chapters of this book discussed the different methods and tools that measure student
achievement in the context of the different learning targets. In this chapter, the assigning of grades to
student and how it should be done in relation to the intended learning outcomes have been achieved
and that grading policies of schools must also be taken into consideration in developing a grading
system.
Section Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this section, you should be able to demonstrate skills in in preparing and interpreting
grades. Also, you should be able to assess the effectiveness of parent-teacher conference as a venue
for reporting learners' performance.
Chapter Intended Learning Outcome
At the end of this chapter, you are expected to demonstrate skills in interpreting test results and
reporting of grades.
Assessment of Learning 2
ENGAGE
Assessment of learning during instruction and after instruction may be achieved in a number of ways.
One of the challenges in grading is that of summarizing the variety of collected information from
different types of assessment and come up with a standardized numerical grade or descriptive letter
rating or brief report.
The guiding premises in developing grading and reporting system are provided below:
1. The primary goal of grading and reporting is communication.
2. Grading and reporting are integral parts of the instructional
3. Good reporting is based on good evidence
process.
4. Changes in grading and reporting are best accomplished through the development of a
comprehensive reporting system.
In developing and implementing the grading and reporting systems, these premises must be taken into
consideration to have a meaningful output and help in the attainment of the student learning
objectives, to which the assessment objectives cascaded.
1. K to 12 Grading of Learning Outcomes
The K to 12 curriculum have specific assessment requirements and design catering to the delivery
modes of learning, i.e., the formal education and alternative learning system. The K to 12 assessment
is learner-centered and carefully considers its learning environment system. The 21st century skills
such as research, analytical/critical, practical and creative are part of the indicators included in the K
to 12 assessment. Both cognitive and non-cognitive skills which includes values, motivation, attitude,
behavior traits, and interpersonal relations are part of the assessment.
Formative assessment (assessment FOR learning) is given importance to ensure learning. Learners are
encouraged to take part in the process of self-assessment (assessment AS learning). Summative forms
of assessment (assessment OF learning) are also part of the curriculum assessment under the K to 12.
The K to 12 curriculum prescribes that the assessment process should utilize the wide variety of
traditional and authentic assessment tools and techniques for a valid, reliable, and realistic assessment
of learning. Traditional and authentic assessments complement each other though they are not
mutually exclusive. Furthermore, it gives greater importance on assessing understanding and skills
development rather than on
mere accumulation of content.
In K to 12 curriculum, assessment will be standards-based to ensure that there is standardization in
teaching and learning. Department of Education (DepEd) issued an order (DepEd Order No. 31, s.
2012) stating that assessment will be done in four levels and will be weighted accordingly
These levels are the following:
d. Knowledge refers to the essential content of the curriculum, the facts and information that the
student acquires.
Process refers to cognitive acts that the student does on facts and information to come up with
meanings and understandings.
Understanding refers to lasting big ideas, principles, and generalizations that are fundamental to the
discipline which may be assessed using the facets of understanding.
Products/Performances refers to real-life application of understanding as shown by the student's
performance of authentic tasks.
The assigned weight per level of assessment are shown in the following table:
Knowledge

Level of Assessment Percentage Weight

Knowledge 15%
Process of Skills 25%
Understanding 30%
Products/Performances 30%
TOTAL 100%

At the end of the quarter, the student's performance will be described based on the prescribed level of
proficiency which has equivalent numerical values. Proficiency level is computed from the sum of all
the performances of students in various levels of assessment. Each level is described as follows:
Beginning. The student at this level struggles with his/her understanding of prerequisite and
fundamental knowledge skills that have not been acquired or developed adequately. Developing. The
student at this level possesses the minimum knowledge and skills and core understanding but needs
help throughout the performance of authentic tasks. Approaching Proficiency. The student at this level
has developed the fundamental knowledge and skills and core understandings, and with little guidance
from the teacher and/or with some assistance from peers, can transfer these understandings through
authentic performance tasks.
Proficient. The student at this level has developed the fundamental knowledge and skills and core
understandings, and can transfer them independently through authentic performance tasks.
Advanced. The student at this level exceeds the core requirements in terms of knowledge, skills and
core understandings, and can transfer them automatically and flexibly through authentic performance
tasks.
Translating these proficiency level into its numerical value is described in the following

Level of Proficiency Equivalent Numerical Value

Beginning 74% and below
Developing 75-79%
Approaching Proficiency 80-84%
Proficient 85-89%
Advanced 90% and above

Comparison of Levels of Proficiency

Indicators Beginning Developing Approaching Proficiency Advanced

Proficiency
Acquisition of Struggling minimum Fundamental Fundamental Exceeding
knowledge skills and or have
understanding not
required
Transfer of Needs help With little Independent Automatic
knowledge/application guidance and
of knowledge from the Flexible
teacher or
some
assistance
peers
Note: You may do some research in order to learn more about the grading and reporting system used
in the old curriculum as well as the newly implemented K to 12 curriculum.
2. The Effects of Grading on Students
Over the years, studies have also been made on how grades and the comments of teachers written on
students' papers might affect students' achievement. An early investigation by Page (1958) focused
specifically on this issue. In the said study, 74 school teachers administered a test to the students in
their classes and scored in the usual way. A numerical score was assigned to each students' paper and
on the basis of the scores obtained, a corresponding letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F was given. Next,
teachers randomly divided the students' papers into three groups. The first group received only the
numerical score and letter grade. The second group aside from the score and grade, received standard
comments: A: Excellent! Keep it up; B: Good work! Keep it up; C: Perhaps try to do still better?; D.
Let's bring this up; and F: Let's raise this grade. For the third group, teachers marked the score, letter
grades and then wrote on each paper a variety of individualized comments. Page asked the teachers to
write anything they wished on these papers but to be sure their personal feelings and instructional
practices. Papers were then returned to students in a normal way.
Page then evaluated the effects of the comments by considering students' scores on the very next test
or assessment given in the class. The results showed that students who received the standard
comments with their grade achieved significantly higher scores than those who received only a score
and grade. Those students who received individualized comments did even better. This led him to
conclude that grades can have a beneficial effect on student learning when accompanied by specific or
individualized comments from the teacher (Stewart & White, 1976). Studies conducted in more recent
years confirmed Pages' conclusion.
Based on the study presented in the previous paragraphs, its relevance are:
1. It illustrated that while grades may not be compulsory for teaching or learning, it can be used in
positive ways to enhance students' achievement and performance. 2. It showed that positive effects
can be gained with relatively little effort on the part of teachers. Stamps or stickers with standard
comments such as these could be easily produced for teachers to use. Yet the effect of this simple
effort has significant positive effect on students' performance.
3. Building a Grading and Reporting System
3.1 The Basis of Good Reporting is Good Evidence
Whatever is preferred and required of the teacher when it comes to format, grading and reporting
should provide high-quality information to interested person by means of any schema they can
understand and use. The basis of such high-quality information is critical evidence on student
learning. Evaluation experts stress that if one is going to make important decisions about students that
have broad implications, such as decisions involved in grading, the more that good evidence must be
ready at hand (Airasian, 1994; Linn & Gronlund, 2000; Stiggins, 2001). In the absence of good
evidence, even the most detailed and hi-tech grading and reporting system is useless. It simply cannot
serve the basic communication functions for which it is intended.
There are three qualities that contribute to the goodness of evidence that are on student learning.
These three qualities are described in the following table.

QUALITY DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

VALIDITY Refers to the appropriateness & If an assessment is to be used
adequacy of interpretations to describe students' reading
made from that information comprehension; evidence
(Linn & Gronlund, 2000) should actually reflect reading
comprehension and not other
irrelevant factors.

RELIABILITY Refers to the consistency of Attain very similar scores

assessment results when the same assessment
procedures are used with the
same students at two different
times, results have a high
degree of reliability.

QUANTITY The more sources of evidence Any single source of evidence

on student's learning, the better of student learning can be
the information can be imperfect, it is essential that
reported. multiple sources of evidence in
grading and reporting students
is utilized.
3.2 Major Purposes of Grading and Reporting
The following are the major purposes of grading and reporting:

 To communicate the achievement status of students to parents and others

 To provide information that students can use for self-evaluation
 To select, identify or group students for certain educational paths or programs To provide
incentives for students to learn
 To evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs
 To provide evidence of students' lack of effort or inappropriate responsibility

Below are possible sources of Grading and Reporting System

 Major Exams
 or Composition
 Class Quizzes
 Reports or Projects
 Students'
 Portfolios
 Exhibits of
 Students' Work
 Laboratory Projects
 Students'
 Notebook.or Journals
 Class Observation
 Oral
 Presentations
 Homework Completion
 Homework
 Quality
 Class
 Participation
 Work Habits
 and Neatness
 Effort
 Attendance
 Punctuality of Assignments
 Class Behavior or Attitude
 Progress Made
3.3 Grading and Reporting Methods
3.3.1 Letter Grades
> The most common and best known of all grading methods Mostly composed of five-level grading
scale
> Letter Grade Descriptors
Despite their apparent simplicity, the true meaning of letter grades is not always clear. What the
teachers would like to communicate with particular letter grade and what parents interpret that grade
to mean, often are not the same (Waltman & Frisbie, 1994). To give more clarity to the meaning of
letter grade, most schools include a key or legend on the reporting from in which each letter grade is
paired with an explanatory word or phrase. 'Descriptors must be carefully chosen, to avoid additional
complications and misunderstanding.
Advantages:
•
A brief description of students' achievement and level of performance including students' potentials
can be provided to parents and other interested persons. Based on parents' experience when they were
still studying, it is easier for them to believe and understand what letter grade means.
Requires abstraction of a great deal of information into a single symbol (Stiggins, 2001)
Disadvantages:
•
Despite educators' best effort, letter grades tend to be interpreted by parents in strictly norm-
referenced terms. The cut-offs between grade categories are always arbitrary and difficult to justify.
Lacks the richness of other more detailed reporting methods such as standards- based grading,
mastery grading, and narrative.

Grade Criterion-Referenced Norm- Combined Norm Based on

(Standards-Based) Referenced Referenced and Improvement
Criterion
Referenced
A Outstanding or advanced Outstanding: Outstanding: Outstanding:
complete knowledge of all among the very high level of much
content highest or best performance Improvement on
mastery of all targets exceeds performance most or all
standards targets
B Very good or proficient Very good: Very good: better Very good: some
Complete knowledge of most performs above than average Improvement on
content the class average performance most or all
Mastery of all targets targets
Meets most standards
C Acceptable or basic Average: Average: Acceptable: 50
command of only basic performs at the Improvement on
concepts or skills class average some targets m
Mastery of some targets
Meets some standards
D Making progress or Poor: below the Below average or Making progress:
developing class average weak: minimum minimal progress
Lacks knowledge of most performance for on most targets
content passing
Mastery of only a few targets
Meets only a few standards
F Unsatisfactory: lacks Unsatisfactory: Unsatisfactory: Unsatisfactory no
knowledge of content far below lacks sufficient improvement on
No mastery of targets average; among knowledge to any targets
Does not meet any standards the worst in the pass
class
Different Interpretation of Letter Grades
(McMillan, 2007

3.3.2 Percentage Grades

➤ Are the ultimate multi-category grading method
➤ Can range from 0 to 100
Generally more popular among high school teachers than elementary teachers
Advantages:
-Allows for maximum discriminators in evaluation of students' achievement and performance
-Maximizes the variation among students, making it easier to choose students for honors or
representative for special programs
Disadvantages:
- Requires a great deal of abstraction Interpretation of meaning of a percentage grade
extremely difficult
-The cut-offs are no less arbitrary but a lot more
-Because of a large number of grade categories, it is less reliable and more subjective.

3.3.3 Standards-Based Grading

In an effort to bring greater clarity and specificity to the grading process, many schools
initiated standards-based grading procedures and reporting forms. Guskey and Bailey (2001)
identify four steps in developing standards-based grading. These steps are:
1. Identify the major learning goals or standards that students will be expected to achieve at
each grade level or in each course of study.
2. Establish performance Indicators for the learning goals. benchmarks) for assessing each
goal
3. Determine graduated level of quality (benchmarks) for assessing each goal or standard
4. Develop reporting tools that communicate teachers' judgments of students' learning
progress and culminating achievement in relation to the learning goals and standards.
Advantages:
-When clear learning goals or standards are established, standards-based grading offers
meaningful information about students' achievement and performance to students, parents
and to others.
-If information is detailed, it can be useful for diagnostic and prescriptive purposes.
-Facilitates teaching and learning processes better than any other grading method.
Disadvantages:
-Takes a lot of effort.
-Often too complicated for parents to understand.
-May not communicate the appropriateness of students' progress.

3.3.4 Pas/Fall Grading

Simple alternative grading method available available to educators reduces the number of grade
categories to just two: Pass or Fail. In the late 1800s Pass/Fail grading was originally introduced in
college-level courses in the they attained. By students to give more importance to learning and less to
grades they attained. By lessening the emphasis on grades, many educators believed that students
would be encouraged to take more challenging subjects.
Pass/Fail was popular in most universities and colleges in 1970s. These universities and colleges
utilized this pass/fail grading to various programs.

Advantages:
-Simplifies the grading process for teachers and students.
-Use of a single minimal cut-off and only two grade categories improve the reliability of grade
assignments.
-Pass/Fail grading has the potential to make learning environments more relaxed by focusing students'
attention on learning rather than on grade (Goldstein & Tilker, 1971).
-Pass/Fail grading is what students will face in many real-life situations.
Disadvantages:
-Students gain very little prescriptive information.
-Students spend less time studying if pass/fail grading is used than when a wider range of grading
system is utilized.
-Students only study to attain minimum passing level and show less effort in striving for excellence.

Method Advantages Disadvantages

Letter Grade Convenient; Broad, sometimes unclear
Concise; indication of performance;
Familiar Often includes a jumble of
factors including effort and
improvement.
Percentage Grade Easy to calculate, record, and Broad, sometimes unclear
combine; Indication of performance,
Familiar false sense of difference
between close scores; High
scores not necessarily signifies
master.
Standards-Based Focus on high standards for all May not reflect student
students; learning In many areas;
Pre-established performance Does not include effort or
levels improvement
Pass/Fail • Simple; Little discrimination in
Consistent with mastery of performance;
learning Less emphasis on high
performance
Developing Effective Reporting System

The most critical issue to be addressed in selecting the tools included in reporting system is what
purpose or purposes it is to serve. Why we need to convey this information what we need to
accomplish.

To determine the purpose or purposes, three aspects of communication must be considered.

Critical Aspects in Determining Communication Purposes:

a. What Information or messages do we want to communicate?
b. Who is the primary audience for that message?
c. How would we like that information or message to be used?
GROUP 7
JOHN VINCENT T.PULIDO ALTHIA FAJARDO
AUGUSTO CASTILLO JR DYNAH ARCIAGA