Each year I am tasked with preparing an annual budget. As many of you are well aware, budgeting is part art, part science. Some aspects of budgeting are obvious: salary and other forms of compensation, for example, or fixed costs like loan payments. Other aspects of the budget are fluid and are shaped by markets, governments, and a range of forces beyond our control: increases in utilities, changes in lending rates, new taxes, increases in insurances, unforeseen facilities costs, etc.
To be as precise as possible in our forecasting, we apply analytics. Analytics is a search for patterns in our financial and other data forms. For example, we look at patterns of inflation over time, and adjust accordingly. We review our data, say salaries and benefits, or liability to asset ratios, relative to industry comparables (other similar schools in our case). One important approach that we use is trend assessment. We review our predicted (budgeted) vs. actual costs by category at similar data points (for example January in concurrent years). In this way, the data "informs" our decision making about each category. Did we under or over-budget? Did the budgetary line item increase along normal inflationary lines? Is a dramatic change in a line item an anomaly or a permanent condition for which we must account? The past cannot predict our future, but it does provide important insight that helps us prepare contingencies for positive and negative outcomes.
It just so happens that in the International Baccalaureate, a similar approach is taken to assessment.
In my days as a student, I was measured by each assignment and the numerical value assigned to my work, beginning with the first points of the semester and ending with the last. Each point accumulated, and all points were then averaged into a percentile that corresponded with a letter grade. If I was awarded 400 out of 500 points in a given semester, this average equated to 80%, and in my school's system, I "achieved" a "B-". At my house, this was the magic threshold: above it I was fine, below it...well...not so much. If grades were weighted, wow, things got really interesting.
I remember hating grade averaging as a student, almost as much as I hated weighting and the curve (unless I benefited from any of them). I could have a spectacular semester going until one bad test, or one protracted illness that kept me out of class for a week, or one unit that just kicked my butt, or one failed adolescent romance, and down went my grade with no chance to completely recover. It just never made any sense to me that one data point could be so disruptive as to undo all the others. I was obviously accountable for bad choices or poor performance on a given day, but should that single performance defy an otherwise positive trend?
One of the more "radical" notions in IB assessment is trend assessment, which completely does away with grade averaging. During the instructional design process that leads to the creation of a unit of inquiry, teachers identify the criteria they will assess, for example: Knowledge, Communication, Scientific Inquiry, or Investigating Patterns. Over the course of a grading period, each criterion is assessed numerous times, such that a pattern of performance emerges. It is expected that a student will begin weaker than they end--each semester brings new material and new skills and new concepts that take time to master. In IB, we don't penalize a student for a very predictable developmental learning pattern.
Here is another way to think about it. When you begin a new job, you are faced with learning a range of new skills, protocols, practices, management styles, etc., particular to your company. You may also be required to master a number of new rules and regulations, legal or by association with external regulatory bodies. There may be new software to know and manage. Your first few months are likely to be a little up and down as you learn the ropes and work your way into your organization. Now imagine if your performance bonus for the year averaged in your first ninety days in the company, or if your ability to remain with the company failed to take into account an otherwise natural adjustment period? You would likely balk at the fairness of this approach. You get my point.
We are in a period of transition. Grades are important, but learning is more important. There is no chicken or egg dilemma...learning comes first, not the other way around. We will standardize our practices over time to achieve the greatest fairness for our learners, and the most effective feedback for both students and parents. It will look different, and it will be better. This process is already underway.
Announcements:
Construction on the elementary extension will begin soon. We are only waiting for permits. I will be away beginning Thursday, thru Monday, cheering on our Model United Nations team at the national competition.
See you around campus.