Shifting Academic

Behaviors
South Lake Middle School
South Lake Schools
David Mroue

School Background
Information
Location: St. Clair Shores, Michigan
400+ students in grades 6-8
58% Caucasian and 38% African

American
55% Economically Disadvantaged

South Lake Middle School Data

Mathematics Scores:
30% of all students proficient
43% of Caucasian students
10.2% of African American students
Reading Scores:
54.5% of all students proficient
67.7% of Caucasians students were proficient in
reading
40% of African American students were
proficient in reading.
Science:
18.8% of Caucasian students were proficient

Points of Concern . . .
There is a definite concern in the

achievement gap between our Caucasian and

African American students in all grades and
subject areas at South Lake Middle School.
43% of the student population. We find it to

be concerning that despite our students

poor performance on standardized
assessments we appear to have too many
students on our school-wide honor roll.
There is an issue with accuracy of our current

grades and their correlation to student

mastery of content.

Our Wondering . . .
In what ways might weighted grading to

ensure assessments account for 80% of their

grade impact their academic behaviors in
middle school math and science?
Will increasing the impact of student

assessment scores encourage students to

improve their academic behaviors to ensure
that they maintain their grades in their
courses?
How will changes in weighting of homework

and assessments would impact student

grades?

Grading Shift.

Total Points

Weighted
Grades

Parent Letter Sent Home

Science Class Findings . . .

The number of students working on science

outside of the classroom increased by 13%.

6% more struggling students seek help

from the teacher, 10% are asking a friend,

and 13% more are accessing on line
resources.
Science students are now prepared for

class and assessments because 11% more

students are using the online course
material and 7% more are taking notes.
There was a 5% increase of students who

feel they are no longer struggling but are

doing their best in science class.

Science Class Grades

Class and
Period
3 - 8th Grade
Science
4 - 8th Grade
Science
6 - 8th Grade
Science
7 - 8th Grade

TOTAL POINT
WEIGHTED
GRADING
GRADING
Card Marking Card Marking
1 Assessment 3 Assessment
Average
Average
65.0%

74.8%

73.9%

82.8%

49.7%

67.2%

60.9%

67.9%

Science Hydrology Assessment

Assessment Data Hydrology 2013 vs. 2014

Hydrology
Unit
Assessent

2013

2014

72.7

76.8

4.1% increase

Math Class Findings . . .

Students academic behaviors improved by

students taking a more active role in the

learning process.
Shifting to a weighted grading practice with

80% assessments and 20% homework/practice

did not negatively impact student grades.
Teachers must weight tasks according to their

importance in demonstrating the course

objectives.
There was not any change in homework

completion after shifting from total points to

weighted grading.

Math Class Grades

TOTAL
POINT
GRADING

WEIGHTED
GRADING

Class and
Semester 1 Semester 2
Period
3 - 8th Grade
71.7%
74.3%
MATH
4 - 8th Grade
73.0%
76.0%
MATH
5 - 8th Grade
76.0%
77.0%
MATH
AVERAGE
73.6%
75.8%

Concluding Results . . .
Students academic behaviors improved by students

taking a more active role in the learning process.

Shifting to a weighted grading practice with 80%

assessments and 20% homework/practice did not

negatively impact student grades.
Teachers must weight tasks according to their

importance in demonstrating the course objectives.

There was not any change in homework completion

after shifting from total points to weighted grading.

Our students began to see the correlation

between their academic behavior and mastery of

the content.

Next Steps . . .
Work with students on goal setting and self-

assessment to ensure they are able to

accurately self-assess and decide what their
next step is to gain mastery.
Have a sufficient number of assignments to

ensure that one task does not hold significant

influence on students grade.
Consider implementing retakes on assessments

and tasks to promote mastery learning.

Focus all classroom tasks and assessments on

demonstrating mastery of course objectives

Questions