Engaging Parents and Families in Grading Reforms

Improve grading practices with support from families

Educators seeking to transform age-old grading practices face numerous challenges, particularly when it comes to gaining support from students families. This practical guide from a world-renowned expert on grading and assessment practices offers concrete strategies to turn parents and families into trusted partners in grading reform efforts. The book enables educators to anticipate, understand, and effectively address families' concerns over grading reforms and build trust through authentic engagement.

With clear and actionable strategies that educators can implement right away, the easily digestible chapters unpack the complexities of the change process, clarify the purpose of grading, and show how to enhance the use of computerized grading programs. Other features include:

• Strategies to ease opposition to grading reform from parents and families
• Insights into how to improve report cards
• Guidance on how to effectively communicate student performance with parents and families

A must-have resource for educators navigating the challenging journey of grading reform, Engaging Parents and Families in Grading Reform is a comprehensive guide to grading reform that emphasizes family engagement to ensure success.

Thomas R. Guskey, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Chicago's renowned Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis (MESA) program, he began his career in education as a middle school teacher, served as an administrator in the Chicago Public Schools, and was the first Director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national educational research center. He is the author/editor of twenty-seven books and over three hundred articles published in prominent research journals as well as Educational Leadership, Kappan, and The School Administrator.

Dr. Guskey served on the Policy Research Team of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, and on the task force to develop the National Standards for Professional Development. He was named a Fellow in the American Educational Research Association and was awarded the Association's prestigious Relating Research to Practice Award. He was also awarded Learning Forward's Outstanding Contribution to the Field Award and Phi Delta Kappan's Distinguished Educator Award. Perhaps most unique, in the 158-year history of his undergraduate institution, Thiel College, he is one of only three graduates to receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award and be inducted into the Thiel College Athletic Hall of Fame.

His most recent books include Implementing Mastery Learning (2023), Instructional Feedback: The Power, the Promise, the Practice (with Smith & Lipnevich, 2023); Get Set, Go! Creating Successful Grading and Reporting Systems (2020), What We Know About Grading (with Brookhart, 2019), and On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting (2015). He may be contacted by email at guskey@uky.edu, Twitter at @tguskey, or at www.tguskey.com.