Engaging Parents and Families in Grading Reforms

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.

"When I read Engaging Parents and Families in Grading Reforms, my first thought was ′Why did I not read this sooner?′ Having both led (or attempted to lead) grading reform in schools and studied the change experiences of school stakeholders, I am thrilled to finally find this straightforward, practical, and relevant guide that informs crucial shifts to the way leaders approach the change process with families. Without question, Guskey′s newest book should be required reading for educators who have ever endeavored to lead meaningful change in grading practices for an entire community."

• Chapter 1: Parents’ and Families’ Perspectives on Grading and Reporting ReformsChapter 2: Understand the Change ProcessChapter 3: Clarify the Purpose of GradingChapter 4: Distinguish the Three Components of Computerized Grading ProgramsChapter 5: Keep the Report Card Simple and Family FriendlyChapter 6: Consider How Parents and Families Interpret LabelsChapter 7: Replace Old Traditions with New and Better TraditionsChapter 8: Focus on a Reporting System