PATINS UDL Project

When you implement UDL principles in your classroom, there will always be issues about how to grade students. Is it “fair”… for a student who writes a good 6-page paper explaining the causes and results of the Great Depression …and a student who makes an instructive 16-screen PowerPoint with audio and video links to highlight certain points about the causes and results of the Great Depression …and a student who writes a short play to illustrate his knowledge about the causes and results of the Great Depression for a typical family of that time… to each get an A or a B? Should the “hardest” task get an A and the others get something else? What is the “hardest” task? Does the hardest task represent the most learning? Who has made progress in their understanding of the Great Depression?

Dave Edyburn (University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee) has provided a nice bibliography of sources that address this topic. Zero and Grading Policies

You can also go to the following sites on the Internet for information:

An Introduction to Grading by Dennis Munk, with links to instructional tools and research related to grading. It also has links to actual case studies dealing with grading. : http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=assessment&section=grading/main

Grading Policies That Work Against Standards…and How to Fix Them by T.R. Guskey: http://www.ncacasi.org/documents/other/grading_policies

Fair & Equitable Grading Practices for Students with LD Who Have IEPs, by D.D. Munk: http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=1154

Role of Zero in Grading by Karen Walker, with links to other online articles about grading:  http://www.principalspartnership.com/zerograding.pdf

From Indiana’s et cetera (ETC: Education Technology) newletter, a recommendation to check the Grant Wrangler web site. It allows you to pick the date the grant proposal will be due or to search for topics by key words. You can subscribe to a free bi-weekly update on grant opportunities.

http://www.grantwrangler.com/

Check out the research reported in Education Week that focuses on the connection between exercise and learning and achievement! This is an easy way for teachers to help every student prepare to learn.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/02/13/23exercise_ep.h27.html?tmp=1954207192

At the recent TRLD (Technology, Reading and Learning Diversity) Conference I attended a workshop by a grant-writing specialist, Sheryl Abshire, from Lake Charles, LA, about how to approach grantgivers, write grants, and get grant funding. All of you can probably use grant money, to cover the costs of attending conferences or training sessions or for additional technology to implement UDL in your classrooms and schools.

Sheryl listed several keys to successful grant writing, which included:

• do exactly what the RFP (request for proposal) guidelines say
• connect the grant request to something that is for ongoing improvement
• provide specifics on how you will use the grant money and how you will collect and evaluate the data
• be passionate, creative and innovative about your plans
• focus on areas of need in your school or district
• include what you/your school/your district will provide to help make the grant successful (e.g., partnerships with other community resources)
• if you write the grant for professional development, link it back to improving student achievement in an area of need

She provided several websites with grant information:

Her personal grant information website with resources listed alphabetically: http://www.cpsb.org/Scripts/abshire/grants.asp

The School Grants web site with grant information for PK-12 (note that it has sample grants and fund raising information on the sidebar to the left) http://www.schoolgrants.org/

The eSchool News website which provides grant and funding information for schools. You can sign up for a funding alert newsletter there also. http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/

An information resource website, Thomson West, that has a Grants for K-12 Hotline that provides a bi-weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to for a yearly fee. http://west.thomson.com/store/product.aspx?r+139011&product_id=40560035