EQAO grading

     This week in class, we took a look at how EQAO for grade 9 math, is assessed.  An answer can be given either a 10, 20, 30 and 40 dependent on the mathematical quality and content that the answer has.  A level 10 essentially means that an application of knowledge and skills is limited and is caused by a misunderstanding of concepts or an incorrect selection of procedures (eqao.com).  On the other hand, a level 40 means the application of skills is at a high degree caused through a high understanding of concepts and an accurate application of the produces (eqao.com).  Although it seems relatively simple to give students appropriate grades for their questions answered we found out in class there can be a lot of difference of opinions between teachers.  There was one example where a student had slightly written the wrong formula for the area of a circle as A=pi^2*r but had all the correct steps and we had to decide on a grade for that question.  Some people in the class believed it was a level 30 while others believed it was a level 20.  This is where the difference of opinions came in and there was a lot of deep discussions as to what score we felt that student achieved.  Another example was a student who had the correct answer but didn't provide a concluding statement.  Some people in the class felt they deserved a 40 as they did achieve the right answer but others felt the student deserved a 30 as there was no concluding statement. 
     This small exercise that we did in class definitely had large implications on my learning.  First, I found out the difference of opinion that teacher's have when it actually comes to marking.  In most situations, there is only one teacher who does the marking for one specific class so it is usually up to their jurisdiction.  For the EQAO, there are several teachers who mark them and have to collaborative and decide on a final score for each student's questions.  We are continuing this exercise in the next class and we will compare our selection of grades with other members in the class.  Overall, this was a great experience as I understood the difference of opinions that teacher's have when it comes to assessing student work.