A 4-Part Series
Making Grading Clearer in PE.
Aligning principles and practices so grading becomes more accurate, consistent, and meaningful for students and teachers.
Why This Series?
Grading in PE draws a wide range of beliefs and approaches, and it is often described as one of the more challenging parts of the job. This four-part series highlights what grading is and can look like in PE, based on a few foundational principles that can shape our practices.
How This Series is Organized
This series runs backwards on purpose. We begin at the end, with how a grade is actually determined, and move back through what sits beneath it: what gets counted, how the evidence is gathered and summarized, and what a grade is meant to do in the first place. Starting with the grade itself keeps the whole picture in view, and each step back gets us closer to what everything else depends on, which is why we grade at all.
What each part focuses on
Part 1 — Determining a Grade
How a grade gets reached through professional judgment over averaging, with more weight on what is recent and consistent.
Part 2 — Organizing and Summarizing Evidence of Learning
How we might organize our gradebooks so the information in them is clear to summarize and use when determining a grade.
Part 3 — What Counts for Grading
Looking at what to prioritize for learning and what counts for grading. Plus, ideas on what can be done with information about learning behaviours.
Part 4 — The Purpose of Grading in PE
We end at the start: what is a grade meant to do in the first place? This part looks at the purpose of a grade, what it is meant to communicate, and how this informs our approaches leading to the grade.
Bonus Resources
Two tools to help you decide what to prioritize for learning and grading, building on Part 3.
1) A framework to help prioritize your learning standards
2) An AI prompt to help you prioritize your learning standards
Josh Ogilvie
PE teacher, leader, and assessment and grading specialist helping PE teachers make assessment work.
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The PE Assessment Blueprint
While this series focused on grading, grading is only one piece. What a grade rests on is assessment information from the class level, and that is the part that tends to feel less clear: what do we assess, how do we assess in PE class, how can we engage students in assessment, is it authentic and meaningful?
This is an online membership for PE teachers who want assessment and grading to feel clearer, more manageable, and land with more impact in their classes.
