SchoolWise includes a number of calculation methods to determine a student's mastery level average within a particular skill.
•Arithmetic Mean: straight averaging of all scores for one skill. As described by standards expert Robert J. Marzano, standards-based grading was never intended to include an Arithmetic Mean, but in practice most schools don't want to explain these complex calculation methods to parents so they requested the Arithmetic Mean.
Best Practice Out of 70 or more districts using standards based gradebooks and report cards only one or two are using the more complex calculations. Neither teachers, administrators nor parents can wrap their minds around the concepts. Pretty much all the districts are using Arithmetic Mean. Many schools and teachers only enter one score per trimester anyway and then the system simply becomes a report card entry system.
•Decaying Average (75% or 60% newest): The two decaying average methods (60% and 75%) assign progressively higher weights to more recent scores. For a single score, the result would be that score. When a second, more recent score is added, it counts for 60% (or 75%) of the average, and the first score counts for the remaining 40% (or 25%). This process is repeated as each new score is added to the series. The latest score always gets 60% (or 75%), and the prior average counts for the remaining 40% (or 25%).
•Most recent: This uses the student's most recent score as their mastery level for the skill.
•Highest Score: This uses the student's highest score as their mastery level for the skill.
•Power Law: This is based on the work of Robert Marzano, described in his book Transforming Classroom Grading. It is a complex statistical formula that not only gives recent scores more weight, but also attempts to predict a student's future performance based on past scores.
To help understand how the different calculation methods can affect a student's mastery level score for a skill, consider the following table of sample scores. Notice that each student received scores of 1, 2, 3 and 4 but in different orders. A straight arithmetic mean ([1+2+3+4]/4 = 2.5) is not a good predictor of how a student is doing. Student #1 below is improving dramatically whereas Student #4 is seriously declining, yet by using an arithmetic mean they both would receive a 2.5.
If you set the Default Mastery Level Calculation at the higher group levels in the skills tree, that mastery calculation scheme will cascade down to all of the levels below.