A little experiment... please participate!

Okay, I realized we can test at least one aspect of Marzano's power law method. He suggests that teachers come up with surprisingly consistent and accurate final grades just by looking at a student's grades for one topic over time, looking for a trend, and estimating a final score based on what level of achievement s/he thinks the student reached by the end of the grading period! He presents this estimation method as an alternative for those who do not have access to technology to use the power law precisely.

Here's what you do to participate in this experiment:

1. Look at the three lists of scores below. Each list represents a student's grades for just one learning objective over time - the earliest grades for the objective at the top of the list, the last grades for that objective at the bottom.

2. For each list, look for a trend, then decide on a final grade between 0-4, in 0.25 increments. For example, 2.75, 4.0, 1.5, whatever you think best represents where that student stands on that objective at this point.

3. Report your scores in the comments along with any thoughts.

4. If you're curious, go ahead and compute the average and/or apply the power law AFTER you have used the "blink" method.

5. Check back to see how your estimates compare with those of other readers and with the average and power score.

Ready?

TOPIC 1
2.0
1.5
2.0
3.0
2.5
3.0
3.0
2.5
3.0
3.0

TOPIC 2
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.5
3.0
2.0
3.0
2.5
3.0
3.0

TOPIC 3
2.0
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.0
3.5
3.0