This document discusses standards-based grading for student editors. It outlines the pros and cons of letting editors grade their peers, including increased accountability and real-world experience as pros, and popularity contests and accuracy as cons. It then details how one high school implements grading for editors, with editors grading each other using rubrics in their individual roles of writing, design, and photography. Mini-deadlines are also set to keep editors on track. The document provides examples of rubrics and checklists used by different editor roles, and discusses the process an editor-in-chief and assistant go through to finalize pages each deadline.

1. Grading for Editors
How to build structure and confidence
in student using standards-based grading

2. Alyssa Sellors
Harrison High School, Kennesaw, GA
email alyssasellors@gmail.com
blog: www.alyssasellors.com (go here for all of today’s handouts)
Twitter: @alyssasellors
Facebook: Alyssa Carnley Sellors

3. Our Essential Question:
AS AN EDITOR (OR STAFF
MEMBER) WHO DO YOU THINK
SHOULD “GRADE” YOUR
PERFORMANCE? WHY?

4. The Pros: Why let editors
“grade” their peers?
•Increased accountability
•Builds leadership skills
•Builds communication skills
•Critical thinking
•Real world experience (business evaluations, for ex.)
•Time management and organization

5. The Cons: But what about….
• Parent concerns (students grading students???)
• Popularity contests and “friend” allegiances on staff
• Accuracy and trust
• Time
• Accountability

6. On the syllabus….
Listening, Speaking, Viewing (25%): Interviewing and research as those tasks apply to the context
of your position on staff.
Planning (20%): Working collaboratively, remaining on task (NOT PLAYING ON COMPUTER),
daily participation, being proactive as a team member, working on business development.
Publication (25%): Writing, editing, designing layouts and advertisements (meeting ALL
deadlines)
Professionalism (15%): Public persona and integrity, employability, participation in sales and
marketing efforts
Final Exam (15%): Reflection on the publication as a whole, including your specific role
*Note: Not every assignment will pertain to each individual staff member. For example, within
Publication, business staff will not be assessed according to their ability to implement yearbook
design rules; however, business staff will be assessed according to their ability to design and
produce advertisements promoting the sale of the book, including ads for Hoya Vision and
Facebook.

7. Common Core Standards: Journalism
Reading:
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events and ideas develop and interact over the
course of a text.
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining
technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices
shape meaning or tone.
7. Integrate & evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including
visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the
validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the approaches the author takes.
Speaking & Listening
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations
with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

8. Writing:
1. d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and
conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization and analysis of
content.
3. d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to covey a vivid picture of
the experiences, events, setting and/or characters.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a
new approach.
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish and update individual or shared
writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
Language
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and
spelling when writing.

9. How do you grade the editors?
• Editors also write, design and take pictures (fewer)
• TWO grades at 100 points each.
(They also complete the self evaluation.)
• Professionalism:
• Timeliness, communication, adherence
to rubrics and point allotments
• Publication and accuracy:
• Using their own rubrics, I “grade” their work
• When the staff rubrics come in, I make sure all
corrections are made on all pages.

10. OUR STAFF
STRUCTURE

11. Layout Teams
• Section editors did not work for us
• Teams of writers, designers, and photographers.
• Layout groups (3 to a group); do change throughout the
year
• Editor for each role and only one editor-in-chief
• We do not have a co editor-in-chief but we have a
“helper” or apprentice

12. How does it work?
• Editors meet to assign pages and teams
• Ladder done before the first deadline
• Deadline sheets and layout group meetings
• Layout plan and editor meetings

15. THE FLOW…

16. How does it work?
• Deadlines on Mondays
• Staff deadlines=Monday before the editor’s
• Plant deadlines= Monday after editor’s
• I have one week to check editors’ work while the
rest of the staff has already moved on to the next
deadline!
• Typical staff deadline is 4 weeks, with 5-6
deadlines total
• We have never missed a deadline. Why? …

17. A typical Month (not including mini deadlines)
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesda
y
Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8
Staff
Deadline
9
-New layout
teams and
assignments
10 11 12 13
Ed-in-Chief
puts pages in
proof
14 15
Editors’
Deadline (and
meeting to
finalize
pages)
16
Adviser
spends this
week
checking
pages for
submission
17 18 19
Enter all staff
grades and
evaluate
editors
Celebrate!!!
20
21 22
Plant
Deadline
23 24 26 26 27
28 29 30

18. Layout
Assignments

19. A typical deadline week (for editors)
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat/Sun
Staff
deadline
-Ed-in-Chief
prints all
pages and
hands
them off to
the design
editor
Design
editor
assigns
points using
rubrics and
then makes
necessary
changes on
Edesign
before
passing
pages to the
writing
editor
(Photog Ed
begins
viewing
today-more
on this)
Writing
editor
assigns
points using
rubrics and
then makes
necessary
corrections
in Edesign
passing
pages to the
photography
Editor
Photography
Editor assigns
points using
rubrics and
then makes
necessary
corrections
errors in
Edesign
before
passing to
the editor-in-
chief and her
assistant
Ed-in-Chief
and her
assistant
begin final
proofing (go
through
every page
and make
necessary
corrections,
making note
of
corrections
NOT made
by other
editors
Ed-in-Chief
puts all pages
in proof
(prepare for
editors’
meeting the
following
Monday before
turning over to
me). I spend
the next week
making any
changes and
putting in
grades for
editors and
staff members

20. WHAT YOU WILL
NEED….

21. First, my rationale for points…
• Variety of tools to assess staff members
• Variety of ways and means to earn those points.
-All team points, is that fair?
-All individual points, where is the
accountability?
• “Hybrid” version allows staffers to earn points from
their group, themselves, their interactions with others
and their own work ethic.

22. Criteria/Categories
• Accountability (group)- final layout deadline grade
• Accountability (individual)- personal rubrics by role
• Skill/performance
• Team work (evaluations)
• Reflection (evaluations)

23. The Points
• There are 300 points total for every deadline:
• 100 final layout team deadline (shared points - you
miss deadline because of ONE person’s mistakes,
you all miss it)
• 100 points final individual layout (rubrics filled out
by the editors)
• 20 points mini deadline (points allotted differently
based on position)
• 50 points peer evaluations
• 30 points self evaluation and goal setting

24. The Self-Evaluation

25. The Peer Evaluation

26. Checklists and Rubrics
• Checklists are for the staffers.
• Rubrics are for editors.
• I look at both and check pages as they are in
Edesign. I assess the grade and put these values into
our grading system.

27. Writers

29. Writer’s
Rubric

30. The pacing: How to set mini deadlines
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
January 27 January 28
PREVIOUS STAFF
DEADLINE
•
January 29
GET NEW LAYOUT
GROUPS & PLAN
January 30
DEADLINE
PARTY
January 31 February 1 February 2
February 3 February 4
ANGLES DUE
February 5
GET NEW LAYOUT
GROUPS & PLAN
February 6 February 7 February 8
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS DUE
February 9
February 10 February 11 February 12
GET NEW LAYOUT
GROUPS & PLAN
February 13 February 14 February 15 February 16
February 17
GET NEW LAYOUT
GROUPS & PLAN
February 18 February 19
ROUGH DRAFT
COPIES DUe
February 20
GIVE BACK COPIES
February 21
COPIES SHOULD
BE IN eDESIGN
February 22 February 23
February 24 February 25
CURRENT STAFF
DEADLINE
CAPTIONS DUE
GET NEW OUT
GROUPS & PLAN

31. The Rationale: Why set mini-deadlines?
t helps me stay organized.
• Without a mini deadline, I would not know if a writer has finished with all his or her interviews or if writers
have even thought of an angle.
• Instead of all the interview questions, copies, and angle ideas being given to me at once, I can access each
individual component of the writing process in depth without being overwhelmed
t helps the writer to stay on task and not procrastinate.
• Even if the writer misses a deadline, each mini deadline is a grade, so his or her work will reflect the final
grade.
• I think it is useful for the writers to know where they should be in the writing process.
find the way I set the mini deadlines efficient for the staff because I feel like I give them
adequate enough time to complete each mini deadline.
• Usually our staff deadline days fall on Mondays (at least for 2012-2013).
• I always allow the writers two to three days to find their angle and do research
• Finding an angle is the hardest part (at least for me), so I allow them two to three days to make sure they have
talked to enough resources to find a quality angle.
• Once they turn in their angles, I allow the writers two days to write their interview questions
• Writing interview questions is the easiest part, so it should not take too long to write questions.
• I give the writers a full week to allow them to pace themselves for doing the actual interviews.
• Usually I set the rough draft deadline on Tuesdays because it allows the writers to write their copies over
the weekend or provides them an extra day to get one quote or to write their copies.
• The night of the rough draft deadline, I look over the copies and edit them.
• The next day I hand them back for the writers to fix any errors.
• I expect their copies to be in eDesign the next day.
• I always set the caption deadline on the actual day of the staff deadline.

32. Designers

33. Design Editor: Lindsey
“My job as design editor is to oversee all of the designers and designs
that go into the yearbook. I also would create the reoccurring elements
throughout the book along with the design editor from the first
semester. At the end of every deadline, I print out all of the pages that
we had assigned that deadline and highlight errors that the naked eye
can see just by looking at the page. I grade the pages along with a
checklist and rubric. The rubric covers the guidelines that should be
met for every spread each deadline. Communication is key in design
and staying in contact with the designers throughout every deadline.
As far as mini deadlines go, I don’t set mini deadlines for my designers
with an exception of modules. When it is time for the ‘mug' deadline,
which consists mainly of modules, I will set a mini deadline to make
sure the modules are interesting and would be appropriate for the
theme of our book.”

34. Designer’s
Checklist

35. Designer’s
Rubric

36. Photography

37. Photography Editor: Bailey
“The photography grades are pretty simple. Last semester all
photographers had mini deadlines where they would have to have their
dominant and two other photos completed. If there was a module, the
module would have to be completed by this mini deadline.
Between of the schedules of events, the schedule of photographers,
and the weather, the photographers missed their mini deadlines! So I
made the decision to cancel the mini deadlines and do sporadic checks
on the photographer’s spread. If there aren’t any pictures on the
spread I ask them about the missing pictures and what are their plans
are to get the photos.
Changing this rule has really helped the photographers, giving them
the time to get quality photos and create a schedule individualized for
them! I grade the final pictures with a checklist that covers the basic
rules of photography such as photo composition, DPI, brightness,
focus, etc.”

38. Photographer’s Checklist

39. Photographer’s
Rubric

40. Editor-in-Chief and assistant

41. Editor-in-Chief
onday- Staff Deadline. This day, before any staff member leaves, their group must come to me and I
will check to make sure all their spreads are done. A team may not leave until all of their spreads are
done. Our design editor then prints out all the spreads right off of eDesign and begins to grade that
night. By printing off the pages and not just graded on the computer, the staffers cannot go back and
edit their pages.
uesday- DE finishes grading the sheets and hands them over to our writing editor. Our photography
editor begins grading today too but because photographers' grades are based on the quality of a
picture; she grades on the computer so she can judge the quality of the photos.
ednesday- WE finishes grading the writers today. After grading their respective aspects, the design
(Lindsey), photography (Bailey), and writing (Karen) editors go onto eDesign and change what needs
to be changed by the end of today. Tonight, my editor-in-chief assistant uses my checklist and goes
onto eDesign and looks at each spread to make sure everything is perfect. She fills out a checklist for
each spread and then gives it to me. If there is a mistake or something that should be changed, instead
of changing it herself, she writes down the issue on the checklist and also leaves a sticky note on
eDesign.
hursday- Assistant finishes her checklists and gives them to me. Today, I start looking over the spreads.
I use the checklists she gives me and fixes any mistakes she found as well as change anything I think
needs changing, but at this stage, there is not much I find that needs changing because the spreads
have been through so many people.
riday & Weekend- I am still looking over pages and usually finish editing the pages over the weekend.

42. Not the co-editor, but …
“My role on staff is the editor-in-chief’s assistant. Every deadline, the
ED in Chief and I go into eDesign and check all the pages. I tend to go in
before the editor-in-chief to make sure all pages are pretty much
perfect, and then she goes in and puts the pages in proof or changes
layouts if needed.
When I go in I have a checklist the editor-in-chief has created for me,
which is the style guide that is condensed and easy to read even for a
photographer. If there is anything wrong, such as a design error I
cannot fix or the folio is incorrect, I write down the issue and tell her
when I am done looking at all the pages. Being the editor-in-chief’s
assistant, I feel as though that I have gained a new perspective. I know
more as a staff member on yearbook and I can help others in design if
needed. Also, it helps because if something were to happen to my own
designer on my layout team, I have the knowledge of how to design
and what looks right. In terms of grading, I do not grade at all.”

44. Our Book….

45. Thank you!!
Q & A?
www.alyssasellors.com
alyssa.sellors@gmail.com