The key to grading is finding what works for you and being consistent, says Eva Coleman, a 2013 Reynolds High School Journalism Institute fellow and an audio/video production instructor at Frisco ISD Career and Technical Education Center in Frisco, Texas.

In the field of education, standards and strategies change with the seasons, but teachers must provide meaningful evaluations for their students in the midst of these changes.

“When it comes to video projects or news stories, I do a lot of grading based on efforts,” said Coleman, who is also the executive producer of Frisco ISD-TV, a district-wide cable program. She chooses to focus on students’ stories and projects as a whole instead of “nickel and diming” points based on detailed rubrics.

In Coleman’s district, grades are categorized as daily, minor or major. Daily grades make up 20 percent of the total grade, while minor and major grades make up 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively. Minor and major grades start at 100 points, and deductions are made based on students’ efforts.

For a daily grade, Coleman gives a current events quiz each class period. Her minor grades consist of editing efforts. She gives an editing grade each six weeks based on her students’ improvement as editors.

“As the year progresses, I make deductions in five-point increments if they have constantly missed the mark on certain editing skills that have been taught,” Coleman said.

Her school also gives grades on professional-practices skills. In order to encourage professionalism as part of career readiness, Coleman deducts points for tardies, not wearing an ID badge, or missing or arriving late to a scheduled appointment or video shoot. She assigns these grades in the minor category.

Coleman also gives a minor grade for news-story development, which is determined by how many story ideas students have pitched or are currently working on. This grade is often determined by peer comparison, as demonstrated in staff news meetings, and Coleman usually deducts in 15-point increments.

Major grades in Coleman’s course are typically for news-story progress, which consists of research, scheduling and shooting video, interviewing, writing and editing. The grade is weighted by peer comparison and complexity of the project. Deductions are made in 15-point increments for factors, such as missing deadlines, taking too long to finish a story, wasting time and having to re-shoot due to technical mistakes on the student’s part.

Coleman said her strategy of focusing on individual students and their contributions is effective for group projects, as well.

“They must take ownership in what they’re doing,” Coleman said. “I apply the same approach to teams of students, grading them individually. It takes paying attention to each student throughout several phases of production.”