What role should responsibility issues of students play within the grading structure? Are we grading all aspects of the child, or are we looking at content mastery?Grade level standards should provide the basis for determining grades.There should be some performance standards as the reference points when determining the grades. Given clear descriptions of the performance standards, then grades will reflect that accordingly. For instance, proficient would equal a B.
Achievement of the standards should be the sole basis of the grades. Attendance, participation, attitude, responsibility, effort or potential should be scored separately.
Due to the deadly effect of issuing zeros for the failure to acquire the desired knowledge or to complete a learning activity, the only mathematically-sound practice would be to issue 50% E scores. Never should there be a score in the grade book below the 50% score.
Think about the students that typically turn in work late. There are a couple categories of students. One group are the children who struggle with the content. Another group are the children who are capable and disorganized. And finally, there are the academically talented children who are disorganized and disinterested.
Looking at the group of children who struggle: The activity is hard, they are unsure of what to do, may not have parents to help at home, and the activity takes them longer than expected. So, contemplate the idea that the child finally turns in the activity finished. Most is not correct, but the score is scraping by at 62% D-. Now you take another 31% off for being late since the grading policy says 1/2 off late papers. What has been achieved for this child? It will only take a couple of these activities scored in this manner for the child to be unable to pull himself out of E range even if he turns in a bunch of A papers. And what is that chance? Now the child is doomed for the entire marking period, and at the end, there still isn’t any concrete evidence that he has or hasn’t learned any of the content presented.
The next group of children are capable yet disorganized. The activity has been finished with a degree of accuracy and then folded up into a book, squashed into the back of the desk, or put into the black hole of the backpack. After repeated reminders the child produces the work, probably completed at an average or proficient level. By the time the late paper policy is imposed on this child, her grades reflect D or E level which would indicate that she hasn’t learned that content. Often a child’s assignment report in this group would have A's and B's for all of the assignments turned in and E's and F's for those hit with the late grade policy. Again, the grades imposed on the report card do not reflect concrete evidence that she has or has not learned any of the content presented.
The final group of children are the academically talented children who can respond to classroom activities in a manner that seems to be disorganized and disinterested. In this scenario it is imperative to discern whether a child knows the content that is being graded. Looking at the root of the issue and the content being graded and how these relate to the performance of the gifted child will glean important insight. Often these children do not need the same amount of practice to master a skill and that manifests itself as missing assignments, which turn into poor grades, which is then related to the report card grades as not mastering the content when the reality is that a child has learned the content and is bored. These children are often heard saying, "Why should I do this? I already understand." And if the answers to this question include "Because everyone else has to" or "Because the teacher says so" or "Just play the game and do what the teacher says" then there should be some reevaluation of the assigned activity. Again, with this group of children, the grades imposed on the report card do not reflect concrete evidence that he or she has or has not learned any of the content presented.
What are some solutions to this grading dilemma?One option is to grade only for content mastery. The grades on the report card reflect whether a child knows or does not know the content. When using this method, another assessment tool is provided along with the report card to evaluate the proficiency of life skill types of attributes such as work ethics, classroom behaviors and initiative and study skills
(as seen from a rubric used by Hudsonville Public Schools.)Another option, if late papers must be integrated into a scoring system, would be to use a policy that a late paper/assignment/project cannot ever earn the grade of an A. In this manner, the child can still prove to be proficient in the content. Most grade book programs will allow for an assignment to be noted as late. Yet, this won’t affect whether a child is proficient in content area, just not exemplary.
Another question is about redoing learning activities that do not reach the proficient level on the first try. Looking back at child development we see that children learn to walk, talk, or use the bathroom at varying ages. So why would we assume that all children can learn to perform a task in the exact amount of time?
If using grades to reflect learning, then allowing for retesting or redoing assignments and then replacing with the new score should be the standard rather than averaging the two scores together. Again, most grade book programs allow for footnoting that an assignment was redone to meet the goals. By using proficiency of content as the goal, then children achieving "not yet proficient" scores should continue to work on that assignment until proficient. Having to continue working on an assignment until it is right (even during recess) is a much better lesson for children to learn than just getting a bad grade and moving on. There are children who find it easier to just do enough of an activity or none of an activity and get the bad grade than to apply effort. The pain of a bad grade lasts for a little while, but having to continue working on an assignment until it is correct builds strong character. Soon the child will understand that it is easier to do the activity right the first time.
Grades should be a reflection of learning. The bottom line is that the grades assigned to students should be a direct reflection of the knowledge the student has acquired. Did your students perform an understanding of the content? When parents read a report card does the grade given reflect the learning that the child has accomplished?
(Ideas in this article are based on experience and the rubric mentioned is referenced from http://www.mymassp.com/content/grading_mastery_middle_level)
Posts
