Should we rethink grades? When students are in school their academic achievements are typically based on a grading scale of A, B, C, D, and F. A of course being the most sought after letter grade in the entire class. Getting a "A" in class meant that the student did really well on the assignment or test. Whereas, getting a "F" meant that you failed the assignment or test and not meeting the required level of achievement that was set by the teacher.
This way of measuring goes way back to the era of "Little House on the Prairie" (it's an older TV show, for those of you who don't have parents that watch it constantly). But I wonder, is this the type of measuring system we still need to use or, rather, do we need to simply modify it to better suit the 21st Century student.
I would love to get everyone's response on this question because it's a question that I have debated about ever since my days in student teaching. So please, feel free to share your thoughts.
In the meantime, here's my response:
When I was student teaching, it seemed like everything single thing the students did was tied to a grade. Every activity we did had a "worksheet" of some sort tied to it, every film we watched had a "worksheet" tied to it, and spirals (which included bell work, notes, and activities) were graded at the end of each week. It came down to the point where I was spending more time grading and helping students play "catch-up" rather than involving more engaging activities in the classroom.
Ever since I finished my student teaching, I've begun reflecting on those assignments and if my students actually got anything out of them. And every time I begin to reflect back on that my thought process always starts with the same question, "Does a grade have to be tied into everything a teacher assigns in order to give that assignment meaning?"
My opinion is no, it doesn't have to be that every assignment is tied to a grade. I believe that if we start assigning grades to every single thing we do then the true effectiveness of the grading scale becomes pointless. I think that once the student realizes that fact then their own thought process begins to change, "Oh, it's ok that I failed that last assignment or didn't do it at all. I'll just ace the next assignment and still come out of this class with an A." This should not be the goal of any classroom. Once this has become status quo, we are no longer teaching...we have merely become baby sitters who make sure students get their work done.
Now with that said, what should we be doing instead? I think to really answer this question, we need to first question what we were doing before. Why were we using the letter grade system to begin with and is it really effective?
I had a interview with a school a few weeks ago and this is one of the things we discussed. The question that sparked the series of responses was, "How do you make your students feel more welcomed in class?" My initial response was, "I would first rethink the grading system. Why are we classifying students as "A" students or "B" students? We have become accustom to looking at students in that fashion and students don't deserve to be tied to this "mark" when it comes their level of knowledge". I believe the school administrators liked my response (even though I was not chosen for the job).
My solution to it is one where the students are not seen as "A" or "B" students, but rather are evaluated on their level of improvement, and here's why I say that. When I was student teaching, I had several limited English students in my classes. I remember having one student though that really made me think back and realize the flaw in our grading system. The student had only been in America a couple of years and her and her family were originally from China. She spoke very limited English and had not much experience with technology. Of course, I integrated technology as much as I could with the resources I had. At the beginning, whenever we used computers I or even other students had to help her know how to control the mouse or had to get to a certain program (on that note, I believe having students help each other is a awesome tool to help students reach their level of expectations...students need to learn from each other too). By the end of the school year, even though she still required some level of assistance, she had created a well done power point presentation that I had asked them to do.
Why wasn't that progress measured? If a student starts out barely understanding English to being able to utilize technology, isn't that what teachers want? It doesn't matter where the student starts from or if they get a "A" on the assignment, we should be evaluating their level of progress. We set high expectations for our students, we want them to get from point A to point B and beyond. Not every student is at the same level, so why are some teachers allowing the top achiever to be the benchmark that everyone must meet up to?
Again, these are just thoughts that I've had. I think it would be very difficult for us to break away from the old mold of the letter grade system, however, if we are to reach every learner then we must continue to reevaluate our standard methods of teaching.
