Is ‘grade inflation’ overblown?
Re “No defence for grade inflation” by Ken Loo, Letters, Dec. 3. Ken Loo defends columnist David Staples’s outcry for “common sense in schools again” by saying grade inflation “is indefensible.”
I’d like to offer a different perspective. Grade inflation is a derogatory term used to refer to the difference between a student’s school-awarded grade and diploma exam mark, which are combined to determine a final grade. The term implies the diploma exam mark is accurate while the other might not be.
This issue came up in a presentation at the Edmonton teachers’ convention several years ago. The then-director of Alberta Education’s student evaluation branch pointed out that the classroom teacher and the diploma exam were expected to come together as a shared partnership in assessing students.
The teacher was responsible for what she or he did best: to teach to and assess for all the outcomes of the mandated curriculum. The diploma exam was responsible for what it did best: assess only those parts of the curriculum that could be expediently addressed in a one-time, sit-down paper-and-pen exam.
The two marks were never expected to be the same because, even though there was some curricular overlap, the two assessments did not cover the same range, material and methods.
Are school-awarded marks generally higher than diploma exam marks? They might well be, as they reasonably should if instructors are fulfilling their mandated responsibilities and not merely “teaching to the test.”
Perhaps the reason for this difference is that students are allowed several months and various means with which to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their learning, not just a few hours parked in a desk writing a diploma exam.
Jerr y Wowk , St. Alber t