Grades should note achievement, not perfection
It certainly is terrific to have students back in the classroom. These past two months have been quite engaging. Even masked, I can read the expressions on the faces of my in-person students infinitely better than I could last year on Zoom.
However, let me assure you that we should not simply return to the old ways as if nothing has happened. Indeed, in order to meet the students where they are, the Boston Public Schools has developed a task force to look at our grading practices.
Grading, like teaching, is more art than science. That’s not to say we don’t have standards and policies to follow, but it is to say that we ought to reflect on our practices and question our assumptions. In my 28 years of teaching, I have come to the conclusion that the standard 0-100 on tests is not the best way to measure a student’s accomplishments.
The 0-100 grade scale originated in the 1800s and was considered a scientific way of measuring student accomplishment. It was measurable, it was considered orderly, and it is still widely used today.
The trouble is, it’s not very accurate. Let’s say a high-achieving student has a really bad day or misses an assignment. If that student receives a 0% on that assignment, his average would plummet considerably. Should one bad score bring down a grade so dramatically? Let’s say the student’s grades are 95, 90, 100, 0, 95. The average of those grades is 76. Should an A student be labeled a C student over one assignment? I say no.
The BPS Grading Task Force is piloting a 50 as a minimum score. In short the 0-100 scale is replaced by a 50-100 scale. In our same scenario, the student’s scores would be 95, 90, 100, 50, 95. The new average would be 86. Still not a perfect measure of the student’s grasp of the subject but it is closer to the student’s true understanding.
Some will argue that we are “watering down” expectations. I would argue that we are giving students a more realistic measure of their abilities. We should not demand perfection as part of learning. We should give students realistic and attainable paths to mastery. We are by no means giving away grades, but we are eliminating the near ruinous consequence of one bad day.
Even averages themselves are not a true indicator of a student’s progress. This year my goal is to get my ninth graders to a good place by June 2022. I repeatedly tell them not to worry if they are not all caught up now. Honestly, how could they be? My current ninth graders last had in-person schooling in the middle of their seventh-grade year. They finished seventh grade and did all of eighth grade at home.
I’m sure they did their best but it was not the same as if there had never been a pandemic. We need to both review and advance the students simultaneously. It’s not easy but it is doable. Neither will it be steady and even for all students. That’s OK too.
In a recent professional development meeting I made this analogy: When a detective works a case, the most important thing is solving the case. Sure speed is good, but the right result is more important. So too should it be with learning this year. For if a student takes a few months to understand the material, the previous failings ought not penalize the final success.
Say I have a few students who are behind in their Latin. Let’s say they didn’t quite grasp ablative absolutes and subjunctive verbs last year on Zoom. Let’s say they fail the first term. In the next two terms their grades improve, and by the last term these formerly failing students now know their Latin just as well as the students who were straight As all year. Does a yearly average of C truly represent their current mastery of the subject?
My goal is to move high school grading away from 0-100, away from A-F, and instead into a standards based grading where achievement is noted, improvement celebrated, and the devastation of one bad grade is eliminated. Think of it more like an elementary report card where many aspects of learning were chronicled instead of the current one letter grade.
Teaching and learning are more nuanced than a twodigit number on a report card, so let’s have our grading reflect that robust balance of effort, tenacity and even failure and recovery. For the fear of failure should not inhibit learning and/or self discovery.