Chapter 12 Grading and Student Evaluation

"Your school may have done away with winners & losers, but life has not.  In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they will give you as many chances as you want to get the right answer.  That does not bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life."  -Bill Gates

I chose this quote today because it relates to the portion of the chapter about grade inflation and how grades can be rendered meaningless if they reflect student effort, behavior, improvement and participation above actual achievement.  

This week's topic of grading and student evaluation was very interesting to me because it forced me to take a hard look at grading.  In teaching preparation courses this is not a topic that is reviewed in-depth and I think that many teachers are left confused about the proper way to evaluate students.  On one hand teachers are told to "focus on the whole child" and schools put a great deal of pressure on students to see that students pass rather than fail.  Too many students produce average work, but receive "A"s.  At Okkodo, where I have been interning this semester, one of the concerns of the accreditation team and a problem that the school administrators and teacher-leaders are tackling, is exactly that:  What are the meaning of grades?  Do they actually reflect student learning and achievement?  How is it possible that we have honors students who are scoring so far below average on the SAT-10?  There is a disconnect and they are working to find answers.  

On the other hand, institutional and societal expectations are such that being a tough grader can cause a teacher trouble: pressure from the principal, pressure from parents, and an understanding that if all schools & teachers are inflating grades and you are not, you are putting students at a competitive disadvantage.  I consider my classes challenging and I am not afraid to give students the grades they earn even if they may be failing grades - or Bs to students who claim that they "always get As".  Most of the time the results resemble a bell curve, but occasionally I will have a class that is very top-heavy or very bottom-heavy.  I do not give extra credit- except a few bonus points here and there for extra effort on projects- and I have very high expectations for my students.  The keys to being a tough teacher without being a hated teacher, I believe, are support and communication.  I give my students review sessions.  I give them my home email address.  If the entire class does poorly on a test, I will re-teach and re-test on the material.  I am available during lunch and try to make myself available after school.  For the most part, my students seem to rise to the challenge of high expectations, and surprise themselves with what they can learn.  I am still figuring out how best to motivate those who give up easily and quit early on. I feel that is an area I could improve upon.  

Grading fairly is a challenge that will be around for a long time.  Culturally, our society needs to change its attitude about educational entitlement and the belief that all students are equally brilliant.  Hard work is an enormous factor in how much a student will learn and achieve in a course.  Hard work, however, is not the same as achievement.  It helps achievement, but achievement must be assessed on its own merits.  Teachers need to be better educated on how to do that well.