Grades: What Do They Mean?
A MiddleWeb Listserv conversation
THIS CONVERSATION BEGAN when California middle school principal Betsy
Burch wrote these comments about faculty examination of student work:
Last spring when we first sat down as a faculty to (look at test data),
teachers began to remark on how students' grades did not consistently reflect
their level of achievement on these assessments. YES!!! So, that is planting
the seed that we now need to look at how each teacher sets criteria for
grading! A big break through in thinking about how we look at our students'
progress - next step will be having our student grading reflect each student's
progress toward meeting the content area standards - that will take some
time! Let's keep talking about this area!
Betsy Burch
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I thought this article in the Jan/Feb 2000 Harvard Education Letter was
thought-provoking on grades and grading:
"(T)eachers tend to give grades for many different reasons:
to measure content mastery, to chart progress, to motivate students, and
to provide information to a variety of audiences from students to parents
to college admissions boards. Meanwhile, parents are left to determine for
themselves exactly what those grades reflect....
"While using grades for motivational purposes is common...the danger
is that an A, B, or C -- the teacher's "message" to the student
-- may have no clearly defined meaning. An A might mean 100 percent of material
mastered, or it might mean the student tried hard -- or something else altogether."
http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/2000-jf/grades.shtml
In some standards-based school districts, uneasy conversations are going
on about topics like: "Is an A the same thing at Alpha Middle School
in the suburbs and Beta Middle School in the inner city?" This conversation
intensifies when teachers at Alpha and Beta schools get together and discuss
the quality of their students' work and what "grade" it should
receive.
I wonder what folks on the listserv are thinking about grades and the relationship
between grades and student progress toward standards?
PS: Also see this:
WHAT
ARE GRADES FOR?
This chapter from a new book by Robert Marzano, "Transforming Classroom
Grading," can help teachers and schools clarify the basic purpose of
grades and develop grading systems that are precise, efficient, and geared
toward advancing student achievement. A second sample chapter looks at "Assigning
Final Topic Scores and Computing Grades." The book can be ordered
from ASCD.
John Norton,
who got plenty of "wake-up" B's in his time...
--------------------------------------------------------
Thanks, John - very good article in the Harvard Ed Letter and it will help
in the continued thinking about what grades mean to my faculty, my students
and especially my parents who ask that parent question with some frequency!
Betsy Burch
--------------------------------------------------------
"When students are focused on getting good grades, three things tend
to happen: their interest in what they are learning declines, the quality
of their thinking drops, and they tend to prefer the easiest possible task,"
says education writer Alfie Kohn, a critic of the carrot-and-stick approach
to grading.
"We shouldn't be worried that too many kids are getting A's,"
says Kohn. "We should be worried that too many kids think that the
point of school is to get A's."
The kids are reflecting the attitudes of many of the adults around them,
including, to some extent, their teachers. As a teacher, it feels pretty
awful to do your grades and face the number of failures or low scores your
students have earned...especially, if it appears that kids are doing better
in everyone else's classes. When you've worked hard and your students are
still struggling it can be very upsetting. Low grades raise questions, many
of which are painful to answer and most of which lead to bigger questions
about what we teach and how we teach it.
If your grades are low, or lower on average, than those of your colleagues,
you will be questioned by your students, by their parents and by your administrator.
Will these questions focus on the content of your lessons, or your motives?
How will you answer them?
Assessment for the purpose of refining your understanding about the needs
of your students makes sense to me, it can lead to changes and improvements.
Grades that sort, reward, rank, punish...what's the value for the student?
I have seen teachers with really elaborate methods for grading. I have seen
teachers who have given grades away based on behavior and personality. I
have seen teachers rushing to assign tests and projects, all due on the
same day or two because grades were almost due.
I have been these teachers to one degree or another...last year, when I
taught 310 kids a week.
I have agonized over grades and I have vacillated about whether it's more
important to motivate students or monitor their performance in a strictly
objective manner. I have wondered if it's possible to be completely objective.
In the midst of my anxiety about grading I began using rubrics. In my experience,
rubrics, especially those that kids help to design, can make grading less
mysterious and more meaningful.
However, I doubt that rubrics will be widely used. Our system talks achievement
for all, but our practice says divide and sort, divide and sort...until
we change that foundation, I think our current grading practices will continue.
Deborah Bambino
Phladelphia
--------------------------------------------------------
Deb,
Your thoughts reflect my own - I was very lucky at the beginning of my career
to teach in an ungraded-nongraded primary school which was being supervised
by Madeline Hunter via a grant which the principal I worked with had received.
Madeline was still the principal of the UCLA demonstration school at that
time and we got to visit her at the school and had one of her associates
as a coach who visited our school to help us. The connection to your thoughts
on grading is this - we designed a report card (modeled on one from the
UCLA school) which was a list of objectives which we had determined were
what we wanted our students to know. Each grading period, we reported which
objectives they had mastered and which they still needed to work on. This
was in 1967-68!!!!
Then, when I was a middle school English and Reading teacher in the San
Francisco Bay Area, my teacher/friends and I were given the freedom by our
principal to design the same kind of report card for our 7th and 8th grade
students. So, for me, I see the circle moving back to where I started my
career - ie, standards based report cards!!
I believed in it then, saw kids become personally aware of what they knew
and what they needed to work on. So, rubrics, standards, whatever the terminology,
the concept remains a sound one. It is simply frustrating to me that what
I knew to be true in the late 1960's has taken this long to return!!
I also agree that fundamental change in the way we "do school"
is the only thing which will bring sense to the grading process. As I become
involved in this II/USP process I have mentioned, I wonder if this process
will bring that fundamental change to my school and my district (10 schools
in my district have the same grant) or we will simply apply a thin coating
of reform to satisfy the demands of the process and revert back once the
microscope on us is lifted???!!! We shall see!
Betsy Burch
California
--------------------------------------------------------
Deb, it kind of reminds me of a statement I saw in a book the other day
that really started me thinking (again)!
The statement said:
"It happens when grades get in the way of learning."
Since it is late.. I had better not expound on this thought till tomorrow!
What do the rest of you think it means?
Avis Breding
--------------------------------------------------------
I have an advanced class of students who are so worried about getting "A's"
that I am afraid they probably already have ulcers. One of them was so concerned
about a quiz grade that he took the quiz off my desk and tried to change
the answers (while I was standing in the hallway.) When questioned about
this, he said he had to have all "A's" and was afraid he did not
have an "A" on this particular quiz.
I give my students several types of assessments: projects that are real
world (rubrics are included), daily participation, chapter tests (review
practice tests are given) and homework. I wish there was another way to
evaulate students without giving grades. I realize that I am rambling, but
that is what I thought of when I read your quote. I am still trying to figure
out a solution to this problem
Sue Chanda
Louisville
--------------------------------------------------------
Sue Chanda wrote:
"I have an advanced class of students who are so worried about getting
>"A's" that I am afraid they probably already have ulcers.
One of them was so concerned about a quiz grade that he took the quiz off
my desk and tried to change the answers."
Sue, that is pretty sad as it tells you this kid is really under pressure
and blatantly cheating in the open. Even in my 6th grade class I have students
who will change answers when they check their own work.
When we have a lot of students to assess, what they know is a problem. Like
you I have pondered the same question. Parents are used to tests.. so that
is what they expect.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could assess them by: 1) Demonstrations 2)
A report, with questions from the peers to check their understanding 3)
Explaining what they know orally 4) Presenting the class with problems that
demonstrate they know how to do it 5) Diagramming, labeling 6) Plays 7)
Illustrate
I would imagine this group could come up with different forms of assessment
if they wanted to... but even so we still don't drop the marks. So even
if we changed the assessments, would it make a difference with the grades?
Avis Breding
--------------------------------------------------------
On the subject of grading: I teach in a district that has been going through
middle school reform, more specifically we are deeply into standards-based
classrooms and all that it entails.
Our grading policy states that a student has 3 opportunities to pass a performance
standard test, but that after the first chance, all subsequent opportunities
will be worth no more that a 70%. This is not standards based and most of
us are no longer incompliance with this policy. It has not changed due to
many situations that have occurred in the district, but nonetheless, our
principal is all for not following this punitive policy.
My point is this: in the "real world" when a company tests their
employees on the rules, policies, routines or whatever knowledge they must
have in their knowledge banks, they are given many opportunities to pass
that test. Why then do we not do the same for our students. After all, we
are supposed to do "real world" with them. Both my son and husband
have jobs that require them to pass tests periodically, and if they do not
pass, they must do it again and again until knowledge is acquired. Isn't
that what we want for our students- knowledge acquisition? Who does it hurt
to let these kids earn full credit, even if it is the fourth time they try?
Each time they attempt, they gain more information and with reteaching in
the middle of all of this, they will retain it more than if they had only
3 chances and only earned a 70%. Forgive me for getting on this soapbox,
but when a revelation hits me, I always have to share.
Melba Smithwick
Corpus Christi, TX
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow, Deb! What a can of worms we open up when we really take a look at grading
and reporting system in relation to actual student learning and quality
assessment practices! Assessment guru Rick Stiggins referred to grading
as "The world of myth, mystery, and magic."
Your listserv message of 11/2 hits the nail on the head with regard to the
lack of uniformity in grading practices, even among teachers in the same
school. There's been surprisingly little research and very little teacher
training in grading practices. Most teachers rely on their own experience.
Come to think of it, I don't think the topic of grading ever came up in
my teacher prep coursework. Of course, that may have changed in current
colleges of ed practices. (Come to think of it, there was lack of uniformity
in grading practices among college professors as well.)
I think grading is a really complicated issue. It's certainly an emotional
issue, since grades are value-laden. Students and parents react to grades
more strongly than most any other part of school. Grades - especially those
students perceive as unfair - can damage motivation, self-concept, and even
achievement.
With teachers grading differently, grades also give mixed and often inaccurate
pictures of student accomplishments. In fact, grading can actually harm
the relationship between students and teachers.
Having said all of that, giving parents and students a clear picture of
the student's learning is an essential ingredient of schooling.
In his book, Assess for Success, Ken O'Conner says that letter grades are
likely to be most meaningful and useful when they represent academic achievement
only. In other words, because effort and attitude cannot be objectively
measured, these are best not considered as part of a student's grade. (He
hastens to add that he values these qualities and presents arguments on
both sides for including these as ingredients in student grades.)
I've separated "grading and reporting" from "student assessment"
in this discussion because I don't feel that the best use of assessment
is for grading. However, we can't escape giving grades.
Has anyone had any luck in solving any of the difficulties encountered by
grading students?
Anne Jolly
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"....effort and attitude can't be objectively measured...."
Anne had this in her posting of yesterday and it made me wonder (being the
postmodernist I think I am) ....do we really think academic achievement
is an objective measure? Isn't academic achievement measured by our assessments
which, as well designed as they might be, are based on our subjective ideas
of what's worth measuring?
I sponsored a workshop for education evaluators, speech therapists and school
psychologists for all districts in Rockland County last week, where the
clinical consultant for one of the major test development companies talked
about how different disciplines score and interpret "objective test
measures" differently, and that those differences are inherent not
just in the scorers, but in the tests as well.
All this to say that, in my humble opinion, we're believing some myth that
we can give a letter grade that seperates achievement from effort from attitude
from appetite, from.....and wind up with an isolated objective measure.
Okay, got that off my chest!
Stuart
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point, Stuart.
Even tests are not objective. I think it is important to err on the side
of the student. Look at each student (as objectively as possible) and give
them multiple possibilities to succeed, while making sure that this success
is as tied to real learning (and love of learning) as possible.
Naomi (NYC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the discussion on grading. Will those of you who have worked on
common scoring guides based on content/performance standards tell me how
this should or does affect grading policies? Kati Haycock, executive director
of The Education Trust, gave her annual address at the Trust's conference
in Washington, D.C., this week, citing again research that shows an "A"
grade in a low-income school is the equivalent of a "C" grade
in a high-income school.
If this is true and happens within the same district, doesn't this mean
that students in the former schools are being cheated, and wouldn't common
scoring guides for meeting standards and giving grades help make expectations
more equitable? I know many teachers believe effort should be rewarded in
grading, but is that really fair to kids?
Anne Lewis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart posed the "Question of the Day" in my book - ."...do
we really think academic achievement is an objective measure?"
Nope, Stuart - not my measures of academic achievement, anyway! I always
did get tangled up in grading, and prayed I was being fair to all students.
What about the student who got a 69.5 for the quarter? Did that student
make that grade based on a group of completely objective performance measures
I administered, or was the grade based at least partly on my subjectivity?
I always felt that there was room for error in my grading, and automatically
bumped the grade up to a 70. I know fellow teachers, however, who would
never consider doing such a thing.
I keep going back to some of the first thoughts Deb expressed on the subject
- what can we do about creating more uniformity among grading within the
school? Heck, most of us would settle for more uniformity within grade levels
or within subjects. Maybe one reason middle-schoolers are so focused on
grades is that the grading system is applied so differently by different
teachers. It's a challenge, for sure!
Or - do grades actually do more harm than good? Is there another option
for reporting progress of middle schoolers to parents?
Anne Jolly
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ANNE JOLLY WROTE:
"I keep going back to some of the first thoughts Deb expressed
on the subject - what can we do about creating more uniformity among grading
within the school? Heck, most of us would settle for more uniformity within
grade levels or within subjects. Maybe one reason middle-schoolers are so
focused on grades is that the grading system is applied so differently by
different teachers. It's a challenge, for sure!"
Last spring, I wrote a short story about a school in Long Beach, CA where
teachers were meeting with parents to explain standards-based grading. The
text of the story is at:
http://www.middleweb.com/CSLBfinal/CSLBfinal3B.html
There's also a PDF file that shows some graded student work.
The story is mostly excerpts from an interview with Paul Jenkins, the history
dept. head at Rogers MS. Here's one thing he said:
At the parents' coffee I attended, the parents were all very
interested in what we were doing, and they were all very concerned, because
when you start grading by standard, especially in a content-area course,
you're demanding more and grades can suffer. Many of the students here at
Rogers write very well, and it's very difficult to explain to a parent that
"yes, this is written well; yes, they don't have any typographical
errors; yes, there are very few spelling errors or run-on sentences, but
it's still a D. And it's a D because the content in the paper isn't what
we're looking for."
By Long Beach standards, Rogers is a fairly middle class school, with "only"
45 percent free lunch. One of our listserv members, Satinder Hawkins, teaches
there. She might be able to say more about their standards-based grading.
John Norton
--------------------------------------------------------
Several weeks earlier, Ellen Berg wrote these comments, responding to
another topic. But they also relate in some way to the grading conversation:
Hi all!
I wanted to share an activity I did with my students this week. We started
some work on Greek mythology this week, and before we got too in depth with
the reading I wanted my students to become familiar with the "weird"
names and creatures. Each one of my students selected a character described
on a sheet I handed out to draw and write about. They received a scoring
guide at the same time.
All of the language arts teachers on the list are familiar with the extreme
agony of getting students to peer edit or even write more than one draft
(at least that is different than the first one!). I "accidentally"
stumbled onto a way to trick them into doing both!
On the day the assignment was due, I had the kids lay their pictures and
writing out on their desks with a blank sheet of notebook paper with their
name on it. Each kid was then instructed to get up and move to a different
spot in the classroom, read the paper and look at the picture, and then
assign a grade using the scoring guide. After they gave the paper a 4-3-2-1
or even a 0 (for kids who hadn't done the work), they had to write an explanation
of why they gave the grade they did, and what each person could do to improve
his/her paper.
Even in my last period class, you could have heard a pin drop. Students
were thoughtfully examining each others' papers and questioning me about
the scoring guide. (A double bonus there!) They changed places several times,
repeating the routine, then returned to their seats to read the comments
on their papers.
Hands shot up--"Mrs. Berg, can I PLEASE rewrite this? I only got a
3 and I know how to fix it!" They all wanted a second chance.
I explained to them that I graded their papers in exactly the same way they
had just then. I told them a lot of thought had gone into creating the scoring
guides, and I made myself follow them while grading, even if I thought of
something else I wished I had included. It seemed like they really began
to understand the purpose of a scoring guide and how to use it to guide
them during their work on the project!
I told them they could revise their work and turn it into me by Monday.
They actually seemed grateful!
The lesson for me is that we have to sometimes vary the way we present things
to kids. Once they understood the purpose of scoring guides and revision,
they were eager to use both to improve their grades and understanding of
the content. As a fifth year teacher, I already knew that, but to see it
work (and to have a clue how to do it) was a revelation for me!
I just wanted to share. I also thought of the person who wrote about her
last period class being a real challenge. Mine are too (they're just so
fidgety and talkative!), but they were absolutely wonderful during this
assignment because it was broken into chunks and they got to move around
every 7-8 minutes or so.
Thanks for listening!
Ellen Berg
St. Louis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, I'm really eager to talk about grades. I just finished giving out the
grades for the first semester of my middle school social studies class.
I have a hard time telling kids they got a D or an F. They look at me with
that puppy dog face, ask to make it up (on the eve of report card night!).
I have a hard time keeping my resolve and not offering to raise the grade
for some kind of extra credit work. Am I being weak and giving in to middle
school manipulation? I'm also nervous about some of the parents who attack
me on report card night when they see their child got a D or an F. This
is my second year teaching middle school (third as a teacher altogether).
Thoughts?
Annie Bianchetti
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hang in there Anne, I too teach those same middle schoolers. Mine are sixth
grade students and they do the same puppy eyes that say please help me,
I didn't mean it.
Two years ago I started posting their averages weekly. I have an electronic
gradebook so keeping a running average is easy. This not only makes them
aware of their deficiencies, but they know they must make up any zeros or
low grades before the following week. I use their student ID numbers- never
post their names, their parents will not appreciate it, but they do support
me with the ID #s. I tell them that I DO NOT accept failures. No one is
a flunky in my classroom. We are all successful.
I send progress reports, computer generated every two weeks to the parents
of any student who is failing. I make them stay for tutoring, by calling
their parents and telling them that it is mandatory that their child stay
after school to make up assignments. By doing this throughout the six weeks,
your failure rate will be minimal. So far, I have not had any student fail
these two six weeks. One came very close this time, but due to a change
in his meds (I had nothing to do with it) he asked to give up his computer
time in order to make up two tests that he had already told me he didn't
know how to do. Guess what? He passed them both with 100%! I didn't even
tutor him.
Try it, the trick is to make them understand that you will not accept any
failures. Believe me they will rise to your expectations. You really don't
have to do that much. Just stay on their case, they will come through for
you. What parent is going to complain about that? I hope I have helped you
some. I taught for 26 years and I am still learning. I use, make up or steal
new ideas from everywhere.
Melba Smithwick
Corpus Christi, TX
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