Grades seem to be at the top of the totem pole when it comes to secondary education. Whether it's how we come to the number or letter, record the number or letter, or how we choose to portray that grade on the report card, they seem to be of incredibly high importance. Grades are meant to show a level of mastery of a certain subject or aspect of school, and although many have been using the same general A, B, C etc. spectrum for years, the real meaning of the grades have begun to get lost in translation from teacher to parent to student.
With the competitive nature of today's society, in particular in the collegiate domain, parent's (and often students) appear to care more about what grade is stamped on a piece of paper than exactly how much learning was done or information attained. When the point of school is to be a mark on a resume instead of a place of genuine understanding and broadening minds, then you know there's a problem with the way we're doing things. But how do we change this? The chapters offered a few thoughts and ideas on this.
Firstly there's the grades themselves. One issue discussed is how to handle a non-completed assignment. The book suggests that instead of recording a zero, that we put in 60 because it gives a truer sense of the level of understanding the student achieved. For instance, say a student had two homework assignments on the same couple of general ideas, and while they forget to complete one, they get a 99 on the other sheet. So, if you average the 99 and a 0 together you get about a 50. But does the student really having a failure to understand the subject of the homework? No. And while some will argue that students will simply decide not to do ANY work if they'll always get some sort of score, the book says this isn't so, as what is the point in bragging that you failed something?
Then there's the actual grading scale. Some states consider an 80 an A, while others consider it a B- or even a C+. But this isn't the only inconsistency. As from teacher to teacher expectations differ, kids become unsure of what an "A" paper really truly looks like. It's suggested that a 4-point scale might actually lead to more consistency, but because that's not the "traditional way" it's not certain if this will truly ever take over.
There are many ways to keep a grade book, but the most important thing that this document can do, is give a clear answer as to what your students are succeeding or struggling in. If we keep comments alongside grades we would be able to use them to determine a final overall grade as well as put the sentiments on report cards. If parents and students can see from our comments what exactly a student achieved or needs to work on, they have a fuller understanding of the grade and are less likely to question or try to fight it.
