One of my high school English teachers liked to remind us students that he had more control over our grades than we did. We spent about 3/4 of one marking period working only on grammar and sentence diagramming, which most of the class learned well enough to get high scores on the quizzes and tests. After we finished our grammar section, I had a very high A average, as did most of my friends.
But I didn't get an A for the marking period. The teacher designed the grammar section to end with enough time left in the marking period for us to read and be tested on Death of a Salesman. The teacher himself called the test "the death test" and bragged that nobody ever got an A on it. The goal of the test was to pull down our grades and reduce the number of A's given out that marking period. I scored in the low 50s on the test and, as a result, got a B on my report card, in spite of the fact that I'd gotten a high A on everything except that one test. The same thing happened to a bunch of my classmates, too.
Imagine if my teacher had been required to give not grades but a specific evaluation of what we'd learned that marking period. He would have to have admitted that I'd mastered the entire grammar curriculum and that I'd done poorly only on the literature test (which tested the singular skill of regurgitating, word for word, the teacher's interpretation of the play). Such a system would have completely emasculated this guy's power play with our grades.
Most people who've been through traditional schooling can tell at least one bad story about grades. It's just one of those unfortunate school rites of passage. We all move on and realize that one bad experience won't affect much in the long run.
That said, it's refreshing to know that a school district near me is replacing the standard letter grading system with a more comprehensive skills evaluation system. The system, based on the state standards for each grade level, lists all the skills covered in each curriculum area and denotes where each student stands in relation to the standard: beginning, developing, competent, excelling.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Bill
Nice post, Lori. It raises some interesting thoughts.
2 - RedTard
More liberal feel good crap. It's more important to feel good about yourself than to actually learn or achieve anything. If we don't test or score students then how in the hell are we gonna know who is capable of being and engineer or doctor?
Shit theories like this are the logical result of all the 'work' that goes on at our soft-science socialist indoctrination camps (universities). While China, India, and Japan are testing, working, competing, and pumping out scientists and engineers at a record pace, we're concentrating on gender studies and multiculturalism 101 and the rest of the cumbayah crap.
Dreaming of the end of competition in the United States is dreaming of the end of a competitive United States.
3 - Mark Saleski
interesting and well-written article lori. also interesting that comment #2 probably sounds extactly like the objections received by that newspaper.
the idea of traditional grading is one of the big problems with the whole standardized testing phenomenon...because the tests measure how good somebody is at taking a test. that's why colleges are moving away from the sat.
i know from personal experience that of all of the courses i took in college, the ones that "stuck" were also the ones that had more research and writing...and less 40-question multiple guess.
our students would do a whole lot better if in addition to "facts" they were also taught to learn how to learn. maybe that would foster the spirit of learning, that it's fun, not just something to "get over with".
4 - RedTard
"that's why colleges are moving away from the sat."
Not really. Colleges are moving away from the SAT because some people get their feelings hurt when they don't get a good score, not because of their lack of accurate predictive value.
Leftist want college to be less about facts and finding answers and more subjective, see if you tow the socialist line nonsense. That's the direction our education is moving and why degrees are becoming worth less and less every day.
5 - Mark Saleski
you seem to enjoy making stuff up.
6 - RedTard
Here's a little snippet I grabbed form an article that hints at the real reason.
"Maria Blanco, a regional counsel with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, remarked recently that the SAT "has turned into a barrier to students of color,"
You'll hear a similiar line repeated from the equal opportunity department at every single institution in the nation. SAT scores are a barrier to the diversity and affirmative action programs. The completely imagined benefit of diversity is more important than actual proven scholastic ability. Groups like the educational fund above desperately want to get rid of grades, tests, and the like so there will be no way to compare students. Then the schools can let people in any way they see fit. (based on skin color and some sense of forced equality)
The SAT and grades are not perfect, but there is no better alternative to OBJECTIVELY measure students. The problem is that you end up with less intellectually qualified (possibly more likeable) people performing open heart surgery or competing to develop the next great technology. Doesn't make me feel real confident myself.
7 - RedTard
No more made up than the fantasy that grades and testing is what is wrong with our educational system.
8 - Mark Saleski
no, it's not made up...it's an idea being floated. one that deserves to be looked at.
9 - Justene
It drives my kids nuts that I care very little about grades. I decide if they are learning by how well they can carry on an intelligent conversation. Way too many stupid people get As. Way too many smart people don't.
Apparently there was some PE test that had to be finished in 7 min to pass. One daughter finished in 7 min and 9 seconds. She was rather perturbed. I told her that if she did not graduate high school because she missed a PE credit by 6 seconds, we'd be on every cable talk show in the country.
If every parent unhooked from grades, grades would cease being so important.
10 - Mark Saleski
there! and ya can't call justene a feel-good liberal.
11 - Orchid
I always enjoy seeing Japan's education being trotted out as a positive example (as Red Tard did). I've worked in the Japanese education system for 16 years now and it's nothing like the fantasies westerners concoct it to be. For one thing, teachers are pressured to pass everyone at all levels of education. If everyone does not pass, the tests are made easier or the teacher may be censured.
The only area where competition is hot is for entrance exams to select universities which are considered high level. Once the students get into those universities, they go on vacation and play tennis, ski and do very little for 4 years. The education system in Japan emphasizes regurgitating memorized facts for a few years while taking the entrance exams then it's all pretty much easy street.
The reason Japan fares so well is that companies have intensive training for employess. They invest heavily in new employees and mold them into the workers they want with the knowledge they need them to have. This is very expensive but tends to build employees with a narrow skill set which is highly useful to one company and therefore makes them pretty loyal to their company. In the long run, the investment pays off but it can take a decade before the employee is really productive.
A lot of companies that want someone seriously talented and skilled send their employees to...wait for it...America...for grad school.
Looking at statistics and test scores to gauge a country's education system can be highly misleading. The Japanese education system produces workers who are timid, rigid, passive and extremely poor at innovation and critical thinking. It also produces a lot of people willing to work overtime and weekends day in and day out without extra pay or promotion. It is the latter that they build their perceived excellence on, not the education system.
It's a highly unfulfilling and stressful system for the Japanese people.
As for the topic of grades, it might interest people to know that grades are of zero interest in Japan when getting into college or applying for a job. All they care about is the name of the school you went to. They don't care how well you did or even about your major, only about the name.
12 - Steve
I think Lori might be onto something there. Of course, in a society where everything is about 'winners' and 'losers', it'll be an uphill battle to change things.
13 - TA Dodger
RedTard does bring up at least one good point. Tests and grades might not be perfect, but jettisoning them in favor of completely subjective standards might be worse, especially, for students of color. If teachers are just asked how they feel about individual students' progress, there can only be an increased chance that bias will enter into the evaluation. Since white, middle class women are proportionally overrepresented in the teaching profession I think their cultural biases (even innocent and unintentional ones) would color their evaluations of male minority studens (which I think is already the group with the highest drop out rate).
14 - Steve
Oh, my, I just recognised the author of the book Lori highlights - Alfie Cohn!
I saw him lecture on TV a couple of years ago, and thought he made alot of sense, but I never did catch the name of the books he wrote. Now I know what to look for in the bookstore. I thought he might be speaking 'liberal crap' when I first heard him, but he really did make alot of sense, and it jived with my observations of competition, in sports and elsewhere. Thanks, Lori.
15 - Steve
Actually, TA, if there were lists of what the student actually learnt, it would be far more useful and instructive for all involved. The list could be presented in such a way that gaps in the student's knowledge could be clearly seen, with notes as to how common/uncommon those gaps are among the students in general.
16 - TA Dodger
My concern is with the way that evaluation is done. Now, if the students will still be evaluated objectively (say with tests that measure if they have acheived certain skills) but the competitive element is removed, I can see how that might be helpful. If, on the other hand, the evaluation is completely subjective (the teacher just rates the student based on their observations of the student in class) I think that would have a negative effect.
Also, all of this is assuming competition is bad and I think that's still an open question. Some kids might respond well to competition as an incentive; some might not. Employers may have to do team building (and we'll assume, for the sake of argument, that this has something to do with the competitive academic environment) but they also want to be able to pick the "best" graduates using a measure that compares one student against another.
Maybe competitive grading is more appropriate with some age groups than others? Thoughts?
17 - Steve
I agree, TA, that the subjective element in evaluating students must be held to a minimum (some subjects, e.g. creative essays in English, would not enable complete elimination of it alas).
Though you may have a point that some kids might respond better to competition than others, I'm not sure that a 'non-graded' system would totally elminate it, depends on how it's done.
I would think businesses would be more interested in knowing what a student has learned that might be relevant to the jobs they are trying to fill, as opposed to who had a better grade than average, grades only have value according to the content of the course, which varies from school to school. After all, getting 'A''s in an easy curriculum course might not be better than a 'B' in a more difficult one.
18 - Baronius
Those stinking white middle-class women who get into teaching just to oppress the males of color! TA, is that really what you're saying?
"Over time, report cards become code for what kind of people the kids are." Lori, do you really think that happens? I wouldn't hire a baby-sitter based on his grades. I'd find a kid whose parents I knew and trusted.
But my main disagreement with this article is in the alternative to grades. "Beginning, developing, competent, and excelling". You can bet that teachers will be strongly encouraged to give out 35% excellings, 40% competents, etc., just as they would do with letter grades. I don't think that the particular words matter, either. If "excelling" were changed to "fully proficient", it would still be an A.
The best part of this new system is the reference to standards. If done properly, they would make the report cards more objective. But I'm not sure if that's what the author wants. Lori, would you prefer a system which denoted specific academic success and failure? If so, that's hardly the feel-good liberalism of RedTard's accusation.
19 - TA Dodger
Those stinking white middle-class women who get into teaching just to oppress the males of color! TA, is that really what you're saying?
Of course not. I am a middle class white woman who is considering switching to a teaching career, and I'm certainly not interested in oppressing anybody. On the other hand, I also believe that, despite our best intentions we all carry a set of cultural assumptions and biases and that, no matter how hard we try to fight them, infuence the way we evaluate others. A totally subjective form of grading would increase the impact those unintentional biases affect students' academic performance.
20 - JP
I think this deserves some thought--some calm, rational thought, nothing like RedTard's response. I'll write another comment with my thoughts, but first I must address Red: I can't believe the FIRST thing you come up with to write is "More liberal feel good crap." Not to mention following it with "Shi* theories like this", "leftists.." etc.
I don't have a problem with the fact that you disagree, but your insistence upon POUNCING on an article (happened to be 2nd comment here, but whenever) with personal or political insults is demeaning to the author.
Have some class; unless you write with more dignity, I don't consider you qualified to mow my lawn.
21 - JP
My thoughts (pardon the diversion) - some subjectivity would be beneficial, but grades should not be eliminated. What's the motivation here--why is it "good for kids" to be competitive for grades? Because it helps them get into a good college--why is that "good"? Because they can get a better job. Why is that "good"? To make money. Why is this "good"?
Everything in the US capitalist culture is competitive. Conservatives believe this is what makes capitalism work, that businesses competing to offer better service at lower value is what leads to successful business, and to turning a profit.
But learning is NOT a competition. Classes built around knowledge are simple--either you know the material, or you don't. Those that are skill-based require a measurable set of characteristics about the skill in order to grade students--if they excel at all the measures, that doesn't mean others cannot.
It's unfair to require that if a skill is learned to an A level by 20 of 20 students, that only 4 can get an A grade. (hypothetical example) It's such a part of the fabric that we fail to question the concept anymore, but isn't this insistence upon competition a method of conditioning children to BE competitive as adults? It occurs to me this is overdone in the US--take our roads as an example, where people race to pass one another and causing accidents for no reason other than to race each other. Who cares?
There are definite advantages to be gained by tweaking our system of grading to be less competitive.
22 - Lisa McKay
When my son was in grade school, he attended an independent progressive school that had no grading system and did not believe in setting up the educational environment to be competitive. Instead of report cards with grades on them, we got a portfolio assessment every quarter, with examples of his work and a very detailed written assessment of his skills by his teacher(s). This was so much more valuable to our understanding of his development as a student than were the traditional report cards he got when he attended public high school. Kids don't need to be motivated by grades -- they need to be motivated by the love of learning.
Lest you think that atmosphere killed his competitive spirit, he went on to do really well on his SATs and is currently on the Dean's List at his college, where he's enrolled in the Honors Program. Grades by themselves aren't much of a goal -- allowing a kid's natural thirst for learning to unfold is what's important.
23 - Steve
You know, Lisa, though I don't have kids of my own (yet, anyway), as I reflect on mine and others' school experience, I think your independent school chose the better route to evaluate your son's academic performance. I think engendering a thirst for knowledge is key. Good for you and yours!
24 - Lisa McKay
Steve, I'm sure that one reason that this approach is probably unattractive in a public school setting with large class sizes has something to do with the amount of work involved in evaluations of that sort. It's really time-consuming, and mandates that the teacher know all of the students really well. In a large class, that would be a daunting task for even the most dedicated teacher. I'm not sure I know what the best solution is, but I'm pretty sure that making grades the goal isn't the best thing.
25 - Steve
I know in Canada in recent years, there has been a move to have each class not only have a teacher but also a teacher's aide, who can assist the teacher during class. I wonder if that might help take some of the burden off of the teacher.
I believe in Ontario here that they've instituted a minimum class size rule, so classes are not over...20 or 25... I think in the public system anymore, or at least I believe that's the goal if it isn't a reality already. I don't teach or have kids, so I'm not totally up to date on things in schools, but I'm sure I heard something along those lines since our current provincial govt. came to power in 2003.