SPOTLIGHT: How Unfair Are Grades?
If you have ever rolled your eyes in disbelief when your child tells you a teacher gave him or her an unfair grade, you may want to think again.
Your child might be right.
Douglas B. Reeves, an expert on grading systems, conducted an experiment with more than 10,000 educators that he says proves just how subjective grades can be. Reeves asked teachers and administrators in the United States, Australia, Canada and South America to determine a final semester grade for a student who received the following grades for assignments--in this order:
C,C, MA (Missing Assignment), D, C, B, MA, MA, B, A.
He was given final semester grades from A to F, Reeves said.
Why? Because, he said, teachers use different criteria for grading. Some average only letter grades, while others take into consideration effort (which in this case seemed to be picking up toward the end), and attendance.
“If you went to a Redskins game, the thing society takes really, really seriously, and one official says a goal was scored and another official says no goal and a third official scratches his head, there would be hell to pay,” said Reeves, founder of the Leadership and Learning Center, a Colorado company that provides professional development, research and solutions to educators and others.
“But for some reason, we let grades be all over the map," he said.
The consequences, say Reeves and other experts on grading systems, are more than just a few students who are unhappy with their grade in a particular class. Reeves said that ineffective grading can lead to widespread student failure--and that good systems can help kids achieve.
Grading regimes that work, he said, offer accurate, precise and timely feedback that is aimed at helping students improve--not penalizing them--and is only one type of response.
“You don’t give grades to adjudicate a result. You give it to give kids ..... to help them get better,” he said.
Grades have long been a source of controversy in school systems around the country.
Most systems--including those in Montgomery and Arlington counties, use a modified 10-point system, in which 90 percent above is an A, 80 percent is a B, and so on. Fairfax County schools moved to that system this fall--leaving behind a policy in which 94 percent was an A--after a year of parent lobbying.
But Reeves supports more wholesale change, such as the overhaul undertaken in the past few years in the Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska.
These schools overhauled the grading system, in part to make sure that students taking the same classes got the same scores. Some of the changes included:
--Setting learning targets and linking grades to the achievement of those targets.
--Giving grades based solely on achievement and separately reporting attendance, effort and participation.
--Grading only individual achievement, not group work.
--Giving scores only to certain assignments and choosing carefully which scores should be included in the final grade.
--Making sure students understand how their grades are being determined.
But most students are still graded on old models. The first step toward change, Reeves said, is eliminating “dumb errors.”
Giving kids no credit for not turning in work, or failing them in some other way, defeats the purpose of education he said. A better result would be forcing the child to do the work, before school, during recess or after school.
“It is really time that people feel a sense of urgency to change grading policies that give students very different results for the same work in the same class,” he said.
Readers: Do you agree with Reeves’ assessment of grading policies? How fair are the grading systems in the schools your children attend? Teachers, tell us your grading philosophy.
| September 16, 2009; 6:30 AM ET
Categories: Grades | Tags: Douglas Reeves, Fairfax County Public Schools, Grades
Save & Share: Previous: Students: What Makes a Good--and Bad--Teacher
Next: After Cheating Concerns, Should Students Retake Standardized Test?
Posted by: abcxyz2 | September 16, 2009 8:22 AM | Report abuse
Posted by: doglover6 | September 16, 2009 8:55 AM | Report abuse
Posted by: dkp01 | September 16, 2009 11:51 AM | Report abuse
Posted by: Rob63 | September 16, 2009 12:37 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: someguy100 | September 16, 2009 1:11 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: edbyronadams | September 16, 2009 1:19 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: williamhorkan | September 16, 2009 1:21 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: quatsch | September 16, 2009 2:11 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: bobtom222 | September 16, 2009 2:15 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: GOPDAD | September 16, 2009 2:19 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: 7900rmc | September 16, 2009 2:31 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: FairlingtonBlade | September 16, 2009 2:45 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: Albie1 | September 16, 2009 2:49 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: catherine3 | September 16, 2009 2:53 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: singlemom | September 16, 2009 3:00 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: singlemom | September 16, 2009 3:15 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: adrienne_najjar | September 16, 2009 3:18 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: singlemom | September 16, 2009 3:27 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.