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I have frequent conversation with her about this. "Your grade is just a grade," I say. "The most important things is that are you are acquiring the skills you need."
She answers, "You just don't understand the atmosphere at school, Mom; kids always know where you measure up. And, if I don't do well in school, I won't get into college." Bah! I hate this misconception and tell her that's just not so.
Of course, you know a daughter's answer: "What do you know?"
So, I asked her math teacher if she is exaggerating the pressure she feels. His answer? "No, she's right. The kids here are GPA obsessed." He goes on to share with me that he and another teacher in the district were discussing this very point. He says, "We decided we should only give three grades: A, A-, B+. These are the only grades parents and students wish to see."
I think there are lots of teachers out there who feel this pressure. I know I absolutely hate handing back graded paper. A few weeks ago, one of my students ripped up his evaluated research paper because it was a C. When sharing this story with a fellow English teacher, she said, "We ALL hate handing back the papers...and isn't that sad?"
I cannot fully express how very sad this is to me. For education is NOT about grades.
It's about learning. Right???
I think most parents and teachers know this philosophy, but give it lip service only. It simply is not reality: GPA is. Reflecting on my 20-year career, I know I have always received pressure from parents: "Why isn't my kid getting an A?" One time a few years ago I was conferencing with a parent and shared her son was at an A-. Her response: "What is he doing wrong?" It's often worse: "What are you doing wrong, Mrs. Olson?" I remember I said to one parent last year, "Why don't you just grade the papers?" Yeah...I lose my patience sometimes.
So, when certain educational critics cry, "Where's the rigor?" my answer is, "No one really wants rigor. Everyone wants A's."
How do we fix this? CAN we fix this?
I say we MUST fix this, for learning is swept under the rug. A's no longer hold the worth they once did. This truth is reflected in that colleges are re-vamping their admission requirements to discount GPAs because they are so falsely inflated. Many universities consider the rigor of courses students take instead. (How many students do you know took basic math instead of pre-calculus in order to protect the GPA?)
And our nation's obsession with standardized tests does not help the situation. When discussing the possibility with of my daughter's school moving to 1:1, her math teacher said, "Our district isn't leaning that way right now. It doesn't seem to improve test scores much."
What? Are you kidding me? And what does a standardized test measure? Does it measure how well students use Diigo to collaborate as they gather resources for a research paper? Does it measure student's creativity who can use Garage Band to create a theme song for Hamlet which captures his moods and really his essence? I think my head exploded when the math teacher said that...because it meant the leadership of the district values these standardized measures most. No wonder my daughter is obsessed.
But I am not going to give up this fight. Recently I had my sophomores write an analytical essay over Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and I handed back the essays at the beginning of the hour. But, I did strike preemptively. I put percentages on the essays, not grades, and to correspond with percentages, I put evaluative words: 90-99 % is outstanding; 80-89% is very good; 70-79% is competent. And I told students my goal is to have everyone's analytical writing be to the competent level, which means it shows the reader you have thought critically about the piece and expressed that thinking in a competent way (this competence is defined more clearly on the rubric).
The results? Well, nobody tore up their paper. And I know some students were disappointed with their scores, but I believe they need an honest evaluation of where their skills are and what skills need more time and attention. Then they can continue to learn.
It's about the learning, not about the grade.
Do you think there's any hope?
Excellent post, Cathy!! I agree whole-heartedly with what you are saying & have eleminated the idea of grades in my room. All students have to learn in my room. They have to complete all the work & they choose their grade by the level of work they put into their projects per a rubric. They don't get to take a zero on any assignment & I give everyone a chance to edit/redo their work after I have reviewed it. Keep up the good fight! I do believe we can change it!
ReplyDeleteThere are many really interesting and well thought grading options out there. Solution Tree press has a number of books regarding grading and assessment. Colleges aren't doing us many favors by demanding a high grade point average as part of the admission process, but in all honesty, there is a motivating factor there. Our high school recognizes achievement in many areas - including GPA - so there is motivation to do more than just "get A's." It's a tough nut to crack. I think as more districts revise the way they assess students, this will change. We as teachers, may be the ones who are our own worst enemy. I just went on eLearning to look at - wait for it - my grades. I know that I learned a ton, and that my teaching is better because of the learning I attained. but I wanted to know if I got - wait once more - an A. But I get what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point, too, Bill. Grades do serve as a motivation for many.
ReplyDeleteIn some sense, I see grades as a reflection of another's opinion of one's worth. I know I do good work, and grades are a confirmation of it.
ReplyDeleteHave I communicated my opinions in a manner that an expert will appreciate them? That's what a grade says to me.
I think this is the way many others see it. When you "give my child" a mediocre grade,you're telling me that my child's only mediocre. What parent acts logically when enveloped by those feeling?
I like your idea of rubrics and percentages. While I am sure it is time consuming to create a thorough rubric, rubrics are an essential method of quantifying learning goals. Percentages aid in keeping the quantitative/qualitative aspects separate from personal evaluations.
Last semester taught me that another essential aspect is formative evaluation that is not punitive. Sort of a guided-mastery learning is what I mean. Couple that with a good rubric for summative evaluation and everyone may win!
I agree. . . mostly. The only fact that I feel was overlooked is that we are going to be 'graded' throughout our lives this way. There are going to be many points in which how much we know isn't going to matter, but rather how it looks on paper. And at some points, it may seem more impressive to say, "Yeah, i took basic math, and I aced it!" rather than, " I took algebra and I got a C on it." Maybe it's because I'm not subject to how this works very well, and by all means I value learning above grades! But I don't think that we can undermine the grading system. Not yet anyway. When the world is ready to accept knowledge as a standard to be measured by, and not just how our school looks on paper in numbers and letters, then the system can change.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, Kaitlyn. Many areas of life to find some way to numerically measure a value. For example, when interviewing at Boone, they use a point system to measure the quality of the answers and use that score to determine which candidate to hire. I had forgotten that until your comments. It is a complicated issue, to be sure. I still struggle what the best answer is.
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