The Case Against Grades
Comments(3) I found this week’s reading on the “Case Against Grades” very interesting but I don’t really agree with all the points that were made. I found it ironic that the article suggests “replacing letter and number grades with narrative assessments or conferences.” Isn’t this just another form of grading students without giving them a specific letter grade? Although a letter grade wouldn’t be used, wouldn’t the narrative assessments still define a student as either strong or weak? If entrance to university was based on narrative assessments, students will “better” assessments would still be granted entrance over students with “weaker” assessments. I understand what the article is trying to say but I personally don’t see anything wrong with giving students grades based on a set of criteria (ie. a rubric), as long as these criteria are clearly stated and fair. And if grades are based on fair criteria that shows proof of students’ learning, isn’t this a positive way of assessing students? I do not agree with arbitrarily assigning students a letter or number grade for assignments, but if such a grade corresponds to a set of criteria then I don’t see a problem. We can also incorporate written and narrative assessments to go along with the letter grade we have assigned a student as a way of justifying it. Also, the way our education system is structured requires us to give letter grades to students, so as it stands right now we don’t have the option to assess students in a different way. This is why I think it is important to make sure that the grades we are giving students are as accurate an assessment of their learning as possible. If we didn’t actually HAVE to give letter grades, then it would be a whole other story.
You make a great argument in your post Steph. I agree with you that presently our education system doesn’t allow us any other means to assess students other than through the conventional letter grades/percentages system. I personally don’t see letter grades or percentages as a negative thing and they are certainly necessary for students who wish to go on to post-secondary education. I agree with the importance of clearly outlining what is expected from our students, and I feel that at times teachers are quite vague as to what they want in terms of output from there students. I can recall many instances during my high school days where the teachers did not provide examples or clear instructions for the assignments. My fellow students and I were often left on our own to create work, which we though was at the appropriate level of what the teacher wanted. There were however, also teachers who did provide clear instructions and this helped me a lot. As a future teacher, I am going to try to give my students clear instructions possibly through the use of rubrics and examples of past work where possible.
Thanks for your post, Steph! I understand the idea behind replacing grades with narrative assessments in “Case Against Grades” but I also find it a little ironic. It seems to me that all assessment options will end up ranking students in one way or another, and I don’t see a way to avoid this. Percentages and letter grades are not necessarily a harmful approach, if executed properly, like you mentioned. Lots of students like to know where they stand so that they can work towards their goals and see their progress in a tangible way, which is something that grades allows for. However, I agree with you that grades on their own are not enough. In fact, I do not believe that a grade of any sort (besides a factual multiple choice quiz or the like) should be given without some sort of narrative assessment. Perhaps I am so passionate about this because my teachable is art. I think one of the worst things an art teacher can do is slap a number or letter on the back of a project without any explanation or use of rubric. Students become so discouraged and confused when they see this and are given no indication about how to improve for their next project. I think this kind of assessment is highly neglectful on the part of the teacher. Saying that, I understand that writing even three constructive sentences to each student about their project is a huge time commitment for teachers, but I still aim to make this a non-negotiable within my teaching practice.
I wonder if it would be helpful to simply change the way we present assessment to students and parents. For example, we could have a rubric and provide feedback on different aspects of the assignment, without necessarily grading the whole. So if a student has great ideas and critique, but struggles with grammar, we can go out of our way to comment on each individually. We might also limit our negative feedback if we feel a student is becoming overwhelmed or discouraged.
In my discipline of Home Economics, a major concern is keeping assessment easy enough that students keep signing up for the class, but hard enough that students, parents, and other faculty take it seriously as a subject. Furthermore, as a teacher, I really need to think about what it is I am marking. If a student takes a risk in their cooking and tries a new ingredient and it doesn’t work out, do I dock them grades because their finished product isn’t great? Or do I reward the creativity? How can I distinguish fairly between creative risk-taking and laziness or lack of care?