Making the Grade

Grades need much more attention than we currently give them. I often hear teachers say, “I don’t give grades, students earn them.” On a surface level that should be true. However, it doesn’t come even close to the reality of grading when you analyze what’s happening. The entire structure and delineation of gradations is done by multiple people in a way that the student never realizes. It does usually start at the front line with the teacher, but it goes way deeper than that.

Teachers build their grading systems on expectations. Maybe it’s as simple as the expectation of A-F grades, or a 100 point scale, or that most students will “earn” C’s. Perhaps site teams at a grade level or within a subject have certain guidelines on what counts as passing or failing. The point is there are many decisions being made on why and how students are being graded that absolutely do affect what their grades ultimately are.

The less we reflect on why and how we grade, the less certain we are on what students’ grades really mean. It’s easy to put the responsibility solely on the student for their grade but that doesn’t serve the purpose of education very well. It blinds us as educators to what students really know and how we can support them in their growth.

More on this in the future…