Grading. One of the most complex, sometimes hotly contested topics within education. Almost everyone has strong feelings on the matter; each stakeholder group has a different perspective; and there are always new arguments to be made for any side. Over the last twenty-one years during my teaching career there have been plenty of inflection points, leading to a change in practice and/or philosophy.
As a school, we have worked very hard over the years to refine grading practices so that a student's grade in a course is a true reflection of their mastery of the course content. Eliminating things like 'extra credit for bringing in Kleenex,' or heavy participation points - which can really hinder students who are either shy and/or have difficulty with the language as ML students, have proven to be positive, best-practice changes over the years. Additionally, taking a hard look at the mathematical breakdown of grade distribution and making a slight alteration has helped too...instead of the "F" range being from 59% - 0%, the "F" cut-off is 50%. In other words, if a student has done the work, taken the test, completed the performance, written the essay, etc. they can't score worse than a 50%. This has helped limit the number of times a student's grade completely plummet, thus maintaining a stronger, more positive mindset.
As a middle school, being the bridge between elementary school (no real grades) and high school (official transcripts, class ranks, college applications, etc.) is an important role to help guide and train kids toward what grades and grading looks and feels like. In many ways, we have made strides with some of these good intentions and best practices. In some other ways, I feel as though we're perhaps setting students up for and even harder time in high school and beyond.
The other day one of my colleagues relayed a very interesting story that has been gnawing at me for the last few days. A couple of her 8th-grade students approached her and let her know that they'd done the math and decided they just weren't going to do their final speech project because, to quote them: "we know the school's rule that you have to give us a 50%." This took me by surprise (it shouldn't have... I mean #teenagers) because:
- it's an end-of-semester final project
- it's directly aligned to specific state standards
- they're approach wasn't "just mail it in, it doesn't matter" ... the approach was a bold proclamation that "we're simply not going to do it."
And this is just another example of how tricky and maddening grading can be in 2022. Not to mention virtual, in-person, hybrid, quarantining, etc. We're in a situation that quite often feels "can't win." Students come from elementary school and many don't have much sense at all how grades work and what they might mean. We all work hard to talk about the importance of the learning process and how our tests, projects, and daily work all align with state standards and learning objectives. But in the end, middle school grades don't really mean anything (or more accurately, they mean whatever the beholder wants them to mean). The trouble is all of this changes DRAMATICALLY once high school begins. Everything counts, grades start to really "matter," and there is not nearly as much opportunity for retakes, trying again, etc.
We talk a lot about gradual release in the middle school setting...that from entering in 6th grade through exiting in 8th grade, more and more responsibility, ownership, and independence are put at the feet of the students to get them ready for high school. I don't feel as though much of this conversation has been applied to grading yet. I'm not even saying that's the answer. The fact is it's still very much a top-down application of pressure going on --> colleges & universities look at grades, class rank, etc. for acceptance; high schools need to have these systems in place as a result and need to teach/train students around these concepts. Elementary doesn't do grades in a real sense at all (some start to do a little of that in 5th grade to help transition), so middle school ends up being a bit of this wilderness between two worlds.
If you're reading this you might be an educator, parent, or both. Everyone has thoughts and feelings on this stuff, and I feel like there could be larger conversations with all stakeholders involved!
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