“No More A’s for Good Behavior”, grading on MASTERY NOT COMPLIANCE

Parent Cafe
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<p>An Austin, Minn. middle school made a controversial change:</p>

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As test scores fast become the single and most powerful measurement by which educational outcomes are being judged, more schools might find themselves engaged in what has become a pivotal debate: Should students be rewarded for being friendly, prepared, compliant, a good school citizen, well organized and hard-working? Or should good grades represent exclusively a student’s mastery of the material? [emphasis mine]</p>

<p>For Sandra Doebert, a superintendent who oversees a high school with 1,500 school students in Lemont, Ill., a middle-class suburb southwest of Chicago, the answer is clear. “In this age of data and with so much information available to us we can no longer confuse how students act with what they know.” She, too, is revamping the grading policy so that grades reflect subject mastery, not compliance.

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<p>Now, student grades are based primarily on end of unit tests and homework is considered practice.</p>

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The principal, Ms. Berglund, says that some students’ grades have gone up and some have gone down but that she’s confident — and has the data to prove it — that ** their grades are more accurately reflecting their knowledge, “not whether or not they brought in a box of Kleenex for the classroom,” ** a factor that had influenced grades at Ellis in the past.

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<p>I would welcome this change, after many frustrating years of my kids’ grades being based on so many other things (neatness, organizational skills, artistry, personality, etc.) rather than on actual mastery. Especially in middle school, I think this new system would likely benefit boys more than girls.</p>

<p>On the down side, there’s this to consider:</p>

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In the real world, she points out, attitude counts

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<p>Still, on balance, I would like more schools to change to grading based primarily on mastery rather than on other factors.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/weekinreview/28tyre.html?tntemail1=y&_r=1&emc=tnt&pagewanted=all%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/weekinreview/28tyre.html?tntemail1=y&_r=1&emc=tnt&pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Nobody’s grades should be based on bringing in Kleenex. I can’t remember my kid ever being asked to bring in facial tissue, or any other hygienic product. He was, however, given math problems to work. A lot of times he didn’t do them, and was docked, in my view correctly. </p>

<p>Being prepared and completing assignments is not just a matter of attitude. It is a far more important skill in the real world than being able to fill in bubbles on a multiple choice exam. Anybody working for me attempting to avoid meeting deadlines by claiming superior knowledge would likely be seeking employment elsewhere. Very few people are actually smart enough to rely on their intellectual firepower alone after they leave academia.</p>

<p>IMO mastery of the subject should be the major component, but whether students are able to adequately complete assignments on time is also important.</p>

<p>For years top students have somehow managed to do both.</p>

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<p>I absolutely believe homework should be counted as part of the grade. It is perfectly appropriate in middle school to give credit for having good attitude because it is that attitude which would make a student succeed in high school and college.</p>

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<p>To eliminate all the useless busywork kids are subjected to, which is unnecessary for some children, I could see a system where 75% of the grade is based on regurgitating instructional material on exams, and 25% is based on a term-long major research or writing assignment in each class, forcing students to move beyond the material taught in the classroom. This would also force them to learn to budget their time. You could actually give the student the choice between doing this major project or completing relatively simple daily assignments. </p>

<p>When I was in high school I don’t think I ever actually cracked a book to study. My math homework was done in the last few minutes of class while the teacher was talking. Any assignments I couldn’t complete in that manner were basically done at lunch hour, and, rarely, in the first 1/2 hour after I got home. And I took the most rigorous courseload they had at my school.</p>

<p>Although I got very good grades in high school, when I got into college I was woefully unprepared to study and budget my time when I needed to.</p>

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<p>bovertine, I sense your bias against tests - “fill in bubbles on a multiple choice exam . . . regurgitating instructional material on exams”. I don’t share your opinion on tests, but I do like your idea of giving students a choice between “busywork” assignments and other long-term projects. That could address the boredom that discourages some students who don’t need as much practice as others do.</p>

<p>I also agree that students generally need to learn organizational skills, but I’ve seen too many instances of students penalized and disheartened by low grades based primarily on poor executive function skills even though their mastery of the material was superior. Sometimes this sets up a negative pattern of disinterest and poor performance that is hard to break later on.</p>

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<p>I absolutely agree. </p>

<p>I find it disheartening that only students who can A)master the material and B)are good test takers will be getting the highest grades.</p>

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<p>Why not revamp the style of exams as well? When I was growing up overseas, I did not take a single multiple choice exam after elementary school. Half of the exam questions asked us to “regurgitate instructional material” in short answer and essay format, and the other half asked us to apply course insights to new situations. “Take a look at this historic document. Which time period is it from and what is the political affiliation of the author?” or “Here is an excerpt from an essay by Satre [new material]. How does Satre’s understanding of … differ from Kant’s [discussed in class]?”</p>

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Hmmm, your sensory nerves may be a bit off. I always did well on tests in school. I was a National Merit Semifinalist, and tutored for one of the premier standardized test groups in California for a couple years while coming off a stint of disability. </p>

<p>I love standardized tests - it is my hobby. I’ve taken almost all of them - GRE/GMAT etc. and always score very highly. I still take the SAT Question of the Day every single day as a 53 year old man, and all the practice tests I can get my hands on. I think it’s fun. But no substitute for disciplined work. It’s only part of the means of evaluating students.</p>

<p>To my knowledge, my ability in these kinds of exams, and even my performance on academic exams has had far less impact on my life and career than any work habits I learned. In the case of the PSAT junior year, I believe the immense amount of attention I got for doing well on it was actually a negative for me.</p>

<p>As for my kid, I only wish we could rely just on his test scores. </p>

<p>I think counting tests for 75% (or 85% - pick your number) of the grade, along with all the emphasis given to SAT/ACT in college admissions is probably giving enough weight to them.</p>

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<p>I believe this system will hurt more boys than girls. </p>

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<p>One does not make a living, or a life for that matter, by mastery of material alone. As the mother of a son who is both naturally bright and an excellent test taker, I did not appreciate teachers who made allowances for his equally natural tendency to be disorganized and not turn things in on time. If he’d had a bad attitude or was not helpful, then I hope he was marked down for that as well.</p>

<p>Now that my son is a freshman in college, it’s because we kept to high expectations, and offered a lot of help and guidance, in executive function skills that he is experiencing success. By the time he gets to the workforce, it is going to be those very skills that make a long-term career possible. </p>

<p>We are not wealthy people. Right from the start we knew we had to raise a child who could make his own way in the world. It so happened that some of those skills were very difficult for him to learn, thank goodness he went through an education system that was as focused on his future as we were.</p>

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<p>I believe both sets of data are important and should be graded. Employers and colleges should be interested in as much data as they can get. I’m just not sure one data set should influence the other as much as it does at some schools. </p>

<p>I think I remember some of my schools (military brat, there were several, and 40 years later they blend together in my memory) having two grades for “every” class. One was more content mastery and one more “citizenship”. (A box of facial tissue would have likely fallen into the latter category.;))</p>

<p>Just thinking out-loud, would there be value in a “grading” system that separated the attitude/compliance/neatness items and content mastery items into two different grades? </p>

<p>Of course, we would have to decide what fell into each category, and what should be ignored completely but…hmmmm…</p>

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<p>Another good idea. If exams were actually like this I could see giving even more weight to them.</p>

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<p>I think it’s the right move. I remember classmate’s of D getting the highest possible grades in AP history courses because they did “extra credit” - an extra assignment or project, sometimes artwork. Personally, I think that kind of thing should end in elementary school. </p>

<p>Imagine the parents’ surprise when the kid who gets an A in AP Euro doesn’t get a 3 or higher on the AP exam.</p>

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<p>Students should figure out that if they satisfactorily complete all of their homework and attend all of their classes, they will be able to do well on the tests without much extra outside work. These two habits, alone, will lead to a B-B+ average.</p>

<p>You have to actually study to get A’s.</p>

<p>But, if a student, by the end of jr. high can develop the habit of doing their assignments and going to class, it’s a real plus for them, in the long run. JMO</p>

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<p>curmudgeon, since I have the newspaper at hand, the column by Peg Tyre does mention that the students will receive an academic grade and a separate “life skills” grade, which is supposed to reflect work habits, “attitude, effort, and citizenship.”</p>

<p>This sounds sensible to me.</p>

<p>(Asked spouse earlier today about buying property in Austin, MN, to beat the rush)</p>

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<p>Frankly, a subjective “life skills” grade sounds absurd for high school.</p>

<p>There is a big difference between a teacher doing some fuzzy wuzzy attitude evaluation, or assigning collages in AP Physics, and substantial projects.</p>

<p>Are we also completely eliminating research projects for history, large scale essays and writing projects for English, and laboratory exercises and reports for Science? Great. Eliminate some of the most relevant items for success in life.</p>

<p>And while I’m at it, if we are going to base everything on exams, and some sort of desire to ascertain “mastery” let’s make sure we make those exams rigorous. No more curves, because that merely assesses performance in comparison to other classmates. And no more scores of “5” for 65% on an AP exam. Being able to pick out slightly more than half of the correct answers on an exam hardly constitutes mastery in my book.</p>

<p>But I’m sure it makes it easier for the teachers.</p>

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<p>bovertine, it’s actually Ellis Middle School. I think “life skills” is ok at that level. (Sounds better than “compliance,” anyway.) A few really good middle schools will have the high-school type projects that you mention, but most won’t. The local one was rather art-heavy in the assignments in middle school.</p>

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<p>^^^
Okay, I didn’t read carefully enough. I think people are miixing apples and oranges. To make myself clear, I am not for ridiculous busy work. But some things other than purely exams are necessary IMO.</p>

<p>Case in point - my son. He’s Peruvian born, speaks Spanish fluently. English is his second language. In fact, we communicate primarily in Spanish in our home. He reads books in Spanish constantly. He aces all his tests, but still cannot pull higher than a low B because he refuses to speak in class, or turn in any exercises. You think that’s not frustrating? But I agree with the philosophy. I want him to be able to communicate with people other than his mother in Spanish. Aside from brief oral exams, how exactly is the teacher supposed to evaluate how well he will use his Spanish in day to day life? I am fine with giving points on this.</p>

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<p>Testing is a critical part of the learning process. And contrary to the implications made in this thread, there is value in being able to “regurgitate instructional material”. As cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham and others have explained, “without content knowledge we often cannot use thinking skills properly and effectively”.
<a href=“http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2010/RotherhamWillingham.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2010/RotherhamWillingham.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>This is problematic since grading can be so subjective. But I guess I would prefer that these factors be separated out of the main academic grade. I’ve had some bad experiences with teachers evaluating my kids’ “attitude” and “effort”.</p>

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<p>I have no idea where students are receiving A’s for cooperation and personality. Not where I am. Both of my kids (the “invisible one” and the “smart-mouth” one), have always earned top grades. Yes, they both do well on tests, but they also complete all assignments, turn in homework on time, etc. IMHO, doing the everyday work is just important in school as it is in the workplace.</p>

<p>Last year when S was in 8th grade, I attended a middle school meeting in which the principal talked about the school’s new emphasis of mastery of material - basically the same thing that is described in this article. Looks like this is the newest fad in the education community.</p>