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"Teachers thoughtfully and intentionally were creating policies that they believed, in their... professional judgement, would promote learning. Yet they were doing so independently and often contradicting each other, yielding... a patchwork of well-intentioned, but ultimately idiosyncratic approaches to evaluating and reporting on student performance" (Fieldman, 2019, xx).

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"Teachers thoughtfully and intentionally were creating policies that they believed, in their... professional judgement, would promote learning. Yet they were doing so independently and often contradicting each other, yielding... a patchwork of well-intentioned, but ultimately idiosyncratic approaches to evaluating and reporting on student performance" (Fieldman, 2019, xx).

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This resonated with me because I believe that all of our teachers at Los have the same goal. We want our students to be responsible achievers who can "show what they know" with confidence and apply those skills to an increasingly elevated rigor as they progress through the pacing of the curriculum or as they navigate through their academic journeys. So, as educators, how can we get to a place to have those hard conversations that will require us to use data and collaborative compromise to develop an equitable system to measure student performance?

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"Teachers often use grades for behavior modification, offering the reward or punishment of points and use (or threaten to use) the zero or F to motivate students even though the 'motivational F' is largely a myth; research is clear that low grades, or the threat of low grades, do nothing for the student who has low confidence in their academic abilities or limited experience with academic success––the majority of students who receive Fs." (Feldman, 2019, p. xxii)

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"Teachers often use grades for behavior modification, offering the reward or punishment of points and use (or threaten to use) the zero or F to motivate students even though the 'motivational F' is largely a myth; research is clear that low grades, or the threat of low grades, do nothing for the student who has low confidence in their academic abilities or limited experience with academic success––the majority of students who receive Fs." (Feldman, 2019, p. xxii)

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I remember reading through Feldman in my credential/masters program. We specifically covered this prologue in the beginning of the program, and it has been largely influential in how I understand grading in my practice. As the text states, the research shows no correlation with bad grades and student motivation. In fact in my (albeit limited) experience, I've come to see that tanking students' grades only hurts their motivation and may extinguish any spirit they may have for my class. I think the main purpose of grades is to communicate to students and families on the general progress of one's learning (are we sort of on track, or not), rather than to evaluate and/or quantify one's smartness (which is, after all, a fallacy in itself). Zeros in the grade book are demoralizing and paint a picture of an uphill battle for students, and thats generally the opposite effect I want my students to be feeling about their progress in my class. Instead of zeros, I use minimum grade place holders (usually 40-50%). These grades still lower students overall grade in my class (and, in turn, communicates that we're falling off track a bit) but without totally derailing the scores into unmanageable and unredeemable depths. Just my two cents, and I am excited to learn from others.

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"Beyond the quantitative data, the impact of these more equitable grading practices on the day-to-day work of teachers and students was even more transformational. Students were less stressed , and grateful to not have everything "count" in their grade; ... Teachers felt the emphasis in their classrooms had shifted from meeting due dates and earning points to learning."

"One teacher added, almost adamantly, "Actually we raised our standards. Students no longer can get good grades with fluff assignments.""

These quotes stood out to me because I try very hard to foster student creativity and a love of learning. I put most of my energy into designing lessons to achieve this, and I am realizing that my time spent on my grading practices is very limited. Conversations with colleagues about grading practices can be heated, but it's definitely worth at least opening up a conversation.

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"One teacher's students shouldn't learn different material or be less prepared for the next grade than another teacher's students."

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"One teacher's students shouldn't learn different material or be less prepared for the next grade than another teacher's students."

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This stood out to me because when collaborating in content teams I think working together to have a common assessment is fine but will that translate to common lessons and common strategies.

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The main purpose of grading is to see how much the students know, to assess their learning instead of assessing their efforts; do they really understand the work, as opposed to did they do all of the assignments. 

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The main purpose of grading is to see how much the students know, to assess their learning instead of assessing their efforts; do they really understand the work, as opposed to did they do all of the assignments. 

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I once told my student teacher to think of why she assigned the assignment. If there no actual reason, then what is the purpose of getting stuck with stacks of them to "grade"? Ultimately, the purpose of everything the students are doing in our classes is to assess their progress in the subject. It makes sense to align our class, assignments, and grading to that purpose.

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"One teacher accepted no homework after the attendance bell rang, some deducted points if homework was late (although the amount deducted ranged from a few points to tow letter grades' worth), and another accepted work beyond the due date up until the end of the quarter, with no penalty."

This chapter resonates with me because I find so many similar situations in my work. Just last week a student asked me how many points an assignment was worth, and as we discussed the points value assigned to it I realized that the entire point system is arbitrary. I quickly became frustrated (with myself), and picked up the text Grading for Equity and began to read!! Ok, well maybe I didn't read the entire book right then, but I made it a priority. I realize that after 20 years in education that I still have so much to learn.

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"In the English classes, taught by three different teachers ... the range of D and F rates was even more dramatic; the only difference among the classes seemed to be the chances of receiving a particular grade. " ( xvii)

This reminded me of a time when three English teachers and I compared our grade books. Even though we are teaching the same class, the number of assignments was vastly different. If we are going to give the students a fair chance, we need to improve our assignment alignment.

Tiffany Truitt

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Early in my career, I was taught by a veteran teacher that, "Grading is the only real power that teachers have".

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Early in my career, I was taught by a veteran teacher that, "Grading is the only real power that teachers have".

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I really pondered what that meant to me, my students, and to the school in general. I've always been disturbed by law enforcement officers that seem to have chosen their career because of their love of exercising authority and power over others. And I have no doubt that there are students who feel the same way about some educators. The grades we give, ultimately are, as that veteran teacher had said, a source of power. But... As Uncle Ben said to Spiderman, "With great power, comes great responsibility". Mallory's Dilemma gets right to the heart of that responsibility.

One of the blessings of being part of a small department with like-minded people has been the ability to find cohesive grading practices that favor and cultivate every opportunity for student success. The alignment of the grading philosophies we share has always been a key ingredient of our practice and counseling together and remains invaluable to us and our students. One way we might diverge from the material in Mallory's Dilemma is that we value observed effort as a criterion that comes in the form of participation in the creative process.

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Grading often creates "collateral consequences" that contradict our intentions. 

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Grading often creates "collateral consequences" that contradict our intentions. 

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"For example, we lament our students' rampant cheating and copying of homework. Yet when we take a no-excuses approach to late work in the name of preparing students for real-world skills and subtract points or even refuse to accept the work, we incentivize students to complete work on time by hook or by crook and disincentivize real learning."

When I was a new teacher, I robotically set up my gradebook according to level protocols without really questioning the consequences for students. I was very strict and made sure students stuck to the guidelines and zeroed out missing assignments that were well passed the unit exam.

Over the years, I learned to relax on the grading spectrum, because I learned that an overall class grade can represent many things besides learning. It represents discipline, organization, urgency, responsibility and sometimes, content comprehension. Teachers can have the power to determine a student's academic path and there's no detrimental effects on us, as teachers, if we round a grade up, say from an F+ to a D-. However, the detrimental effects on a student can be irreversible if we are not careful.

-Tram Loiacono

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"Teachers felt the emphasis in their classrooms had shifted from meeting due dates and earning points to learning... what's more, teachers felt empowered by this work" (Feldman, 2019, p. xxvi-xxviii).

I selected this quote because it reminds me of the work that we do for our students and why we're educators. The quote helps me reflect on the purpose of grading and think of ways to empower our teachers and students with learning.

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"With these equitable practices, the rate of Ds and Fs the teachers assigned to students who qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, a proxy for low-income, decreased from 27 percent to 19 percent, while the percentage of Ds and Fs assigned to students who came from a higher income families (who therefore did not qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) decreased much less, from 19 percent to 16 percent" (xxv).

This information suggests that the traditional 0-100% scale benefits students who are NOT at a disadvantage while harming students from low-income backgrounds or historically underserved populations.

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Grading can intrinsically motivate students!

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Grading can intrinsically motivate students!

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"I also learned that grading, if done differently, can be accurate, not infected with bias, and can intrinsically motivate students to learn.  Grades can clearly and more objectively describe what students know and can do.  Grading practices can encourage students not to cheat but to learn, to persevere when they fail and not lose hope, and to take more ownership and agency of their achievement" (xxiii).

Grading is so personal for both students and teachers.  It is laden with value and becomes a point of contention because it is  connected with deeply entrenched belief systems. Feldman, however, sees grading as an opportunity to develop relationships with students that help them build toward their own journey.

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"...although teachers approached their work in ways that reflected their individual backgrounds and personalities, students' learning experiences were generally consistent across classrooms.  Students in the same course taught by two different teachers--such as Ms. Thompson's and Ms. Richardon's sixth-grade English classes--were learning the same skills, reading the same books and essays, getting the same homework, receiving similar support, and taking the same tests.  Mallory was confident that reguardless of their sixth-grade teacher, students would be similarly prepared for seventh-grade English.  ...teachers were aligned with what and how they were teaching ...the rate of As, Bs, C,s, Ds, and Fs in any course should be relatively similar for each teacher ...But that wasn't happening" (xvi).

I always thought that course alignment with effective collaboration was enough, but Feldman's suggestions are that grading needs to be in alignment, too. From my personal experiences teachers need to meet weekly to check in and have allotted time made to collaborate together effectively. One hour is not enough time to set up the instruction and align grades. Maybe we can brainstorm how we can align time before the school year begins to establish protocals for grading with our assignments.

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5 Steps to More Effective Team Collaboration and Communications

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"Grades inform decisions outside the educational world as well. Potential employers consider grades when hiring, and GPAs are often required for youth work permits and reductions in car insurance, which means students' grades can affect family income and expenses. And those are just the decision made by institutions" (xxi).

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"Grades inform decisions outside the educational world as well. Potential employers consider grades when hiring, and GPAs are often required for youth work permits and reductions in car insurance, which means students' grades can affect family income and expenses. And those are just the decision made by institutions" (xxi).

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Grades have always been important to me as a student and as a teacher, but I have never thought about the big picture of how grades can influence real life decisions or the impact it can have one an individual and/or their family. These grades can also influence family finances and the opportunities/paths it can offer or limit a student.

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"Students completed assignments because they found that doing so improved their performance on assessments, not because of the homework or classroom points they could earn or lose" (xxxi).

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"Students completed assignments because they found that doing so improved their performance on assessments, not because of the homework or classroom points they could earn or lose" (xxxi).

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When I taught English - particularly the honors or AP courses - I would always roll my eyes whenever a student asked how many points a task was worth. These sharp kids figured out that if a task was worth 10 points, they could let it slide (and I'm sure it was often busywork when I reflect back). If the task were worth 50 points, they would put effort into completing it. This quote spoke to me because I only realized later in my teaching career that students can be motivated to complete classroom and homework when they understand the connection to the final assessment (particularly when it wasn't just a written test). This creates value for the students beyond the points in the gradebook.