Stout's Grading System

Pragmaticism, indeed, will dictate that schools, assessments, and organizations long-established will not be altered for light and short-lived causes. Hence, a gradual shift in culture and method must occur which reforms the quantitative nature of grading systems. However, let the negative effects of the current grading system be known in a direct way:

In the first section, Erickson considered the need for a more consistent and clear grading system. When Minnetonka High School decided a new and improved grading system was essential, Erickson pondered what factors should determine a student’s grade. For a considerable amount of time, grades could be affected by presence, manners, determination, extra credit, and contribution. These grades, however, were meant to represent and embody only what a student has learned and the knowledge he or she acquired.

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently,” Henry Ford stated. Students need to learn to fail in life to eventually succeed. Standards Based Grading (SBG) was created by Thomas R. Guskey. The point of SBG is to focus on the most recent work the student displayed. Frankly, that concept is unrealistic. The reality is traditional grading provides a more effective means of showing student progress and engagement. Not only is traditional grading understood universally, but the system motivates students to try their best on every assignment. Standards Based Grading may make the learning environment more relaxed for students, but is that always positive? To put it differently, civilians who have the perception that SBG is better are not understanding the reality that traditional grading is a more superior method.

Onaga Senior High School is coed, public high school in Onaga, Kansas. It holds classes for pupils in grades 9 through 12. Enrollment at ONHS is around 100, and the student to teacher ratio is 11:1. The gender divide is 59 percent male and 41 percent female. ONHS is part of the Onaga-Havensville-Wheaton US School District 322. State assessments show 80 percent of pupils are proficient in math and 80 percent are proficient in English. The graduation rate is 96 percent.

The current academic grading system is helpful in student performance. The main reason the opposition disagrees with my point of view is simply that they believe the system has unfair limits and is not easily understood by everyone. The opposition argues that,“the grading scale is easy to manipulate because it is often subjective in nature.” (Meador) They argue this because, every teacher has a different teaching style and ways of grading. For example, during high school chemistry, my teacher required that we explain our solving process on each

The scourge of seven seas that is education is the nationwide practice of grading. The initial purpose of the practice known as grading was to measure a student's level of success involving taught subjects. However, over time it has evolved into a different animal altogether and has sparked controversy in the minds of those under its influence. In one essay titled, “A Young Person's Guide to the Grading System,” Professor Jerry Farber states his thoughts on the imperfect practice. Within the paragraphs, he outlines the effects of the grading system on students and a possible solution to the situation. Over the course of the essay, I agree with his explanation of the effects that grades have on the student's’ mind,

He begins his argument for changing the design of grading by asking, "How confident are you that the grades students get in your school are accurate, consistent, meaningful, and supportive of learning? If grades do not meet these four conditions of quality they are broken” (p. 8) At the start of the school year our BLT has be attempting to answer, "What does a grade reflect?". We have not made that determination yet; I'm not sure anyone has quantified it

Many people learn many different ways. I feel that it is better to grade people off of the standard grading scale. We have used it for many decades, so why change it now? Three reasons why we should keep the grading scale the same are everyone is used to tests, quizzes, and worksheets, I feel that people learn better if you do not make them do half of the work at home, and one should not be forced to present a project in the middle of a room full of people.

For almost every assignment in school, a grade gets entered into a grade book. Students will often rush to their computers (even during class time) when they get word that their grades have been entered. The stress of getting good grades often gets to students, especially at the end of the marking period when it matters most. Letter grades are mainly used throughout middle school, ranging from A, the best grade to get, to F, which means a fail. Another way of grading is using percentages. Grading is often done with a combination of both. Recently, though, a question has come to light: Is standardized grading really the best way to evaluate students?

There are two grading systems that teachers can use in the classroom. One grading practice that educator use is standard based grading. Standard based grading measures students’ proficiency on well-defined course objectives (Scriffiny 70). The other grading practice that educator use is current trend/ traditional point-based grades. Current trend will motivate everyone and allows teachers to focus on instructing students. I believe that grades should supports and develops student learning and it should help students take ownership and responsibility of their learning for life. Therefore, I would use standard-based grading in order to have clear meaning behind grades, allow students to take ownership and responsibility and to make adjust instruction.

Therefore, I would like to assess multiple perspectives on the traditional A to F grading system by exploring the advantages, disadvantages, and a modification of the system to provide more insight and provoke thoughts.

Through reading different articles over the difference between college and high-school grading systems, I have learned that high-school grading systems are really nothing or even as difficult as the college grading system. In high school, there is a same set weight for every class and teachers sometimes let up on the student and allow them a passing grade. In college, each and every single course is run by the professor, so each course has a different weight and each final grade is different. College professors will not let up on a student, especially in the first year because they really are trying to let the student’s transition from high school to college, so they may not pass the student no matter how close their grade is to

As far as grading goes I think it is a necessary evil. I do like how Standard Base Grading suggest using summative assessments as practice only and not allow it to effect students grades. I think it is important for students to practice and make mistakes with out consequences of it negatively affecting their grade. However there must be some type of incentive other than practice and mastering content in order to get all students to do homework or other formative assignments. I thought maybe giving extra credit for doing homework would encourage full participation in homework. But I am afraid it will skew the final grade to much that the final grade wont accurately effect the students ability. However I do like standard base grading over more traditional grading systems.

Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.

Over the past few years, the traditional grading system of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s have slowly faded away only to be replaced by the insufficient “Standards-Based Grading”. While some schools are adopting this unorthodox grading system, several others still continue to follow the traditional “A-F” grading system. Many believe that the standards-based grading system does not work well with all students and doesn’t accurately grade them. Standards-based grading is a fairly new system of grading where the student is evaluated on his or her ability to complete an assignment and master the concept, not by what they get right or wrong on each individual assignment. This has been very confusing to those who are unfamiliar with standards-based