![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As a class, if we consistently met that standard over the nine-week term, there was a class reward. We set the class goal as 85% completion every day, and drew that level as the “standard” to be met. Each day, we would take our class’ average homework completion, and put a sticker on the graph that corresponded to that day’s completion rate for the class. One of my bulletin boards in my classroom had a huge graph set up, labeled, “Homework completion as a function of time”. Sometimes, there is no better motivator than positive “peer pressure”. Set “class goals” for homework and class participation.Providing specific feedback to students (and their parents) on topics of organization and timeliness separate from achievement grades can go a long way toward getting behaviors to change. I had a category in my gradebook specifically for these kinds of data, though the category itself had no weight relative to the overall grade. One way of separating the two would be to report the two separately. Character education is an important part of a student’s profile, though it does not necessarily need to be tied to the student’s academic success. Report non-academic factors separate from a student’s grade.a grade of “Incomplete” with explicit requirements for completion, separate reports for behaviors, etc). Of course, if it were that easy, we would all be doing it, right? I guess the bigger question is, How do we provide the desired motivation and accountability without tying it to a student’s grade? Guskey’s article suggests several ideas for how one might differentiate these cross-purposes (e.g. Instead, make grades specifically tied to meeting standards and course objectives. The simple answer to this issue would be to stop averaging grades for things like homework completion, class participation, and responsibility together with values for student achievement. To provide evidence of a student’s lack of effort or inability to accept responsibility for inappropriate behavior.įrank Noschese’s blog post highlights these cross-purposes: in the image paired with the xkcd comic, the student’s grade of B seems to come from averaging grades that are meant to provide motivation (“I do my homework”, “I participate in class”), responsibility (“I organize my binder”) and information on achievement (“I still don’t know anything”). ![]() To evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs.To provide incentives for students to learn.To select, identify, or group students for specific educational paths or programs.To provide information students can use for self-evaluation.To communicate the achievement status of students to parents and others.In his article, “Zero Alternatives”, Thomas Guskey lays out the six overall purposes that most educators have for assigning grades: Assigning grades for homework completion, timeliness- even extra credit for class supplies- and combining them with outcome achievement data introduces a high level of “grade fog”, where anyone looking at the final grade would have a high degree of difficulty in parsing out the components that led to a student’s grade. So often, we as educators assign points (and therefore value) to things that do not necessarily relate to outcome achievement. The xkcd comic (along with the correlation to education on Frank’s blog) ties in most closely to this issue. Issue 1: Averages of data that do not match intended outcomes do not suddenly describe outcome achievement. After seeing so many (including myself) highlight the inadequacy of averaged grades, the words of our county’s assistant superintendent come to mind: “If you offer a problem, you’d better be ready to suggest a solution.” That being said, here are a few alternatives to sole reliance on averaging student data to describe their competence, organized by the issues described in Part 2 of this “Why Average?” trilogy. ![]()
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