When Are Grades Ever Going to Change?

When I say “report card” what do you think of?

99% of us had our minds jump to a list of letters A, B, C, D or F. 

When I say, “what does a B mean in terms of what you learned and are able to do”?

99% of us can’t get more specific than, “it means there was a little more I could do, or I missed a few questions on a test, or a big assignment was late, and I got an arbitrary grade cap, or . . . “

Meaning, the grade doesn’t tell us about the learning.

It tells us about the compliance to the system of points and deadlines in classrooms across the country.

If it is so entirely subjective, with nothing but a stack of points to look at, doesn’t tell us about the learning completed and how the student is set up to use those skills and that knowledge moving forward, then what is its value?

And, why then, are things like competency-based learning or standards-based grading so hard to implement across systems? 

Why are we so beholden to points and grades that have no universal meaning? 

The “A” at this high school and the “A” at the high school one town over in the same U.S. History class (at least same on the transcript) don’t confirm that these students have a robust and deep understanding of the last three hundred years of American history including key functions of government, major international and national events and a diverse and representative set of viewpoints and voices about things like immigration, land acquisition, voting rights and the social, economic and political weight of the system of slavery. At one school, it could mean a student listens to lectures, takes diligent notes and performs well on standard multiple-choice and essay tests. At the other school, it could mean that the student completed three deep inquiry projects on major milestones in US history and also performed well on textbook based periodic assessments. Because grading is entirely up to the teacher, the A could really measure attendance (* you can’t give attendance points, but plenty of teachers have daily busy work that can only be completed on that day/class, so in effect it becomes attendance points), compliance with teacher plodding through textbook, or deep analysis and accurate application of the themes and lessons learned in the context of the course. 

Why does it stay this way? 

Well, first of all, even though we don’t all know what a grade really tells us about learning and ability to solve problems and apply the knowledge from a course, we are still deeply attached to it in our school system. 

What will change this?

There are quality resources to guide schools to unpack grades and redirect the randomness by working together on what each measure of learning is and what it tells the learner, their families and the instructors. Called competency-based learning (see EdWeek report/explainer and report on implementation questions/factors) this is an approach where educators map out the knowledge and skills and the progressions in courses and then map on their periodic assessments (informal to formal) to show how students are learning. Results can be delivered in the form of a table that lists the knowledge and skills and different levels of progress - a dashboard of sorts. If the list is long and embedded in a school report card system, they can have codes (ex. 2f - utilizing research in personal writing) and be reported that way. 

They are so much more informative to students, parents and teachers. They make the direct connection between what students are learning and the student. They help with transitions from one school to the next (either the natural progression from elementary to middle school or if a student moves to a new school). They demystify what a student knows and what they need to learn and be able to do next. 

The real sticking point, though, is that our entire educational system is built around the grade.

There’s a need to create time and invest in people to take the time to learn together, in a climate of curiosity and inspiration, and create the learning sequences for their grades and courses. And as educators learn, the parents and guardians and students must be brought along to develop a new understanding of what it means to have a “grade”, or rather, an assessment of learning. 

There will be investment of money in new computer systems to produce report cards and track progress (there are great companies out there doing this, so it’s a matter of building a clear vision around competency-based learning and allocating resources there). 

The operational part can be addressed with a great project plan and finances. The people-centered part, though, needs resources, time for learning and a sense of urgency to reshape the system. Kids are continually waiting for schools to catch up to what we know are best practices and this is one that is possible in all fifty states in the US and the nearly 100,000 public schools across the country.

Check this out: Reinventing Report Cards: Reading, Writing, Collaboration and Other Work Skills – The 74 (the74million.org)

What excites you most about a new approach to grading?

What if the system of the last century gave way for the system of the century ahead of us?