What's in a Grade? It Depends on Who You Ask.

A grade means many things, to many different groups of people. Whether you are a teacher, an administrator, student or parent, an A, a C or an F has different implications. October's resources and discussions made even more visible the differences - and struggles - with grading that exist even within our own teaching staff.
It is often true that students and parents are focused on the grade itself. Good grades can provide entry into higher level courses, high school credit, and increased opportunities in upper grades, while low grades create fewer opportunities for the future. It makes sense that parents want students' grades to be high so that they have more available to them in life. Schools and teachers find themselves in the business of credentialing.

On the other hand, grades assigned by teachers are expected to align with student scores on annual state tests. Teachers are increasingly told to grade for mastery of the standards. So far, I am very pleased with the incorporation of MasteryConnect -- it will help all of us in monitoring and assessing for mastery, but I think it remains to be seen how this will transfer into major and minor grades reflecting mastery of standards. 

Our situation at Fisher is somewhat unique and presents its own challenges. First, while I agree that grades should represent mastery of standards, it is difficult to get 12 minor grades and 3 major grades that ALL represent mastery of standards when we only see our students 22 times per quarter. The need to have more grades in the gradebook becomes a real point of discussion -- a focus on quantity of grades rather than the quality of the grades in the gradebook. Second, being a STEAM/PBL school, we are focused not only on content standards but on developing students' skills that will make them successful in the future -- building creativity, collaboration, strengthening critical thinking and enriching their communication skills. Should our grades not reflect students' abilities in these areas as well? 

All of this makes me wonder what flexibility we have with grading. Should we set up our gradebooks by standards? Each "assignment" in the gradebook would be a standard, skill or concept. Student scores on the assessment for each standard would be replaced as students improved their understanding and demonstration of learning for each individual standard. In this case, the gradebook would be fluid throughout the quarter. At any time in the quarter, students would be able to complete a checkpoint or demonstration of mastery that would then be entered as a grade. But a change in grading forces a change in management/operation of the classroom. Teachers would need to create multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of each standard. Some students would demonstrate mastery on the first try, while others would need two, four or even more opportunities to demonstrate mastery. This type of approach does seem more student-centered -- rather than moving on, as Sal Khan described, each child has opportunities to master material before being asked to take on more complex material that may itself be based on understanding of the prior material. 

As with many other traditions in education, grading is an area where antiquated ideas and structures make responding to present needs difficult. We have all been "schooled" and these prior experiences shape how we do "schooling" today. Regardless of focus, our schools are still compartmentalized by subject, our gradebook software built around outdated means of grading. Our students often expect information to be delivered to them, while teachers are being asked to provide a more active and engaged learning experience for students. I think this is why communication is so important, a shared understanding of why we are here and what we are trying to do -- between all stakeholders -- parents, students, teachers, administrators, community. Without discussion, agreement and ongoing communication on topics such as grades, it's as if we are all operating in our own bubbles and every grade means something different.