It is a natural phenomenon that teachers evaluate students based on their performance at the end of each lesson, test, or exam.
In most cases, this grading impacts how the student will react in the next lesson or how the student will behave in class.
As teachers, it is your responsibility to encourage every child’s effort, regardless of how insignificant their accomplishment appears to be.
The bottom line should be that they put forth a tremendous effort, even if they did not accomplish the same level of achievement as others in the class.
However, if a teacher gives a student an 85 percent mark, does it suggest the student understands 85 percent of the subject, did the student complete 85 percent of the required work, or did the student simply have to attend school for the 85 percent?
What exactly does this imply? The majority of these gradings do not provide reliable information, necessitating a rethinking of the grading system.
It is your responsibility as a teacher to teach students about your content area, such as the English Language, to foster their growth in that discipline, and to accurately report their level of material comprehension.
Three widely used traditional grading methods
Taking an average of your scores over time
Teachers teach for a semester and assess students at various intervals; this exercise is fine for students with strong skills, but teachers should not penalize students who have had a poor foundational experience as they may have encountered some distress that exacerbated a slight dip, or who take longer to learn new things.
Given that everyone learns at a different speed, every student should receive the same grade if they display the same level of comprehension, and grade books should reflect these principles.
If a student does not meet the criteria, retakes are required and must be performed within class time. Students are offered tailored remedial instruction and are appraised whenever they’ve gained new knowledge.
Including elements in grading that aren’t related to subject comprehension
In actuality, with a 60/40 mix of tests and classwork/homework, a student could fail every test, averaging 33%, but still pass if he or she completes all of the work. The pupil does not understand the material, yet they will pass.
It’s concerning when a student’s grades don’t appropriately represent his or her need for extra help.
A student with high topic understanding but a poor grade, on the other hand, is likely to be in this situation because they do not display good student practices.
It is more accurate for them to focus on content understanding rather than grades reflecting these habits.
There should be a link between practice and achievement. Sports, dance, video gaming, and other interests help students realize this relationship. With something as vital as education, why not lean into that correlation?
Reporting scores that aren’t clear
It is unclear, for example, when a teacher reports quiz 4C: 70%. Students and their carers should be informed about their grades in a timely manner.
Report on the present level of understanding of students on specific learning objectives based on learning progressions.
Teachers should use a competency scale to rate evaluations. If a test covers four learning objectives, it should yield four scores in a grading book so that everyone can see where the student is succeeding and where they are suffering.
On the other hand, grading a student solely on percentages is incorrect because it is possible that the student knows three out of four evaluations yet failed.
With that amount of demonstrated understanding, do they truly deserve to fail? Students can take more control of their educational journey using this method of giving grades. They can keep track of activities, establish goals, and see how far they’ve come.
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to edbuild daily digest for updates
