An 'F' for grading: Can expectations go any lower?

Grading may be stressful, writes George Leef on the Martin Center for Academic Renewal. It may deliver unwelcome news to students or encourage them to work for the reward rather than the love of learning. But abolishing grading -- as proposed in a new book -- is a bad idea. Expectations will be lowered even further, he predicts, leaving students even less prepared for the adult world.

"Everybody has won" the race, said the Dodo in "Alice in Wonderland," and "all must have prizes."

In Failing Our Future: How Grading Harms Students, and What We Can Do About It, Joshua Eyler, a University of Mississippi education professor, argues that grades cause stress, encourage "competition rather than discovery" and encourage students to do only what's required to earn their desired grade.

Students need to learn how to handle stress and be prepared for competition, writes Leef. If they have a bad day, they can make it up by the end of the semester. If they want to learn more -- most students do not -- they can do so.

Eyler also "condemns grading for its supposed role in controlling students and shaping them to societal norms," such as completing work on time and meeting the teacher's requirements, writes Leef. That prepares students for the adult world.

Instead of ABCDF grades, Eyler recommends instructors provide verbal or written feedback rather than a letter grade. Instead of basing the evaluation on test scores, the instructor might look at a portfolio of a student's work during the semester.

That might help students in some subjects writes Leef. But it doesn't avoid the need to evaluate or protect the weak student from hearing bad news.

It's also much more time consuming for teachers and much more subjective.

The book also endorses “collaborative grading,” in which the student and the instructor try to agree on a "mutually satisfactory grade," writes Leef. Would any student accept an F?

“While we do not yet have a lot of quantitative research demonstrating that collaborative grading leads to a greater depth of understanding and higher levels of achievement, we do have data showing that such models can enhance student autonomy, motivation, core beliefs, and dispositions about learning,” writes Eyler.

So, there's no evidence students achieve deeper or higher learning.

These ideas have been around for a long time, and some teachers and professors are willing to take the time to give students more detailed feedback on how they've done.

Maine tried evaluating portfolios as part of an experiment in proficiency-based education, reported Matt Barnum on Chalkbeat in 2018. It proved unpopular with students and parents. "Across the state, districts struggled to define what 'proficiency' meant and teachers struggled to explain to students how they would be graded," he wrote. "Those challenges, plus strong backlash from parents, caused the state to scrap the experiment earlier this year, allowing districts the choice to return to traditional diplomas."

Due to grade inflation, report cards aren't a reliable way to communicate academic performance -- but alternatives -- except for standardized test scores -- are even fuzzier.