Why School Letter Grades Should Not Be Banned From Schools

Letter grades form a system for students to compete with each other in a way that’s healthy and positive. At the core of students competing for the best grade is the search and desire for knowledge. With all due respect, this is theory and not practice. The goal of the vast majority of students today is not “learning”, it’s “higher grades”. If that wasn’t true, no one, ever, would cheat on an assessment. No one. They’d never WANT to cheat! “That would be a misrepresenting what I actually know!” Riiiggghht….do YOU know more than a few students you have EVER worked with who think that way? Me neither. Competition has it’s place, but it ain’t here. Are we trying to perpetuate the understanding that education is it’s own reward; being able to meet essential standards multiple times over the course of a semester, or are we perpetuating just getting “better grades”? Each new assignment offers an opportunity to attain the highest grade, and the thirst for such an achievement is tied intimately to the desire for learning and broadening one’s perspective. You tell me: does this sound like YOUR students?

Letter grades make it easy and practical for a student to set and chase goals. By examining a teacher’s feedback, following directions and working hard, students are not only able to track their progress by identifying gained knowledge, but are able to see their grades getting higher. “That’s right Sarah, if you work hard enough you can elevate your grade from a “D” to a “B”… an “A” is out of the question of course because you blew it the first few weeks of class.” Woot. Really? And since teachers who give grades do not allow their students to re-take each exam –  multiple times if the student wishes – and “count” only the best one, the student knows that thorough understanding of the material they missed the first time is irrelevant because they now can only get things up to a B anyway… and that’s if they’re perfect the rest of the way, which isn’t likely because they already got a “D”! Standards scores are intentionally fluid, Grade scores are intentionally static and permanent (“…how can we determine class rank if we don’t?”). Which of the two authentically fosters students to meet our academic goals for them? The formation of a goal and the desire to achieve it doesn’t only help students grow within their educational institution, but is a lesson that they can use long after graduation. “The desire to achieve it”… my students have so much going on in their lives with co-curricular activities and jobs and family obligations that they don’t have time to start their homework until 9:00 at night half the time. My students ROUTINELY tell me how they stayed up til 1:00 in the morning doing their essay on a book they only read two thirds of. Their “GOAL” at midnight was not to “learn”, it was to finish! “It’s okay if I don’t do well on this, the quizes will bring my grade up.” (their words folks, not mine) So the lesson they learn and apply long after graduation? “It doesn’t matter if I know it, just so long as I look like I know it.”

AND IF I HAD A DOLLAR BILL FOR EVERY TIME I HEARD A SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR TELL ME, “GRADES DON’T MATTER ANYMORE BECAUSE I’VE ALREADY BEEN ACCEPTED INTO COLLEGE”, I’D BE WRITING THIS BLOG POST FROM MY VACATION HOME IN CANCUN!

Despite the fact that many parents hope their child will enter an educational institution and strive for excellence, many students aren’t as concerned with what they are able to get out of their school experience (I thought “competition” and “goals” had already prevented this?). For students who aren’t motivated, low grades can provide a significant wake-up call. If a middle school student receives a D on a report card, it could be the motivating factor to pay attention in class and get homework done. If this was true, why would parents have to use external punitive measures? Aren’t students already inherently motivated by poor grades??? I have never – not once in 26 years of teaching – heard a student ever tell me they were motivated to learn the material they had just assessed poorly on…. until I transitioned to standards. But before then, for 26 years? “Yeah Berg, I’ll try to do better from now on.” Oy.

In addition to the reasons why grades are positive for students, teachers also benefit greatly because of the system. The letter-grading system provides teachers with a concrete and efficient way of evaluating students. Please read my blog post from last week. Oh, sure, it ABSOLUTELY provides the “efficient” part alright… divide how much correct by how much possible and type it in powerschool underneath “Vocab quiz #7”. The problem is that letter grades also provide the APPEARANCE that students have been “concretely” evaluated. They don’t actually tell you how, or even what. Whether it’s quizzes, tests, midterms, finals or group projects, the letter-grading system offers an organizational method that’s been proven to be effective. The justification of grading is to offer an effective organizational method even though it’s blatantly vague and subjective? I thought it was to accurately report student understanding and proficiency?!?!?? 

This great picture of the grade yelling for help comes from a blog post from Kent State University which stated advice from teachers how to properly handle bad grades. These are, 1) “Ask yourself if you really deserve an above average grade for the work you turned in” to which I say, define “average”, and 2) “Talk with your teacher about why you received the grade.”

If you even have to ask why you got a certain grade, you are making my point for me.

Bottom line: the case for letter grades still  looks as solid as a big ol’ piece of swiss cheese to me and I have yet to be swayed. Apparently I’m not alone:

 http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-letter-grades-be-eliminated