Don't tell me grades should only reflect learning

Don't tell me grades should only reflect learning

To start, I have to come clean, my grades solely reflect learning. Students earn full points for late work and they are not graded on participation, effort, or any other factor other than their formative (~20%) and summative (~80%) assignments. 

My first question is: What does a 40/50 on a multiple choice summative exam? Free response? What does that truly mean in your class? 

When I reflect back on high school (10 long years ago), I have probably forgotten 70+% of the content, but still, use many of the skills that I learned. When I say skills, sure I am referencing reading skills and problem-solving skills, but the soft skills like timeliness, respect, leadership, participation, organization, and empathy are the ones that have shaped me into the person I am today and have led to any success that I have earned. Many of these skills occur naturally in classrooms, but none of these are assessed. Nor do I think they should be...by the teacher (more on this in another post)

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Whether I am picking an ideal student or hiring someone to work for me, I take the hard worker over the naturally gifted person pretty much every time. I have seen bright kids with little work ethic come home after their freshman year of college because they never learned what it was like to work. Sure they could pass a high school course by just showing up and being present, but when it came to having the discipline to go to class, use learned study strategies, and make solid decisions, these students failed. If grades are the key to college readiness and acceptance, shouldn't colleges know what type of young adult they are getting?

Sure I am generalizing here and many students come home from college for a variety of factors.

According to Tim Elmore, emotional intelligence (EQ) is a better predictor of future success that Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Do we measure this? Do we put any weight in this? Should we?

If we feel that these skills are necessary to future success, why are we not measuring them like we do academic skills? 

I have been following #TG2Chat and some other people who have gone gradeless and have really enjoyed learning about the different strategies and will be sharing my learning in future posts.

I will no doubt have much more to say about this topic and will lay out my ideal classroom grading system in my next post. If you have any feedback, encouragement, or criticisms please do not hesitate to comment! 

Comments

  1. Joy KirrFebruary 26, 2018 at 3:43 AM

    Trevor - Keep asking the questions that keep everyone thinking! My students self-assess on our 1:1 conference sheet at the end of the quarter - perseverance, self-control, courage, curiosity, and... (I can't believe I forget the last one!) I've played around with them self-assessing "effort," but for some reason I haven't added it. These are not included in the grade - they are simply reflections for now. I've added your name to the Feedback LiveBinder with this post. If/When you write more about grades and "tag" or "label" them as such, let me know, and I'll make the link reflect that tag, so readers can see ALL of your thoughts about grades. I'm excited to read more! https://www.livebinders.com/play/play/1693716?tabid=ac56c1ac-6f51-3016-cc14-35d2c461f67c

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