If "equitable grading" meant only not counting non-academic issues (behavior, attendance, bringing in a box of Kleenex for everyone to use) as part of a grade, I'd be all for it:
The Wall Street Journal reports on a growing trend in high schools to ditch homework and move to an “equitable grading” system, which is supposed to measure whether a student knows the classroom material by the end of a term without penalties for behavior like skipping class...
But some students and teachers in Las Vegas claim that some kids are gaming the system and that equitable grading ignores accountability.
This goes back to my perennial question, what does a grade signify? I won't repeat here what I wrote 4 years ago, but my view on the topic hasn't changed.
My issues with so-called equitable grading start with treating grades like rewards or motivational tools rather than as measures of performance; for example, making the minimum grade that can be given (as opposed to earned) on a test a 50%, even if a student never takes the test, so that it's almost mathematically impossible to fail a course. This is good if your sole reason for living is to get more students a passing grade than to ensure they learn something, but I'm not one of those people.
If you have to use "equitable" as a modifier, you know the result won't be a good one.
“They’re relying on children having intrinsic motivation, and that is the furthest thing from the truth for this age group,” said Ms. Penrod, a teacher for 17 years.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mistake to count on anyone being intrinsically motivated. I was a dedicated teacher, but if extrinsic rewards stopped coming in, I would not go to work anymore.
Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara told the school board last fall that successfully shifting the system will take years, as the district’s 18,000 teachers shed the traditional grading mind-set.
Why do people keep falling for this? In three or four years, when this doesn't work, the superintendent will either rally around a new fad or move to a different district.