Chapter 2: A Brief History of Grading

Chapter 2: A Brief History of Grading

In this chapter, we'll discuss the following questions:

1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

Post your answer to the questions above in the comment section here by clicking "Enter you comment" > choose "name/URL" in the drop down menu and add your name before typing your comment and clicking publish.

Comment on two peers' posts by clicking "reply" > choose "name/URL" in the drop down menu underneath their posts and add your name. Participants are required to comment on one " I notice...." and one " I wonder..." on two peers' reflections in each chapter.

Due. February 4, 2022

Comments

Zachary MoritaJanuary 27, 2022 at 10:18 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

I had known of the first four trends mentioned in the book - rise in manufacturing, progressive educators, migration/immigration, and IQ tests and sorting, however, I learned that one of the trends that developed in 20th century schools was also behaviorism. I had never really thought about how schools used certain external activities such as ringing of school bells, detention, and blowing of whistles as a way to drill certain skills in students. Although I knew that schools were created to train factory workers, I did learn of the specific skills that were taught in 20th century schools such as silence, punctuality, and focus. As a music teacher, there are certainly times when direct instruction is necessary and students must be silent and focused to understand the concepts being taught. However, I would also like to change my practice by having more opportunities for students to discuss, collaborate, and teach each other basic musical concepts such as what a quarter note is or how to hold drum sticks or treble clef note naming. I will do more pre-surveys to determine what my students already know so that I can implement small group teaching stations where students can learn from their peers. We can move from an educational system that values silence to one that values collaboration.

I think many of the school designs from the 20th century are the same or similar to those in the 21st century. For example, many educators still emphasize strict deadlines, speed and efficiency, teacher-directed learning, and structured learning activities that focus on following directions more than critical thinking. We also continue to use standardized assessments and A-F grading systems as a means to determine student learning and grouping of students.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school’s communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

One of the beliefs of the early twentieth century that I see in my school’s policies on curriculum is through the specialized subjects that are required of students. In 6th grade, the only choice students have in their course schedule is between Japanese and Mandarin. They are required to take language arts, math, science, humanities, music, art, physical education, and health. Although the students receive a holistic education and probably do coursework that is more relevant to the 21st century, I think we should experiment with a more flexible curriculum. Although we emphasize teaching life skills like being communicators, open-minded, and risk-takers, I also believe that much of the instruction is still teacher directed. In some classes, there are strict policies on no-retakes and hard deadlines. Although timeliness is an important life skill, so is the creative process which often requires learners to be more fluid in their thinking, ideating, and creating. One change in my practice is having more discussions with colleagues on aligning our school more to what a thriving business environment might look like. It would be exciting to implement a “sandbox” where students could explore, discover, and innovate with an entrepreneur’s mindset while connecting to different content areas.
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Taryn TakaraJanuary 30, 2022 at 2:49 PM
Hi Zach,
I noticed that you mentioned you had already know about the first four trends driving education in the early twentieth century. I wonder when you learned about this and if it impacted your teaching early on? Or was it something you learned along the way and did your teaching practice change along the way because of it? I hadn’t really thought about any of these things before this. I had actually know about behaviorism, as I studied it when I majored in psychology, but I had never made the connection to my teaching practice, or the teaching practices/assumptions I had grown up with. Was this knowledge a driving force in the way you teach now?
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Taryn TakaraJanuary 31, 2022 at 3:35 PM
Part 1
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
I would like to say that twenty-first century schools are quite different when compared to schools in the first half of the twentieth century. In some ways they may be, but in some ways the design and possibly purpose of our schools have remained the same. In the first half of the twentieth century, schools were built to meet the trending requirements directing the times such as: manufacturing, migration, intelligence testing/categorization, and behaviorism. I hadn’t realized how many practices and school setting desires, such as teacher-directed learning, speed, memorization, punctuality, silence/listening and testing had been driven by the needs and discoveries of the first half of the twentieth century. I never before realized how testing, a tool used for so long now, was holding back immigrants and dividing learners for such a long time. I also never realized that many of the skills that I had grown up thinking would help me for the future, such as being able to quietly listen rather than collaborate with others were skills prized for factory workers - not something I had aspired to be in my youth.
As one of the younger teachers at my school, I always think how crazy it is that education has seemed to change so much since I was my students’ age - but that change is still taking place. Certain things such as testing was prevalent throughout my own education - projects with multiple ways to complete the task only started becoming a thing later in my education - closer to high school. I remember growing up using the drill and kill strategy for math and music - something I was never good at. Yet when I went into education, this had completely changed. Even personally, when I started teaching, I was so afraid of having my students talking during our hands-on work time. I was afraid of having that loud, unruly class. Yet now, in my fourth year, I encourage my students to collaborate with their neighbors and help each other out because I started to question what a classroom full of students learning would actually sound like. I think this is something I want to continue examining - what does learning look or sound like? Is it messy and loud at times? And how can I foster that in my own classroom?

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Jessica GalvanJanuary 31, 2022 at 9:55 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

Schools in the early 1900's were designed to prepare students for their future careers, most of which were within factories or trade occupations. A small number of students would continue to higher education but the structure of the schools were such as those students were more or less preselected based on standardized testing, such as the students who were deemed best fit for factory jobs and other trade jobs were decided that way based on their testing scores. The current goals of schools today are not much different in my opinion. The goal is to prepare students for future careers, whether that will be trade careers or careers post higher education. The thing that has changed however, are the types of careers and the skills valued. Unlike factory jobs, silence and quiet attention are not always the most useful skills in jobs today, students need more creativity and problem solving skills in order to be independent thinkers and contributors to their work place. I think many times we forget what kinds of skills are valued in the workplace, and sometimes I think it may be in part because so many teachers have only worked within the teaching profession, and therefore don't have the personal experience with many different types of jobs and also don't have a tight connection as many fields don't work closely with high schools to help general education teachers decide what type of skills their students need to be successful in those fields.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

I see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves in our school's protocols mainly through expectations of teacher's for students to be receptive, quiet learners who complete their work independently or in small groups. I see it in the grading still as we are focusing on behavior even if we are not specifically grading behavior. I also see it in the communication as most communication with the families of our students are about the grades or about poor behavior.
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Matthew FujikawaJanuary 31, 2022 at 10:25 PM
The school system in the first half of the twentieth century was a direct reaction to social, economical, political, and scientific changes. America was striving for power and advancement as a country and education acted as a vocational strategy. In particular, grades were given as feedback and looked at as a success rate for future workers. Schools were created to provide advancement in the work force and students were divided based on their knowledge, which included IQ. In the twentieth century, schools’ physical appearance have technological improvements, but the idea of the traditional school system still exists. Students are placed in grade levels based on age, high schools provide vocational options for future careers, and the grading is still unchanged for the most part. There are strategies such as A-F and using curves to place students’ skill levels, which are still being utilized today.

The early twentieth century has many attributes about it that we still see in the school systems today. In fact, the majority of schools, public and private, still mimic the traditional school systems of the past. At my school, we have been fortunate to have a leader that has been willing to push for change in the way students learn. There might not be a change in the way we provide report card grades, but the way we interact with student learning has been an awareness our staff has been exposed to. Planting seeds with differing perspectives is enough to grow a garden. If you present change, change will happen.
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Nimblewill Makalani DeardenFebruary 1, 2022 at 6:28 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
The basic premise of Chapter two in Grading of Equity is that one hundred years later, schools in the first half of the twenty-first century are fundamentally the same as schools in the first half of the twentieth century. Feldman argues that this model was designed to respond to the evolving educational reality in the early 1900’s. Schools became larger and more diverse in response to increased urbanization and immigration. The ideas of Enlightenment progress and behaviorism also shaped the model as did the general bias toward efficiency, standardization, things that appeared to be “more scientific” during this period. And the majority of modern schools have not fundamentally re-designed the educational model since that time.
According to Feldman, education in both periods is focused on the production of entry-level workers in the most-highly regarded industry of the time, but with technology having replaced factory production over time. During both periods, schools overtly foster the illusion of democratization and equality in public education. However the reality is that both educational models reinforce the fundamental class systems and hierarchies in the larger society.
Chapter two of Grading of Equity describes an American educational system in the early 1900’s that began to serve large populations of students from numerous neighborhoods. The early 20th century schools were segregated based on race, which is illegal today. However, 58% of students in the schools in 1910 had foriegn-born fathers and I suspect that percentage is lower in most American schools today.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
This is only my second year at my school and with distance learning and social distancing in general I have a limited understanding of it. Nevertheless, I see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting in my school’s communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading. Many of the parents at my school do not answer phone calls, or use email or internet resources regularly, so the communication between the school and many families is the grade reports that are sent via snail mail. The 1800’s personal relationships, home visits, narrative reports and face-to-face conferences between faculty and parents are rare at my school. Like the factory worker training in the 1900’s, my school has a strong emphasis on career pathways, which is essentially career readiness. The tracking of the 20th century school’s tracking plays out in my school’s instruction. My school still has resource classes, which are small groups of low-skill SPED students and “credit recovery classes'' with reduced expectations. And my department will be adding a new tier of tracking, honors, next year. In terms of policies, my school and the larger DOE context are highly hierarchical and involve enormous bureaucracies. And my school uses the traditional A-F letters from “norm-referenced grading” for evaluating students. However I do not know if anyone on campus tries to implement a bell curve anymore.
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Charme TaksonyFebruary 2, 2022 at 9:31 AM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
I learned that in the first half of the twentieth century, producing factory worker readiness drove a lot of the ways that schools were run and how students were graded. We are currently doing the unit on the Industrial Revolution in class so I can connect what I have learned about factory and industrial work with the way that schools were run with an emphasis on tight schedules, work efficiency, and mass production. I did not realize how much we still, in the first half of the twenty-first century, put emphasis on “factory” type schedules. Although our students are not working 12 hour days in factories, many of them have commented to me how they feel like they are on assembly line-type work in their classes. They are expected to churn out products (class assignments/projects/homework) that are unenjoyable, unmeaningful, and are being done by them because they are forced to do it for a grade. A major difference I see in the first half of these two centuries is that the purpose of school has changed somewhat. In the first half of the twentieth century, school was a way to train and discipline students to become factory workers, and students were expected to fall in line and learn and comply. In the first half of the twenty-first century, I can see that sometimes school has become a “day-care” service. In some schools and classrooms, in-depth learning and training is not happening. Lack of effective leadership and qualified teachers in some areas are leading to students being way behind academically and socially. Issues such as truancy, absenteeism, lack of interest in learning, and disrespect for teachers and learning is escalating. An across the board, uniform training for work in the “real world” is not consistently happening. Teachers are floundering to find a consistent, effective way to teach and grade. There is no universal teaching or grading method.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
The way that I see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves in my school's curriculum and instruction is that we have a pacing guide that is very fast. It does not give us enough time to have in-depth learning, discussion, application of the material. Every teacher in my department comments on how we do not have enough time to cover material before we are expected to move on. In regard to grading, the traditional A-F scale is mostly used, although teachers have freedom to create/use their own preferred method of grading. In my practice, I would like to change the way I grade. Currently I am using the A-F scale but would like to implement a more effective grading system. I am not sure what that is yet but I am eager to learn more from this course so that I can maximize my teaching skills, my studentʻs abilities and their learning, and my time as well as my studentʻs time.
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Nicholete ItoFebruary 2, 2022 at 10:16 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
After reading through the chapter, my first instinct tells me that the design and purpose of the schools in the first half of the twenty-first century hasn’t changed much from the design and purpose of the schools that exist today. I think we would like to think that they have, but the truth remains that, for the most part, public schools (and especially those in the mid-low to low income areas) serve the exact same purpose - to assimilate, enculturate, and “teach” the necessary skills for low wage labor. Even though low wage labor has diversified, the skills that were mentioned that schools were teaching for factory work are similar to the skills required of those who do warehouse work, retail, fast food, food processing, grocery store work, etc. Furthermore, even in labor areas that are considered “skilled” and white collar some of those same standards translate, especially timeliness and appropriate behavior. I am hoping that the author will further extrapolate as I still see much of these skills as necessary to function and be successful in today's force. Our students will end up filling many of the jobs out there ranging from working in retail or fast food through being specialized surgeons or politicians.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
I think the majority of school based routines and policies are structured based on societal norms and expectations that follow from the first half of the twenty-first century. Specifically tardy policies and uniform requirements for the middle school and elementary levels. In regards to curriculum and instruction - I think that there is a vast array of practices happening ranging from traditional lecture to classes that are totally project based and self-paced. As for grading, as was stated in the chapter, the idea behind the A-F system is to standardize and simplify the ranking of students. I think it still serves that purpose.
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Melissa HilsonFebruary 3, 2022 at 2:17 PM
Schools served as facilities to prepare students for labor in the twentieth century. During the twentieth century, education was a platform for students to learn basic skills in order to be successful in the labor industry. I learned how schools also incorporated behavioral skills to help mold students into a complex system. Less technology existed in the twentieth century, allowing students to be more focused on learning and social interaction. School design has not changed significantly over the past century. The simple structure of students entering a classroom, sitting down, listening to lectures, and producing evidence of comprehension is fairly the same as it has been for quite some time now. However, I have seen teachers adapt to student needs and allow them to sit on exercise balls, couches, stand, etc. during instructional time. I am unsure how this modification affects their learning.

Our school has switched to an Academy design in order to prepare students for jobs after graduation. I feel this academy design is very similar to the early twentieth century model of producing citizens that are prepared for careers after high school. Administration, teachers, parents, and students primarily communicate via technology (gmail, google classroom, instagram, facebook, etc,) on our island. Obviously this has developed in the past few decades, with the push to use more technology in the classroom in order to meet future career demands.
Curriculum has also adapted to modern technology. In my language classes for example, students use a virtual online textbook platform instead of a physical book. This allows students to receive immediate feedback on their progress and learning. Thankfully, the majority of the written activities students produce are automatically assessed- therefore saving me, the teacher, ample time to plan more engaging lessons, converse with students, and also reflect on teaching practices. If the majority of students do not do well on a particular assignment, I am quickly able to reteach the material. Whereas if I had to sit down and grade all 155 papers individually, a day would pass and perhaps the skill along with it.
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Beth YoungFebruary 3, 2022 at 3:01 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
I found so much inspiring and mind-blowing information in Chapter 2. Our schools in the first part of the 21st century have evolved in some ways from the first half of the 20th century and some ways have stayed the same. The idea of making students into 20th century factory workers of being punctual, quiet, and following directions can still be seen in many classrooms today. Some teachers have evolved to have their classrooms turned into collaborative learning environments with rich discussions and students having a say in what they want to learn from the lessons. But other classrooms are still designed to have students be quiet and follow the directions given by their teacher. American children are not being bred to work in the factories, they are being taught to think for themselves and make their own choices in careers. Another aspect that I found profound about the schools in the first part of the 20th century was the student population. More than 50% of the students were of recent immigrant parents and the schools were there to make them into “Americans.” Today’s schools often try their best to embrace other cultures, but I’d say it depends on the demographic of the school. In Hawaii, there are recent immigrants but culturally our state is so diverse that so many cultures are reached in our classrooms.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
The beliefs of students being punctual is a big part of how schools still judge students today. Student’s grades can be significantly affected if the student comes to school or class on time. The student can have the best test scores in the class but fail if they are consistently late or miss too much of school. A student that is not “quiet” in class can have their grades altered as well when “soft skills” such as citizenship is just taken into account. I still believe that being punctual to class and respectful of teachers is very important and those ideas taught in the early 20th century are still important today. If those skills are not taught in the schools and carried out in the home, we would have a very chaotic and difficult time teaching.
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Jeff TAMFebruary 3, 2022 at 5:10 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
The schools in the 21st and 20th century have been designed to support the boom of the manufacturing industry in the 20th century. Changes in American social and economical structure encouraged this move. Thus, the educational system has not evolved drastically, when you compare their purpose and structure. Mainly, schools were expected to train student behavior to match what was needed for the factory. For example, schools would need to condition students to be able to be silent, follow orders, and be punctual. The purpose was to mold students for future work. In an interesting note, education was also mandatory, influenced by John Dewey. His ideas help make school compulsory so education would be provided for all to succeed. This is mind boggling when you contrast many of our founding fathers like Ben Franklin only had 2 years of formal education. However, there is one difference in how it changed in the 21st century. It is the use of the A-F grade. Schools felt they needed a more common understanding of how to show progress and learning, as the letter grade outlasted written descriptions.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
There are subtle ideas and beliefs of the early 20th century that manifest themselves in the educational system. One is the school bell. When it rings, it is like we are all cattle, roaming around at the same time, as if working for a factory. I feel like we are all being trained to follow a specific orderly factory schedule. Another example is how instruction is given. Students usually sit in rows and are expected to behave quietly, while an instructor teaches from the front of the class. Here, the teacher has all the answers, and the students are receivers of knowledge. Like in a factory, we follow what the boss says. Then, we really have to think about curriculum. In general, schools have a similar system. Students are required to take math, science, english, social studies and english. This is standard throughout the nation and is supported by the A-F grade. These grades prove your worth as a factory worker and students. Through grades, you can be ranked or repositioned in a program that best readies you for employment.
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Ruth Jane NaeoleFebruary 3, 2022 at 8:57 PM
Part 1:
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
I learned that although many years have passed, some things in how we do things in schools remain the same (to some degree). I now know that education started as a means to fill positions in factories. There was a need and it was filled. I find it ironic, being that in todayʻs world, and except for some areas in America, a factory worker is often viewed as a low income worker. Today, we have schools that specialize in different content areas to prepare our students for other careers. Back then, producing educated people to work in factories was the motivating factor for education. I also learned that although the design of a one room schoolhouse worked back then, changes had to be made to accomodate the ever growing population and that one room schoolhouse would one day cease to exist. Back then, narrative reporting was the norm being that they didnʻt have as many students, but it was seen as being “unscientific”, which led to a standardized system of reporting. Can you imagine having to write narratives for an entire classroom of 30? The last item Iʻll touch upon is the classroom environment. In the past, the classes were set up with desks arranged in rows, all facing the front of the board. Today, you can walk into a classroom and see that desks are set up for collaboration to take place. The students seem happier and more engaged in that type of set up. What was once a quiet space is now developing into areas that are full of chatter and collaboration. Although the teacher is in charge, youʻll find many classes with self-directed learning happening in place of direct instruction.
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Ruth Jane NaeoleFebruary 3, 2022 at 8:58 PM
Part 2:

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
As I look at the trends that influenced the twentieth century schools, I see that some of these ideas and beliefs are still being manifested in our schools today. As we all know, technology is the future. We are already seeing that used widespread as we endured the pandemic. In the past, they saw a need to educate people to become factory workers as this was the need back then. Today, we are trending towards using technology in all aspects of life and so many schools are focusing on CTE. Although happening in different eras, we seek to fulfill the need. I think we communicate to our students that seeking education in this area is one way to be successful in life. As we see the increase of EL students in our schools, we are constantly trying to make improvements on addressing the needs of students who have immigrated here. The population is growing and as educators, we have to learn how to meet their needs. Our school complex has already implemented a PD class to address working with these students. Our curriculum and instruction practices are changing, and we are learning to implement new strategies to help them. We are required to attend these classes to remain being a HQT.
Itʻs sad to say that even in todayʻs world, we still “track” students. I come from a school with a high demographic of Hawaiian students. They are usually labeled as our “struggling” students. They are the ones that are placed in the “easier” classes, the ones that are placed in special motivation classes, and the ones that are often in alternative education schools. They are the ones that teachers sometimes ask for them to be removed from their classes.Through experience, I can say that some of them can definitely rise above, if only weʻd let them. Our school created a program to help them be successful, but the fact remains that some of our local kids are labeled as “the Hawaiian kid.” Working with them has changed my current teaching practices. Yes, some of us have had to water down assignments and often make changes to our curriculum, but it's sad that we have to lower our expectations in order for them to move forward. Do I find it discriminatory as some do? A small part of me wants to say yes, but in reality, I welcome the fact that our principal is sincere in wanting to help them be successful.
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Shantell-Tiare "Hoku" TomFebruary 4, 2022 at 12:28 AM
Part 1:
1) Being a Gen Y/Millenial, I’d like to say I fit in the middle of seeing how grading the first half of the twenty-first century played out and now being a teacher in the twenty-first century twenty years later after graduating high school. I had four teachers in my high school career that cared more about the student than the grade. Grades were valued, each assignment/test/project/pop quiz, etcs. had a score. Your grades were based on the total score of all the assignments/test/project/pop quiz, etcs., and divided by the main value. Depending on a percentage the letter grade A stood for 90 to 100, the letter grade B stood for 80 to 89, the letter grade C stood for 70 to 79, the letter grade D stood for 60 to 69, and anything lower than a 59 was awarded a letter grade of F, which was a failing grade - not the best of odds. This made getting a perfect score counted, even if you’re not going to use algebra for the rest of your life.
I’ve learned how to grade using a rubric, each rubric covers a unit/concept - which has been broken down into two to four standards/goals for the students to master. The student is able to work towards accomplishing the standard versus competing with their peers. They can track their progress in a simpler format than just errors on a test/summative.
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Shantell-Tiare "Hoku" TomFebruary 4, 2022 at 12:29 AM
Part 2:
2) My school’s communication has improved due to technology, but the school’s communication can use more transparency. It’s like the old way of getting things done is implementing a system or policy or making changes to curriculum/ text books and adding on more teaching strategies in the hopes that we bend the knee and follow like sheep. The ideas are in place as far as letter grades, and we can’t grade on bad behavior unless it’s connected to a GLO or HA value. As teachers, we’ve outgrown the old styles of creating curriculum maps, enhancing better teaching practices and strategies for stronger student engagement, continue to have monthly conversations with Admin about new and/or adjusting policies as they trickle down from the DOE, all while grading student work before grade deadlines tomorrow.
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Dayton LabanonFebruary 4, 2022 at 10:56 AM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
When reading about the twentieth centuries’ design of their schools it reminded me so much of my research on the history of Lahainaluna Seminary. Although my ancestors’ were a part of the founding classes of the school in the 1800s many of “school to work” programs continued on into the twentieth century. I’d like to say the twenty-first century has totally changed in its design, purpose, and students but there are still many aspects still prevalent today. We still use a similar grading system that puts students into grouping. Insteading of manufacturing students for the workforce many of our students are being prepared for college and universities.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
In our school’s today there are still in my opinion remnants of the designs that were developed in the 20th century. One example are the GLOs, general learners outcomes, which are related to the academic grading system but separately graded. I always explain to parents that the GLOs are applicable to even adults in the work field. Are schools today “manufacturing” students to be the same and think the same? I think this is the area that our school system has grown. Grown out of the “production” design of its students. We have given our students today room to grow and create. Although, I feel that we still have room for improvement.
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Krystin MaruishiFebruary 4, 2022 at 11:02 AM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
From what I can infer from the Chapter 2 reading, there haven't been many changes in the school’s design and purpose compared to the early twenty-first century. Students at the beginning of the 20th century were trained to work in the factories after getting their education. Later, two types of views on education emerged. Progressive thinkers believe that education needed to be standardized, where all students had a shared curriculum. On the other hand, some people believed that offering a differentiated education would best prepare students to work in factories. The more I think of grading and the purpose of our education today, I also view two different types of thinking regarding a school’s purpose today. There are those on the far left side who believe that standardizing students to proficiency with grades is what is purposeful for school. On the right hand side there are those who believe that education should be individualized for each student’s future. Now that I have been teaching for a little while, I think I find myself in the middle, trying to navigate through expectations and seeing my students as individuals. I am hoping that this course will help me continue to find that balance and fair grading for all of my students.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
There are many thoughts that run through my head when thinking about the early twentieth century beliefs about school that are incorporated through my school’s current environment. I personally feel that at my school our communication has gotten better, however it still has a ways to go as far as curriculum, instruction, policies and grading. Oftentimes I feel that our leaders try to implement too many new things at one time and teachers feel as if they are drowning in learning so many new tools that they are too overwhelmed to get better at their individual crafts. I do believe that change is good, but when too many changes roll out at the same time it makes it difficult to be invested. I have felt drained since the Pandemic, on top of regular school policies and expectations. Having to be on my toes and change my teaching practice was exciting, but now that things have been shaken up I want to really get a hold of my craft. I am hoping to make more sense of grading from this course to gain a better grasp of helping my students not only learn to meet standards but to feel accomplished with improving in every way that they can.
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Christine HernandezFebruary 4, 2022 at 12:51 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
My understanding was that schools were started to make sure that citizens in the United States had the knowledge and the skills to fully participate in our democracy; to vote and be productive citizens. The ideas in chapter 2 of “Grading for Equity” related to this idea. Stating that schools were set up to prepare students for the economy/jobs of the 20th century. I think having a job is part of being a productive citizen. The section on behaviorism was something new for me. I did not realize that they used this type of psychology in the school setting. Currently, there is a big push for trauma informed practices, so while behaviorism might not really be used any longer, psychology still influences schools. A-F grading scales, school calendar (which I believe was set up based on the needs of farmers), testing, and preparing students for the workforce are still in existence today. I do believe that we have made steps forward regarding equity but still have a ways to go. There is also more focus on the whole child.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
The economy greatly influenced school during the 20th century and this has continued throughout the 21st century. College and career readiness is part of schools missions and visions, curriculum, instruction and policies. We are still focused on teaching academics which has become more standardized with common core as well as behaviors via social emotional learning programs & curriculum. Testing has improved, but can still be biased. For example, asking a kid from Hawaii about a winter/snow situation. In many ways our schools have not kept up with the times, technology is an area that comes to mind.
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Jamie EconomyFebruary 4, 2022 at 2:13 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
In the first half of the twentieth century, America experienced an industrial revolution that required a specific work force. Five trends that impacted schools' design, purpose and students in the latter half of the twentieth century were the rise of manufacturing, more progressive educators, immigration and migration (increase population in urban cities), intelligence testing and grouping, and finally behaviorism. These trends influenced the educational system. Educators were trained to prepare students to meet specific roles in society such as factory workers. The educational system was organized in a way that categorized students into specific tracks that then instilled the hierarchical relationships within society.
The first half of the twentieth century, the family was considered the primary educator for their children. Only a small population of children attended school and all of them learned “side by side with age appropriate curricula that often consisted of whatever books or other materials were available.” Student populations were low and most schools accommodated agricultural economies. Most students were white children, ranging from ages 15-19. Students were not categorized and groomed to fit a specific workplace. It is clear that the radical changes of the industrial era shaped school to fit the needs of that specific time period.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
I feel that our schools communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading are still very similar to that of the early twentieth century. Our schools still track students and categorize students based on abilities and behavior. Curriculum is definitely influenced by the needs of our workforce. As the text states. …”the largest industries constantly exert pressure on schools to provide more appropriately trained employees for entry and lower-skilled positions.” Our schools still focus on behaviors that were desired of students in the early twentieth century. For example, our bell systems, school rules and policies are influenced from the industrial era.
Rather than grading individual students subjectively on their progress, we still adhere to the grading system created during that time. We still grade with an A-F scale which further imposes the ideas of the industrial revolution in which it was believed that intelligence is distributed “normally” across a student group regardless of each individual. To me, the industrial era promoted factory education, in which everyone was to assimilate and now we are in a very different historical context and our education system needs to reflect that.
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Angela NatrasevschiFebruary 4, 2022 at 4:00 PM
1. Social trends like the rise of manufacturing and migration in the early twentieth century, placed pressure on schools that influenced the teaching of certain behaviors and grading practices. One trend that I noticed was the “cultural veneration” of productivity. (pg 19) I learned that timed routines were one of the influences of manufacturing. It made me wonder how much this shift in education still influences things like bell schedules and even my own lesson planning. One change to my current practice I would like to make is to have students plan their own timeline for a project of their own design. I will implement this by having them write a proposal that includes how long they will need to research, sketch, and execute their design. Additionally, they would be accountable for keeping track of their progress according to the timeline they designed for the projects execution. As well as, communicating with me if they need to adjust their original timeline.

2. I learned that the original purpose of our current grading practices was efficacy. Meaning that the pressure to standardize a system of reporting grades changed from narrative to a standardized system. The effect of this was “superimposed on the normal distribution across a student group”. (pg 23) The origin of the A-F grading system was implemented as a system for communicating student achievement to external audiences. This made me think about how I communicate student achievement in my classroom. One change I would like to make to my current practices, is to give more written feedback to my students. I will implement this by having an end-of project critique style where the student participates in a written peer evaluation, and in a third column I write feedback to each student for the same critique prompts.
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Beatriz Ramos JimenezFebruary 4, 2022 at 11:13 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

Schools in the first half of the twentieth century were designed to meet the needs of society at that moment. It does not seem that much different than what we have today, it is just that we have different needs than before. Students are still categorized based on scores, such as standardized tests, and we often keep grading soft skills. For instance, yesterday one student approached me and asked me if he was not getting points for participating in the activity. I do not assign points for participation, and it is not in my syllabus, but I guess he has had that experience in the past.
The difference that I find between the first half of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century is in the skills that are considered valuable. It is true that we value silence in class, but it is not well received when a student is always quiet and does not participate in classroom discussions bringing new ideas. It is interesting to see how little the grading system has changed in the last hundred years.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

I see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through classroom expectations. As I mentioned before, it is well perceived when a student is vocal and contributes to classroom discussions with original ideas, but we still have the expectation of punctuality and silence during instructions, among other expectations. I think it is crucial that students learn life skills such as punctuality, however, we tend to leave less room for creativity when we have hard deadlines and no flexibility. Although behavior might not be part of our grade directly, it can be indirectly.
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Jennifer FungFebruary 4, 2022 at 11:32 PM
How do schools in the first half of the 21st century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
I see commonalities in the kind of students that we’re teaching; we have a diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds, a number of immigrants from various countries, and we’re still aiming for a standardized sense of grading, and a standardized curriculum. We continue to have tracks for subjects like math, and we continue to use grades as a gateway to not only educational opportunities, but vocational/career opportunities as well.

I have sat in a parent meeting with our counselor, special education care coordinator and principal, and the parent was advocating to have their child held back for a year to give them an opportunity to “catch up” so they could do well on SATs in high school and be able to apply for college and get athletic scholarships. When we told her that her child would be successful enough (success to us and success to her were vastly different) in high school, and there were no grounds to hold them back, I could hear her heart break over the fact that she felt like her dreams for her child were dying. She wanted her child to be held back so they would be able to earn A's instead of C's in high school. She felt like the educational system had failed her child because there was still a gap between her child and their peers, and the gap wasn't being closed, regardless of the needs of the child. She just wanted her child to have the best opportunities available, and average grades were indicative of a future in which her child would fail to thrive in society. There is still a strong notion that grades will determine success in life, although personally I don’t think it’s necessarily true.

In contrast, although most teachers do not believe in “natural intelligence”, it is still pervasive in our culture. Students still have a mentality of you’re either born good at a subject, or you’re not--there are the English and social studies people, and then the math and science people, and you’re either good at subjects or you’re not. It’s why we’re trying to teach our students about growth mindsets and grit in this day and age, to teach them that their brains actually are plastic and moldable.

How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early 20th century manifesting themselves through your school’s communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
We do utilize a standardized curriculum, we do still place weight on standardized testing and use it to place students in tracks for math. We also have teachers who prefer a more lecture-based teaching style as well, and we encourage students to value “punctuality” and “following directions”. I pushed back a little when I read that, because I do think punctuality is a good thing to have when it comes to societal norms (meeting friends, being on time to work, etc), and following directions has a place (navigating job applications, driving, etc), although solely relying on following directions at all times squashes creativity and innovation.

That said, I do think our school has done a good job of trying move away from those older methods--a few years ago we got rid of almost all the individual desks and replaced them with tables that make it easier for collaboration. In encouraging group work, I feel we’ve also moved away from solely valuing “quiet attention”, and instead value collaboration, problem solving, and creativity. In addition, our grading is standards based, so while classwork is used as data points to inform instruction and student growth, their grade is based on summatives only, and we grade on a 0-8 point scale rather than percentages.
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AnonymousFebruary 5, 2022 at 11:15 AM
Hi Jennifer,
I noticed that you spoke a lot about grit and students struggling to have a growth mindset. I totally agree that this is something I have recently been focusing more on in my classroom. More so within the last 2 years, I find that students easily give up or stop trying when they know they aren't fantastic at solving something that takes time to do. I am hoping that more sel type activities can remind students that it is okay to be wrong! Learning is not something that happens over night, but it takes practice and practice is something that they don't like doing. I wonder, have you see the same type of thinking in your classroom over the past couple years as well?
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Leanna AgcaoiliFebruary 5, 2022 at 12:21 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

Based on the reading, my understanding of schooling in the first half of the twentieth century was that education was to enhance the workforce. During that time, our society saw an influx of migration and immigration from various European countries with families' desires for "The American Dream." Now in the twenty-first century, we are asking children to be more collaborative and innovative as they are immersed in a technologically advanced world. Schooling has evolved beyond just following directions, but also how can we take our knowledge and creativity and enhance the workforce.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

A huge challenge within my school is the large influx of families who have immigrated into our community. Families are not just learning about how to teach their children in an American school, but also learn how to accept and combine their cultural practices with Americanized idealisms. With this being said, it continues to be a challenge for our school (and district) to communicate with families the importance of attendance and communicating children's whereabouts. As education is at the forefront and deems humans successful in the US, it is not always as of the same importance to families who are adjusting to US cultures and values. As we continue to navigate and learn about each other's differences of opinions and values, the hard work our school and many others have displayed is not often reflected based upon US grading scales.
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AnonymousFebruary 13, 2022 at 1:38 AM
Lorrdez Williams
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

Even though schools in the first half of the twenty-first century have advanced technologically, the design and grading system is similar to that of the schools in the second half of the twentieth century. First, the design of schools in both the twenty-first century and the twentieth century continues to be shaped by the social and political ideas of our society. During the twentieth century the rise of manufacturing caused a shift from producing less agricultural workers to more factory employees. The focus of school was to prepare students for the industrial workforce which focused on specialization, chain of command, and time routines. While schools of the twenty-first century are not only producing factory workers, we are preparing students for vocational school, higher education, or the demands of the workforce. Yet, the focus of schools today is similar to that of the past since students are grouped by academies in order to specialize in a career, they are taught that there is a hierarchy to obey, and the students follow routines to be efficient. Next, schools continue to use a single letter grading system to group students according to achievement level.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

The ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century are evident in my school’s communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading. For example, during the 1800s communicating student progress through oral reports or written narratives were used to determine the teacher’s next step and eligibility for higher education. This is similar to how our school uses team planning time to meet with parents to go over a student’s progress and emails to communicate with parents. Similar to how schools in the first half of the twentieth century used behaviorism to shape students to act in a certain way, my school uses the exact method to teach students how to follow the rules. For example, students are required to use a school uniform, wear a color coded grade level lanyard, and follow the bells accordingly. Even though my school continues to use the same grading system as the past, we have evolved to allow students the opportunity to retake any of their summative assessments.
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Sharilyn PangFebruary 16, 2022 at 12:45 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
The one-room school house began the institutionalization of education. As there was only a single teacher and a small group of students from the community in class, student progress was communicated to the families through oral conversation or written statements. When schools as an institution grew not only in size but in purpose to serve the entire population’s compulsory needs, reporting of student progress became a more daunting task thus the assignment of letter grades (A-F) provided a more efficient means to communicate and track the progress of individual students and classes on the whole. These letter grades were considered to be “norm-based” following a “bell curve” as the belief that intelligence is distributed amongst the masses and thus performance reflected the norm. Grades based on the “bell curve” were considered to be objective as they were thought to be distributed normally.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
In the Hawai`i Department of Education, all secondary schools give traditional letter grades, A being the highest mark and F being the lowest. How those grades are determined, however, is up to the school and ultimately each individual teacher. There is standardization in what each letter is valued numerically for the purposes of generating a grade point average, however there is no standardization in how those letters are awarded. This is a stark contrast to the “standardized” marks that are awarded at the elementary level - Meets with Excellence, Meets Proficiency, Developing Proficiency, Well Below Proficiency, and Not Applicable at This Time. And though there is a different marker for elementary versus secondary, this becomes convoluted with the lack of standardization of placement for the 6th grade level of schooling as elementary schools that have 6th grade rate students on the “standardized” scale while middle schools that have 6th grade students rate them on the A-F scale. This becomes an issue when a student transfers mid-school year from an elementary to a middle and vice versa during their 6th grade year and report card grades need to be determined based on previously awarded grades that are on a completely different scale. Thus many teachers responsible for such a determination turn to numeric equivalents in order to make sense of the differing interpretations of performance, even if they are responsible to deliver instruction and evaluate performance of the same academic standards.
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UnknownFebruary 23, 2022 at 7:50 PM
Valerie Shindo-Uehira

1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
Honestly, I never really thought too much about the evolution of education so there were some definite “aha” moments that occurred while reading Chapter 2. I learned that the design and purpose of schools in the first half of the twentieth century were largely influenced by the social, economic and political changes that were occuring in the United States. Prior to these changes, schools were built around rural populations that relied heavily on agriculture. As Immigration and manufacturing increased there was a shift in the purpose of schools. Factory owners pressured policy makers to implement practices in schools that would eventually prepare students to become future employees. Practices included timed routines as well as tracking students based on intelligence and ability. Schools were also pressured to adopt a standardized method of communicating student achievement and therefore adopted an A - F grading system. In the twenty-first century grading continues to be used to communicate a student’s ability to master concepts and skills. It is a universal “language” that all educational institutions rely on. Schools also continue to prepare students to enter the workforce. High schools have adopted career pathways that allow students an introduction into various types of jobs based on their interests. Schools have also taken an approach to educate the whole child and have adopted SEL curriculum that teaches soft skills such as emotional regulation and self care in addition to the traditional core curriculum. In the end though, I feel like the purpose remains the same - preparing students to become responsible adults who are ready to enter the workforce. After reading this chapter, I wondered what schools would look like today had many of these changes (the rapid rise in manufacturing and increase in immigration) not occurred.

2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
The ideas of the early twentieth century can be found in my school’s policies, communication, and grading. Timed routines continue to be a part of the school day. Students are signaled when to change classes and when to go to recess and when to take lunch. Wearing of IDs and uniforms are also some school policies I believe are carryovers from the twentieth century. Although our school has moved to standards based grading, these standards are still quantified and reflect the A - F system created in the early twentieth century. Grades also remain as a means to communicate student success to parents and other educational institutions. Unlike the lower grade levels, our school does not incorporate General Learner Outcomes (GLO) as part of the grades and therefore behavior is not communicated home through the report card. One way in which our school differs from those in the early twentieth century is that our students are grouped heterogeneously and are not pigeonholed into academic groupings. However, students who require higher levels of support are placed in a homogenous pull out class.
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Tammy CabralMarch 10, 2022 at 3:48 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?
From my reading, I got that much of the twentieth century experienced social economics, political and scientific changes that created these expectations of school and how education was viewed. For example, the rise of manufacturing in the 1800’s put pressure on school boards and leaders to prepare their students for their future benefit of great employees. Also with the Migration and Immigration of people and the effect it had on employment and population of foreign born students also affected the schools and the educational system. When I reflect upon how it used to be back in the 1800’s I would suggest that education was not given to all and for those who had the privilege of getting an education was based on building future leaders in the factories, depending on the backgrounds and the social factors. To me its a bit different on the purpose of how we teach and why we teach and grading however I do think that we still look at teaching so that we can build future leaders and prepare our students for economic , political and scientific changes that may happened and that our students are ready for all that may come their way.
2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?
In today's world we use the grading system of A-F on curriculum, and I do believe that parents and families look at that grading system as the success of their child. Many times I hear families talk about how their child gets a 0 or a F and they are bad kids, or they won't make it in life. I think that sometimes these grades create a sense of identity that students start to believe that's who they are. As I reflect on the reading and how the teacher would present oral reports or written reports on how the students did on performing certain skills like penmanship or reading, and then the parent and teacher could work on preparing or taking the steps to readiness for more education or for jobs. I remember being in elementary school in th 70’s and having report cards that reflected my written progress that expressed some of my challenges , goals and what I was good at. My parents didn't just look at the grade but they read it and we had conversations about what the teacher wrote. Having this type of open communication through a report card I think gets a bit lost during the middle school and high school level.
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Pinky Grace FranciscoMarch 23, 2022 at 12:31 PM
1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?

School is indeed a dynamic institution. But although it keeps on evolving, there are still apparent remnants of the old school's design, purpose and students on what we currently have today.
During the first half of the twentieth century, schools have been greatly influenced by the five trends: The rise of manufacturing, progressive educators, migration and immigration, intelligence testing and categorization and behaviorism;(pp.18-20) and are designed to sort and acculturate in service to efficient, and appropriate preparation for workforce employment, incorporating virtues like punctuality, quiet attention, regularity, silence and following directions(p21). The students before are also diverse, and intelligence is measured through a National Intelligence Test, wherein it served as a basis for homogeneous grouping and separation/isolation(p21). There was the existence of biased testing, institutional racism, income inequality, white privileges, watering down curricula for those on lower tracks/vocational classes, marginalization and inequitable access to education. Grading went from descriptive/anecdotal to letter grades (A-F).
Twenty-first century schools are still geared towards preparing students for future careers/employment but schools have stretched to unleashing the potentials of every student through not limiting them to possibilities. Colleges are setting specific standards for students to enter a certain degree, like a certain GPA, however, choices are already more than ever. Progressivism is still present through the Compulsory Attendance Law, however, today’s schools are not offering the same curriculum like the “common school” idea of progressivists. There is much more flexibility on the curriculum being used especially in special classes like EL J classes wherein the curriculum is suited to the level of abilities of the students, but is still aligned with the mainstream curriculum. Migration and immigration still directly impact schools but instead of isolating the minority students, they are mostly in mainstream classes a majority of the time of a day and classes are heterogenous (homogenous/self-contained during a specific period of the day, depending on the kind of support a student needs). Standardized testing is still a part of the educational system, still norm-referenced and not relevant to most students of diverse backgrounds, and is still a basis for scheduling courses for certain students, but the difference is not to isolate them but to help them thrive in a more pressure-free environment, full of scaffolds and support. In this present time, Grading is still letter grades but is slowly making a shift to standards-based grading. There are still issues of inequity in education but other issues are being addressed. Virtues like punctuality, quiet attention, regularity, following direction and silence are still embedded in the teaching and learning process. And the most apparent change from the 20th to the 21st century is the advancement of Science and Technology, with the presence of high-technological tools that aid teaching and learning. Tangible books are still being used but mostly as supplementary resources because of the availability of ebooks.
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Julia HiranoMay 26, 2022 at 3:13 AM
Schools in the first half of the twentieth century were primarily focused on teacher-centered learning. In my education classes we called this the “Sage on the Stage” method of instruction. This form of teaching was very similar to a college lecture and consisted of a teacher speaking at the front of the class for the entire duration of class, while students take notes and ask questions as needed. Many of the classes were geared towards getting a job right after graduation with a few students attending higher education. I asked my grandma and her sisters what made them choose their careers, and they said that as women, both their parents and teachers heavily pushed for them to be a teacher or a nurse (my grandma and her sisters are a mixture of teachers and nurses!) Schools at this time heavily enforced skills like math, english, writing and also put pressure on students to be obedient and always follow instructions by the book. Now going into the twenty-first century, the grading focus is almost the opposite and the curriculum looks at creativity and problems solving. In my Human Anatomy/Physiology class, my administrator loves to see problem based learning and case studies integrated into my curriculum. I also include hands-on learning and skills assessment tests for assessing patients into their grade. Overall I think this type of grading is more beneficial in the long run in helping students learn, as compared to assessing their knowledge on one-two standards based tests.
I partially see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century still being manifested today in the strictness of respecting your elders. I feel like this level of respect for your superiors will never go away. I also believe that even though classes are slowly straying away from direct instruction, this is something that cannot be entirely removed from the classroom. For example, in a math class a student can’t just complete a quadratic equation problem from exemplifying his skills of building a house, they have to see a teacher demonstrating these skills and walking them through the process so that they can be successful. Through instructional practices and grading, I can see teachers still giving some tests and also upholding them to the policy of being a good listener when the teacher is speaking.
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