CHAPTER 4: Traditional grading hides information, invites biases, and provides misleading information
CHAPTER 4: Traditional grading hides information, invites biases, and provides misleading information
What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
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.
1. What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI am not confident that two teachers in my school would assign the same grade to a student. We do have a school-wide grading policy based on the International Baccalaureate program. Most of our core subject courses have common planning time and do some collaboration in discussing inter-rater reliability. We have done exercises where an entire department or grade level partners will analyze student work to discuss what grades or scores to assign. Although we do all of these “best practices” the reason for doing these things is one out of compliance. Our school administration and curriculum coordinator may share about our academic assessment policy and simply say what it is. There is no sharing of why it is of value to support equitable grading practices. Because of this each teacher goes back to their classroom and may interpret or choose to implement the policy differently. As I learned about the grade hacks, I realized how much more common it is than not for teachers to “bump up” scores or give extra credit. Most of the hacks I knew as not being equitable such as giving extra credit or assigning non-academic tasks. Our school does not use points or percentages to average grades. Instead, we use standards based grading rubrics to determine our quarter grades. Because of the subjectivity within this, there have been times where a student received summative scores (on an 8 point scale) of 6, 6, 6, 7, and 7 but I have given them an A but I realize that another teacher may have given that student a B. I will have a conversation with my school’s curriculum coordinator to implement a school-wide book study on “Grading for Equity.”
2. Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
There are students who share that certain teachers are “hard” or “easy” graders. I am not certain if their words are true because these are not conversations that teachers have amongst each other. I have never met a student who was happy to have a teacher that graded harshly or was disappointed to have a teacher who graded easily. I have heard that students like teachers who challenge them but when it comes down to the teacher giving them a bad grade, they usually become defensive. It’s so eye-opening to know how much variability there can be when each teacher makes their own choices on grading policies. Although we have a school-wide grading policy, there are no constraints to determine the weights of each criteria (e.g. participation, formative assessments, summative assessments). There are more school-wide grading discussions to be had.
Aloha Zachary, I notice your school uses a standards-based grading scale instead of a traditional 0-100% value. How has this impacted student growth? I would like to switch to a standards-based grading system but am a bit clueless how to do this- hence why I registered for this course. I wonder how future discussions and learning will guide me into this transition as an educator.
DeleteHi Zachary,
DeleteI noticed that you mentioned that your school takes time for some inter-rater reliability, however there isn't much discussion after the activities. I too, find that my school does the same. I like you feel that it is essential that all teachers share valuable and equitable teaching practices. It's great that we have the time to talk about grading with other grade levels when we have the chance, but I do feel like the conversation needs to go deeper into beefing up the grading as a school. And yes, sadly like you mentioned every grade level just goes back to their initial grading procedures. I hope there is a way to better address this, hopefully this class will bring some insight.
What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteAt my school I would feel fairly confident that two teachers at my school would give the same student different grades. I would say this for several reasons. One, every teacher comes with a deep and varied educational background that influences their choices. Depending on their schooling and professors they encountered, the experience of how they were graded differs. If one teacher in college felt a professor was being culturally biased, it can influence how they look at students today. Secondly, each educator has a different personality and perspective about education. For instance, some teachers are “teachers” and go strictly by the book. They might not be flexible in the learners hardships at home or disability. On the other spectrum, maybe another 1st year teacher might just view this as a ‘job’ and just give out good grades regardless. Overall, I feel there are too many factors that can interfere with grading.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
At my school, I know that a core teacher was viewed as a ‘hard’ grader. What made that label stick were several things. First, the teacher was very strict. All students had to be quiet, stand when speaking aloud, and the classroom audio level was like a library. Academically, you were held accountable on every level. If you turned in late work or did not do your project, you were held accountable that second. You might get a lecture and verbal admonishment. I’ve heard stories that students have cried in class and parents have often complained about grades to the administration.
For me I am not sure how the categorization makes me feel? I could care less about labels for now. I think for the core teacher, she must have felt a sense of duty. I really do not know because I never asked her. But I am very sure having all the parents' concerns about grades and the emotional health of their child would be stressful to balance. For the students, I know many of them said they were scared of the teacher. They felt they were under the gun and needed to perform to a certain standard. For those that could sit in class and follow directions, they did well. Others suffered trauma or simply got through grade 6.
Hi Jeff... I notice that we have the same perspective about not being confident with teachers grading the same way. I enjoyed reading the different factors that you listed as to why there could be such diverse grading perspectives. I know there is never enough time to go around, but I wonder if having conversations around equitable grading practices would actually save a lot of time and stress for teachers and students. More consistency amongst teachers could lead to a clearer understanding from students which would lead to high achievement levels. Stronger learning from students would mean less concerns from parents.
DeleteJeff, I notice that you are fairly confident that grades at your school are not calibrated and thus students who have different teachers for the same content would receive the differing grades based on which teacher they have evaluating them. I too feel that would happen at my school for the same reasons you do - that each teacher has different experiences and levels of expertise he/she is bringing to the table that color their judgment. I wonder if schools could invest more time in teaching teachers how to calibrate their grading so that there isn't so much variation amongst teachers of the same content.
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student? I have low confidence and am very uncertain that two teachers in my school would assign the same grade to a student. This comes from my first hand knowledge of grading systems and styles within my own department. I have been in meetings where teachers discussed their grading systems and there were varying styles of grading for each teacher. No two teachers had the exact same grading system. I learned in the reading that the traditional grading systems, including the system of 0-100, is skewed, biased, and unfair, and yet I have been using the 0-100 scale. I donʻt know why I did it- initially it was because thatʻs all I knew about grading scales but when asked at department meetings I explained that I felt if students didnʻt do the work they deserve a zero. I learned from the reading that it is extremely difficult, almost impossible, for a student with a say 10% to get to a passing grade of 60%. Thatʻs 50% they need to go from an F to a D whereas to get from a D to a C is only 10 percentage points. I never looked at it that way. I plan to change, as a matter of fact I have changed, and implemented a grading system of 50-100.
ReplyDeleteAre there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react? Yes there are teachers known as “easy” graders. I am one of them. I donÊ»t assign homework, all the work is weighted equally, and I accept test retakes and students can redo assignments for full points with no penalty for late turn ins. It makes me feel compassionate and yet I donÊ»t want to enable irresponsible behavior so IÊ»m torn about how I grade. Students have expressed gratitude for my grading policies and that makes me happy to know I can lighten their stress load, especially for struggling students, students with a lot of assignments from other classes, and those with AP and Honors classes. However, there are definitely some students who take advantage of my grading system and are not developing good work habits and ethics.
Hi Charme... I notice that you shared that you are an "easy" grader. Over the years, I would say that I also might be considered an "easy" grader by students for many of the same reasons that you shared - flexible deadlines, no penalties for late assessments, no homework, etc. I wonder if we can start reframing the word choices of our students and shift to whether they feel like a teacher is "fair" or "unfair" in their grading practices. The terms "easy" or "hard" could be taken a bunch of different ways based on the perspectives of the individual teacher. However, I don't think any teacher would be comfortable being called an "unfair" grader which would then lead to a rich discussion and or reflection on how to improve.
DeleteAloha Charme. I notice you are uncertain that two teachers at your school would assign the same grade to a student. I am also certain that teachers use different grading scales. I wonder how we can approach this within our school level departments in order to create change for the benefit of all students. I also notice that you allow test retakes; this is a good practice when we need students to improve. I wonder how students would react if you did not allow retakes.
DeleteHi Charme, I noticed you mentioned that you are an 'easy' grader. I kind of relate to you because I like to give students that extra chance or extra time. We do not know what is going on in their everyday lives, so I really think you are compassionate. I wonder if a better word to use instead of 'easy' grader is 'flexible' grader?
Delete-What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteWithin my school, I feel fairly confident that two teachers would assign the same grade to a student. However, since our school is pretty big, I don’t feel as confident that five teachers (which is how many we have on each grade level) would assign the same grade to a student. I think the teachers try really hard to be on the same page, and use the same rubrics, pacing guides, assessments, etc, but I think when it boils down to the final grade, we may not always have the same final outcome.
-Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
I haven’t really heard about teachers with grading reputations at my school, probably because it’s elementary school, but I definitely hear from students about which teachers are more “strict” and I think that they mean in terms of dealing with behaviors but also in terms of academic expectations and rigor. When I was in high school, the teachers who were considered “easy graders” were the ones who posed very straightforward questions on tests/ quizzes, gave little homework, and who weighted their grades more on preparedness, behavior, activities, and participation. The teachers who were considered “hard graders” were the ones who gave a lot of homework/ reading and gave really challenging tests, quizzes, and projects. As a student, of course, I wanted the easy teachers because I felt like their classes were more enjoyable and I felt like I grasped the content better when I wasn’t afraid of tests or the teachers themselves. As a teacher, I don’t know that I like being known as an “easy” teacher which is what I’ve been told by some of my former students. I want to feel like I challenged my students and be confident that they grew as a learner and a person in the year that they were with me, but if students feel like my class is easy, maybe I’m not challenging them enough. I think student’s get the idea that the “easy” graders are also the ones who are more lenient and laid back in their teaching styles and that the “hard” teachers are the opposite, strict and immovable.
Hi Kaci! I noticed that you said that you're confident that 2 teachers in the same grade would give the same grade to a student, but 5 teachers would not and that's how many teachers are in a grade level. I can imagine that having 5 teachers per grade level would be extremely difficult for them to all perceive each student the same and have the same bias in their grading. I wonder if some of those teachers are considered the "easy" graders and some the "hard" graders. I know when I was a kid, we definitely did not want the "hard" grader, they were perceived as the "mean" teacher.
DeleteAloha Kaci, I noticed that I had the same exact response to the questions for this chapter. I too am an Elementary School teacher and have been one for about 15 years. I haven't really heard anyone here as being categorized as an "easy" or "hard" teacher. Students solely use "strict" and "nice" teacher. As I ponder this question more I am wondering if students' comments on workload maybe their way of saying that their teacher is "easy" or "hard."
DeleteI noticed you shared that your grade level uses the same rubrics to assess your students. Did your grade level create the rubrics, or are they curriculum-based?
DeleteHi Kaci,
DeleteI noticed that you said that you are confident that 2 teachers would gi e the same grade, but not so confident with 5, I would have to agree with you because I think that like you said many factors play into this situation for example like you said rubrics, assessments, etc. However I would like to think that all teachers are fair graders and not just giving grades to be giving them and that the rumors of easy and hard grading teachers are just rumors. I know that in college now they have resources like "rate my professors" where students let other students know if the teacher is a easy or hard grader or if the class is easy or hard. I wonder if we had such data on us as teachers how it would look like?
Kaci, I noticed that you believe that two teachers may assign the same grade, but not five. That is a very interesting take since getting two aligned thinkers is hard enough. In a big school, it is very difficult to have large departments on the same page, but it is promising that you believe that teachers have at least one other person they are aligned with so that there is less variation in evaluation of students.
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI am very confident that two teachers in my school would not assign the same grade to a student. Even within the world language department, myself and the other Spanish language teacher have completely different grading systems. The other Spanish Teacher awards points for participation during class activities, whereas I do not. I believe there needs to be a more congruent grading system in place at all public schools. For example, if a student transfers from one teacher to another, that same student should be able to understand that their scores will also transfer to another teacher’s gradebook.
I am uncertain that any two teachers at my school use the same grading system. Feldman’s book has really changed my philosophy of assessing students. I plan to collaborate with my coworkers much more and together design a similar grading system. It would be great if this eventually became a schoolwide assessment practice among all teachers.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
Kauai High School definitely has some teachers with reputations as “hard” and “easy” graders. Teachers are defined as being “hard” graders when they do not accept late work, offer extra credit options, give more than one test per week, and or require open-ended responses on assessments. Instructors are considered “easy” graders when they allow students to submit assignments beyond the due date, offer extra credit on a regular basis, allow open note quizzes, and or grade on participation credit.
This categorization makes me question which I am viewed as-hard or easy. I feel like I linger in the middle as a mediocre grader. The teachers referred to as “hard” thrive off being strict, serious, and feel proud of their actions. Teachers classified as “easy” graders may feel accepting of their actions and grading procedures or they may feel like a pushover at times. Most students prefer a teacher that is considered “easy” versus “hard” because they want an easy class. If a teacher makes a class difficult and grades on a strict scale, they may not have the same line to teach next year- especially in the elective department. I have seen this within the world language department: students prefer to take Spanish and Hawaiian languages instead of Japanese because the teacher for Japanese is much stricter and forces students to take tests on a weekly basis. I hope this course provides me with some guidelines to address these issues with my peer educators.
Hi Melissa! I noticed that you teach in the world language department in High School. I loved reading your different ideas since I am on the other end of the spectrum teaching preschool at the elementary school. You get the kids at the end and I get mine at the beginning. My students don't even know what grading is. I grade their IEP's if they are progressing or not, but we do not have any formal grades. I wonder in your school if students would take Japanese if there was more of a universal grading scale for your world language department. Or maybe no grading at all since learning a language should be more about having fun, using the language for growth, and practice with the language than grades.
DeleteHi Melissa, I noticed that you do not have confidence in 2 teachers assigning the same grade to a student. I totally agree. Like you, I have a partner that teaches my subject area, Art, and I know from talking with her that we look at rubrics and even grades differently. I wonder if partners need to collaborate more so that there can be more consistency in grading. This will then benefit students that take our classes.
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI feel pretty confident in my school that the preschool teachers assign grades in different ways. We use the TSGolds to measure the students' development but it is biased and up for interpretation. We have many different trainings to support the alignment of where we measure our students but they usually come out within 1 to 2 scores away from each other. I think for preschool, the student’s skills in all areas of development are growing so quickly. One day I can measure their growth and the next day they have already progressed. I do not believe that grading a preschooler is even necessary unless we are seeing delays in their development and then it is important to get a baseline of their skills to see what comes next.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
There are a few teachers in my school that have the reputation of being “hard” or “easy” graders. One teacher comes to mind and she tends to pick favorites from the start and give other students a hard time. She tends to use her bias against the students that are not her favorites and make them do extra work to get the same grade as her favorite students. My son had her as a teacher and I remember him saying that she would pick on one student due to him having parents that spoke a different language. The parents shared that he received low grades in his citizenship due to talking back, even though the parents felt like he was standing up for himself. I think this is a representation of cultural bias. She is the only teacher in our school that I have heard as the “mean” teacher.
I noticed the mention of TSGolds, I had no clue what is - so I had to research. Yes, I don't see why preschoolers need 'grades' as much as 'goals/progress reports'. When I worked at an early childhood education center we would have the students work on a specific skill activity for a few weeks - for example, gross and fine motor skills. Holding a paint brush and having the students follow the dotted lines or having them only paint inside a shape.
DeleteI wonder if teachers can drop having 'favorite' students - wouldn't everyone be treated in an equitable way and that caring would go all around. Though students would grow in different rates and phases, that teachers would appreciate the growing process. Because like you mentioned, this teacher shows not sign of learning from her student - yet demanding that the students learn her way or the highway. So yes, 'mean' teacher fits her characteristic. I hope that she changes for the better and learn to be humble.
Hi Beth,
DeleteI noticed you mention a teacher who has favorites, and it seems clear that it directly plays into not only their grades but their general attitude in class. I've also heard of teachers who have favorites as well, and it definitely mars the classroom culture and makes it difficult for the non-preferred students to feel like they matter, or that they should continue to try.
I also appreciated you sharing about grades in preschool! I had no idea that they're assessed in that way!
Although it's sad and frustrating, I appreciate the story you shared about the student who "talked back"--it also shows that what we value and how important it is to care for our kids -- are we punishing the behavior, which is biased, like you mentioned, or are we taking time to understand their heart and the reasoning behind it?
In an elementary school setting, a pair of teachers that might possibly assign the same grade to a student would be teachers that work in the same classroom or with the same student in a different setting. In my experiences, I’ve closely worked with special education teachers to support our students, in and out of different learning environments, to provide content that is modified for student growth and success. Student grades are based on the conversations between the special education teacher and myself, which results in a collaborative effort to assign a final grade. Grades in elementary school are based on achieving proficiency using a standards based approach; did the student meet proficiency or not. I am confident that in my experiences, there has and will not be an incident where two teachers assign one student the same grade.
ReplyDeleteIn my high school, there was a social studies teacher that was known to be a tough grader, and in order to pass his class, you needed to have a good memory to pass his tests. There were no other options for extra credit, no opportunity to showcase your writing ability for a term paper, or do make up tests. It was….memorize the content and pass the test; no exceptions. In reference to our textbook, “Grading for Equality”, this social studies teacher is an example of a teacher modifying his grading percentages to meet his personal grading preferences. The grading was based 100% on tests and all the students knew it going into the class. I feel that this is an unfair weighting of skill because it does not provide students room for mistakes and growth. The score that you receive is finite; there is no improving the grade based on effort and attempts. I think the teacher wanted a high expectation for his students and executed that expectation by weighing a passing grade based on learning the content with only one attempt to pass. The students knew the expectation and what it meant to be a part of the class; it was something that we had to do and studied our tail ends off for it if we wanted to pass.
I noticed how 'hard' grader was defined by the social studies teacher. It would be a very difficult class to pass if you're not great at memorizing or making connections to terms and meanings. Though I could see if the teacher used no effective teaching strategies that would help the students understand and apply what they were memorizing to help the students in the long run.
DeleteI wonder if that same teacher ended up teaching in this 21st century classroom; if that teaching style would become obsolete? Would students choose to stay in that class or switch out because they gain no real depth of knowledge.
Hi Matthew, I noticed that you also discussed how tough graders do not leave any room for mistakes. I completely agree. I like how you analyzed the individual values of the teacher and how that affects the way they grade and what they prioritize. Those strict criteria of demonstrating learning does not reflect the process of learning and really only addresses a very tiny population, if any.
DeleteI wonder if this teacher was reflective in their practice and how their grading affected their students. Were students in that class prone to anxiety? Did this teacher have a high failure rate?
Part 1: I learned that when students are responsible with their academics and meet all requirements, grades will reflect across the board. I’ve seen this with my two nephews in different grades, different teachers/academies, and different learning styles.
ReplyDeleteChanges to my practice of how I grade students will change when students who scored poorly on summative assessments have a retake and improve their scores. Giving students opportunities to improve their depth of knowledge is a great way to demonstrate their self motivation, pride in their work and perseverance in problem solving skills.
I will implement better teaching strategies and student engagement activities to support concepts/units for each subject - this will ensure students receive the knowledge they need to prepare for post-high school education and/or careers/jobs.
Hi Hoku,
DeleteI noticed that you mentioned that you are thinking about making changes in your teaching practice for students that need to retake their assessments. This is something that I myself have tried to adjust over the past few years. I noticed that students who are willing to improve their scores will put more of an effort in their retakes. The only thing that I struggled with was deciding if I would create a whole new test or give a test that is at a lower level? What do you do for students? I have used both strategies, but the highest that students can get as far as their grade is meeting proficiency. I also do give students the opportunity to complete bonus questions to go above the standard, however that can only be awarded on the first time they take their assessment. I am interested to see what everyone else does?
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteI learned after talking with all of my students in my classes about other teachers, they were very vocal that there’s a bold line between “hard” and “easy” graders. The “hard” graders are the teachers that pile on the homework but give little value to the score. And when a student misses one or two of those little assignments, they see a decrease by a letter grade. The “hard” grader doesn’t accept late work, even with excused absences because the grader said, ``you can upload a photo or attach a file of the assignment onto the google classroom.” So there’s no reason that work should be late - except for major exemptions. I asked my students if they like being in the class, some say they do because of the rigor - others say they cannot handle the school workload due to the extra responsibilities outside of school. The “easy” graders are when students complete the work without struggling, they’re able to search for answers and problem solve with peers, formative and summative assessments aren’t rigorous and students are comfortable with the school workload and don’t stress about projects. For me, I place myself as an ‘easy’ grader due to the fact that I’m able to teach a difficult subject in a simple and fun way that doesn’t make the work taxing but enjoyable and the grades reflect their mastery of the units/concepts.
Changes to my practice will occur as a course-alike. When my course-alike meet together we discuss our syllabus, curriculum map, pacing guide, formative and summative assessments with rubric to ensure vertical alignment. We allow late assignments with excused absences and compelling sob stories - because we’re empathetic like that and survive off of the tears of our students.
I will implement conversations with my students about grading at the start of the semester. When I talk about my syllabus, it’s the most boring part of the semester - but I take the time to make sure they understand what they’re being graded on and how they can achieve the grade that they want. I make sure they get some knowledge even though it probably goes in one ear and out the other just as quickly. When I talk about the assessments (written or performance), some students are confident about their outcome while others become unaware of what they may receive due to the lack of preparation prior to assessments. Though knowing that the students are able to retake numerous times to achieve the grade they desire, gives hope in submitting quality work.
Aloha Hoku,
DeleteI learned a lot from your post! I was really unsure what a "hard" and "easy" grader meant. As I really haven't heard that kind of term being used in the elementary school setting. After reading your post. I too believe that I am an "easy" grader. As I am very flexible with time, collaboration and helping students understand concepts. In the elementary grades we measure students proficiency on concepts taught. I try my best to help students reach proficiency.
Hoku, you say, "I learned after talking with all of my students in my classes about other teachers, they were very vocal that there’s a bold line between “hard” and “easy” graders. The “hard” graders are the teachers that pile on the homework but give little value to the score. And when a student misses one or two of those little assignments, they see a decrease by a letter grade. The “hard” grader doesn’t accept late work, even with excused absences because the grader said, ``you can upload a photo or attach a file of the assignment onto the google classroom.” So there’s no reason that work should be late - except for major exemptions. I asked my students if they like being in the class, some say they do because of the rigor - others say they cannot handle the school workload due to the extra responsibilities outside of school." Wow, this is what many students experience, and I have no doubt that school becomes a time of punishment potential at every turn with these kinds of teachers--always finding ways to say, 'no'. How many children are left disaffected by these kinds of teachers!
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about two teachers in my school assigning the same grade to a student, I don’t feel confident that we would assign the same grade to the same student. This question is something that our school is currently working on. Through grade level and even cross grade level discussions we are hoping to find commonalities between our grading. As mentioned in this chapter there are many factors and biases that greatly affect student’s grades that teachers give.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
There aren’t teachers that come to mind with reputations for being “hard” and/or “easy” graders as far as I know. I am wondering if this categorization is more common in a secondary education setting compared to an elementary school setting. Thinking of my own grade level, I know for a fact that we don’t grade exactly the same, as mentioned before we as a whole school are working on that. Again, on my grade level one teacher may be more of a “stickler” on every detail but I attribute that to their character. Does that trait make this teacher a “hard” grader? I am unsure. The only thing that I hear from students is if their teacher is more “strict” compared to a “Nice and kind” teacher. Students will also compare their teachers by the homework they assign. At such a young age I wonder if they are focused on how their teacher makes them feel rather than what grades they are receiving? This type of question does help me to reflect on my own grading. I wonder what type of grader I am perceived to be?
I notice the words that your students use as "strict" vs "nice and kind" and I wonder how these same words apply to high school. Sometimes I think in high school "nice and kind" can sometimes mean the students can get away with many different types of bad behaviors in class while "strict" can sometimes mean their teacher holds them accountable for those bad behaviors. This obviously isn't always the case, but sometimes I think it is. Sometimes students do equate to how their teacher makes them feel with how much they are learning, as you mentioned. Which doesn't quite seem fair, but then on the flip side I remember how a positive relationship with their teacher can actually help many students feel safe and help them learn more, so maybe there is more to that that I am assuming.
DeleteI noticed you shared if students are focused on how their teacher makes them feel rather than the grades they are receiving. This is good insight as it also makes me think about how my students perceive me. At the elementary school level, it is a “big deal” for a student to perceive their teacher as inviting, respectful, a place of comfort, and trusting. In relation to grading, I also wonder how much of an effect having a “liked” teacher plays into the motivation and effort a student has in a class? Thank you for sharing!
DeleteI noticed that you also feel that two teachers at your school may not have the same grade assigned for a student. I also feel taht our school is lacking the communication in regards to grading and many students are left confused when they have five different teachers with completely different grading styles and priorities.
DeleteI wonder, what types of discussions is your school having about grading equity? What types of strategies or solutions have been suggested or implemented? Does your school seem to have a positive outlook on being able to increase grading equity?
I noticed you share that elementary students refer to teachers based on their personality, and I do see that as well as a 3rd grade teacher. I wonder if the personality will link, or currently does link, to how the child feels they are graded based on their learning experiences.
DeleteHi Dayton:
DeleteI noticed that you shared no teachers come to mind when asked is teachers are are hard or easy graders and that its more based on stricter teachers or nice and kind teachers. I teach 8th grade and I hear students talk about this stuff all the time, about how this teacher is mean or this teacher is nice and then the following week it changes on how they feel about their teacher (especially when the teacher gave them homework, or they got back their graded paper). I also wonder how many students feel that all their teachers grade the same or is it very different across the board. I know for our team , we meet and we try to be consistent with grading following the same grading policies within our departments and teams.
1. What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI have no confidence that two teachers in my middle school would assign the same grade to a student. Policies have not been aligned and grades are not being determined strictly on the standards, for the most part. Some teachers use a 0-4 scale and others use 0-100. Some don’t assign homework and some do. As chapter four stated, there are so many variables that impact grading and can cause them to be inaccurate. Having all these variables aligned under the current school/grading system is not going to happen, so it is very likely that a student would earn different grades depending on their teacher. Even the year that I was on a team where the teachers determined the grading categories and polices and listed them in our syllabus, there was still room for inaccuracy and inconsistency. We had a small part of the grade based on listening and participation, so depending on how we graded these soft skills the report card grades could vary. One year, when I was at Mililani, the social studies department would get together and grade essays as a team. We hid student names, used a rubric, and three teachers graded each essay and we would discuss and compare scores before the final grade was assigned. Even with a rubric, teachers graded essays differently. It was a very eye opening and interesting experience.
2.Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
At previous schools that I have worked at there were definitely teachers who had a reputation of being “hard” or “easy” graders. These ideas connected to the amount of work that teachers assigned or their grading system. I don’t really know how this made them feel. My students have told me that they think that my class is tough, but I have always strived to have high, but fair expectations of my students so I always responded with I am trying to help you prepare for high school and felt ok about them feeling that my class was not easy. At my current school, I have had several students talk to me about how they felt that their teacher was not grading them fairly and that the grades did not make sense. I have always backed up my fellow teachers, but when I looked at the grades online, they did not make much sense to me either. (I did not say this to the student) I helped the students with strategies of how to ask their teacher about their grades in a positive manner. This really was a difficult situation for me.
I love how your old department graded essays together as a way to see their different grading styles and how this can impact students. I feel like that must have been a very powerful thing to have done, I just wish we all had the time to be able to do that all the time.
DeleteI also wonder if there will ever be a time when situations like you mentioned in question two can be talked about between teachers, because, as we have noted, this is such a touchy subject that I can't imagine how those kind of conversations would ever be broached in a way that wouldn't result if defensiveness.
Hi Christine,
DeleteI noticed that you wrote that you don't have any confidence of similar grading, and I think that the question itself is problematic. I wonder if at the secondary level, when you have each teacher teaching a different grade level and different content specialty, if it's reasonable to have the expectation that the middle school music teacher will be able to read and grade an essay to the same extent an actual ELA teacher. I don't think it is because the music teachers fundamental teacher training is not based in essay writing, nor are they expected to be able to access the common core standards regularly in their grading.
1.) This is a question that really hit home for me. In my school, I sometimes see grades that another teacher gave out that really shock me. For example, the student cuts most of their classes (all classes) and rarely does any work or participates in any class (they have about a 20% in all classes) and somehow have an A in one specific class, along with pretty much all other students that teacher has. It shocks me in particular with students who I know have been absent for most of the quarter, mainly because it completely erodes my belief that the teacher is actually grading.
ReplyDelete2.) Yes, there are teachers who are hard and easy graders, I would say that the teachers who may be perceived as "hard" graders are actually the ones who grade mostly only tests and their tests are challenging. The easy graders are the ones who include participation, and extra credit, because there are ways to mask the fact that you haven't learned any of the content. My concern with this chapter lies with how to teach those students the soft skills if they are getting A's or B's without trying.... for example I have students who will not show any work on their math problems. Right now they can get the answers correct, but as the point is to actually do the work because I know it will get harder, it is challenging to instill this idea in them. If students are able to skate by on their previous knowledge and their ability to listen and learn enough to do well, how can we teach them those soft skills that they will need? But then this same though makes me wonder that if students can "skate by on their previous knowledge," are we even actually teaching them anything new in our class? Basically this chapter has provoked a lot of thought and I'm very interested to keep reading this book.
I noticed you shared your thoughts about “hard” graders as those who administer and only grade challenging tests, while “easy” graders are those who offer extra credit and an opportunity to prove their proficiency in the class. This is an interesting perspective because grading is a personal perspective based on the grader and what they see as proficiency in the skills they are teaching their students. If the teacher values soft skills more than content, the weighting of the grade will reflect that. In differing opinions, I don’t see graders as “hard” or “soft” as being good or bad; it’s based on what the graders see as important. I wonder if the question should be, should we standardized all grading perceptions or allow for personal tweaks to the grading system? Thank you for sharing!
DeleteJessica, I noticed that you shared that you had a situation that caused you to believe that grading may not even be happening in a class. As colleagues this puts us in a really hard position. We want to support our fellow teachers, but we also want to support our students. I wonder what is the best way to approach this situations. My experiences include several situations where a colleagues grades could easy be called in to question and it was really hard to know how to proceed. I wonder, what you did when you were put in this situation, if anything.
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI personally would not feel confident that two teachers at my school would award the same grade to the same student. There is an inconsistency in grading at our school and I feel that this is something that we are working on improving. I do however feel confident that my team teacher and I would award the same student the same grade because we work very closely together on planning, assessments, and often sit to grade with each other. However, with articulation across the various grade levels, I feel that the consistency and accountability for fairly grading a student does not currently happen at my school. I believe it is a goal for our school community to get on the same page where grading is consistent and coherent throughout the grade levels.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
Since my students are older, I feel that I hear a lot of students comment on how easy or difficult their assignments were compared to the assignments that they get in my class. Some students mention that they did a lot of “busy” work in previous grades that didn’t really have them apply their learning hands on. In a 6th graders mind however, I feel that their version of “hard” or “easy” graders might mean different things when compared to how other teachers perceive each other’s grading. For example, a student once told me that it was easy to get good grades because the teacher would not always check if their assignments or projects were simple and did not push them as hard as they are pushed in other classes. I feel that the consistency of quality projects and work that prepares students to perform a skill or create something is where an “easy” grader might start getting a reputation for. I also feel that since Covid, many students do not handle being challenged or pushed beyond what is expected compared to what students in the past could do. The last 2 years students were either doing enrichment work, review, or barely even learning concepts that were at their grade level. The grit and tenacity that students used to have is very difficult to see as students have a lot more anxiety connected to their learning. Therefore, now that we got back to regular learning this year, students have mentioned that things are “harder” for them. The categorization of “easy” or “hard” graders only makes me feel very uneasy that our school is not on the same page as far as student expectations go. I know that this is something that our school is currently trying to work on, and I hope that more teachers will be open to adjusting their expectations for students. Students will also benefit from having consistent grading throughout their school, knowing that every teacher that they could have will expect the same level of grit and work effort.
Krystin,
DeleteI noticed that you mentioned several times in your post that your school is currently tying to work on having more constancy in expectations and maybe even grading. I wonder what steps will be taken to accomplish this goal. I would image that the staff would first need to really trust each other and be open to change. As a whole, this is not something my school is looking at. The focus seems to be on putting something in place for MTSS. I wonder, if grading is something that is discussed as the MTSS committee meetings. I am not part of this group.
Aloha Krystin,
DeleteTeachers I work with also have inconsistent grading practices. Although this makes for "differences" in grading, it causes commonality with lack-luster improvements. Fixing inconsistencies are on a back burner to college/career readiness, academy certifications, early graduation, and facility upgrades.
On p. 45 of Feldman I noticed the "tip of the iceberg" analogy and how detrimental grading policies are when done in vain; we never know the large this iceberg is below the surface and what harm comes our way when not aware.
I wonder what formulas do work? What choices are worth examining and later implementing? Feldman continues to say that "formulas represent choices" and that we must be willing to either accept or create choices that will work for all (p. 45).
I know this however, the grading process is a beast for sure!
Hi Krystin,
DeleteI noticed that you mentioned how, due to COVID and the past two years, students do not respond to "pushing" positively to the extent that many student actually don't have the mental fortitude to be pushed. I totally agree with you and I am wondering how to navigate the fine line of "pushing" students to do better and taking it "easy" and allowing for mediocrity.
Val Shindo-Uehira
DeleteHi Krystin -
I also noticed that our students lack resilience and perseverance. When pushed too hard or when they feel expectations are too high, they give up and claim they don't know rather than rise to the challenge. We are currently working on these soft skills as a school through SEL/Growth Mindset lessons through the Advisory period. The wonderful thing is that I can see small (positive) changes in their attitudes and work ethics - I don't always hear "it's too hard!" now.
What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteAt my school, I feel somewhat uncertain that two teachers would assign the same grade to a student. I feel uncertain in a way because many students have discussed how differently their teachers grade. I have some students that are excelling in most of their classes, but are failing in one or two electives. I have found that those teachers tend to have behavioral issues with their students and do not have very strong relationships with their students. I have noticed that there are some teachers who expect to fail at least a few students each year. I think that the mentality they have towards grading and student success may hinder students’ growth in school.
There are other times where I feel confident that two teachers will assign the same grade to a student, but that seems to be due to the student’s reputation at school. If the student is known as a hard worker, teachers are more likely to give better grades compared to students who are viewed as troublesome. I hope that we can work together to create a more equitable grading system so no student is negatively impacted.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
Yes, at my school there are teachers that have reputations of being “hard” or “easy” graders. From what I have noticed, “hard” graders do not allow room for mistakes in their work and the students know that. “Easy” graders seem to allow more room for mistakes and give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning. Many of the students who categorize teachers as “hard” graders may not necessarily have a negative attitude towards their teacher, but they do seem a bit wary. I have heard some students say that they know they won’t pass a teacher’s class because they are such tough graders.
I feel like it is difficult to find the spot where you are meant to be as a grader. I do get worried that with preconceived notions about grading, students will not engage as much with the material because they may feel that success is out of their reach. I have seen other teachers feel validated when they hear they are tough graders and others who feel bad about it. From my experience, types of graders and their view of students is a mixed bag. Some teachers say they are difficult graders because they want to push their students, whereas others seem to like the power they have over grading. It is definitely a difficult line to straddle.
Students are usually able to pinpoint which teacher will grade harshly and which will not, just based on their daily interactions with the teachers. I have seen that students do not always seem to have connections with the teachers that are “hard” graders compared to those that are “easy” graders. I would like to hone my practices more so my students do not feel intimidated by my grading practices.
Hi Jamie,
DeleteI like what you said about teachers grading the same towards a student possibly because of his/her reputation at school.
I noticed on p. 43 of Feldman's book about bias and disproportionality. He speaks in length about misinterpretation of student behavior, "influenced by implicit biases", that can lead to further misfortune at the student's expense.
From this, I wonder about sociocultural norms and how it impacts teacher response(s) towards the misunderstood; such as in grading students who have presented undesirable behaviors. It causes me to reflect on my twenty-year career as a special educator and my implicit personal biases as a young teacher those many years ago and being grateful that I have learned and grown from it.
1. What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I see or don’t see at school, I’m unsure if any two teachers are using the same grading formula. I mention that because it shows inconsistent grading criteria across the board if it be the case. Our school has been encouraged to utilize commonality in planning time, assessment(s) and tools (learning objectives, rubrics, graphic organizers and weighted grade %) to name a few. Yet, teachers choose their solidarity. Therefore, one can only assume that teachers are being fair in their grading process. I have the privilege of working with two 9th grade English teachers. We three struggle with grading, still! The female English teacher of the pair has been known to drown in the amount of student work she has to assess and then to grade. Being overwhelmed weekly, she fails in grading any work. The increasing amount of work is placed in a filing cabinet and not seen again. This leads to her assessing students on the bias and common grades are assigned, always! It is at this point that she and other teachers “just pass” those students with special needs; usually with D’s because it’s too difficult, and involves additional work, to fail them. Reading p. 49 by Feldman has me reflecting on the “serious consequences” students suffer by our own hands and how our actions “[conceal] critical information about students and leads to decisions that harm them.”
2. Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
I work predominantly with 9th grade teachers (4 core teachers on a team) and there isn’t much talk from students about which teacher is an easy/hard grader. I would, however, judge teachers as wavering; eager to pass students to protect the retention rate which our school takes pride in. Teacher actions echo the words of our principal, “if the student does at least one thing in class, you cannot fail them.” It is upsetting to see flaws. Teachers complain about social promotion. Here our school does the same; it just looks different through rose-colored lenses. In response to p. 50 by Feldman, I say that our school encourages vertical promotion but has no linear accountability. I see disappointment (from the high achieving students) and relief (from students that skate by). Like Feldman states, our school’s integrity is called into question when we vary in our processes and are unreliable in grading (p. 58).
Hi Ceslee,
DeleteI noticed you mentioned that the three of you struggle with grading, and I'm curious as to if you're all struggling in different ways--many of the teachers at my school also struggle with grading (we're standards based, so it feels very subjective because there are no points), or if it is feeling overwhelmed with grading (I'm in that boat from time to time!). The book did mention that we shouldn't have a points based system where everything is graded because it creates a difficult environment for "effective teacher-student relationships" (pg. 31), and I wonder where the balance is. There must be a healthy and effective medium between putting things in a filing cabinet and grading all the assignments all the time (so much pressure on both teachers and students!). I wonder if you or your colleagues have come to any successful medium?
I also see teachers who pass students, and I agree it does the students such a disservice and teaches them that school is not to be taken seriously, and that free passes in life exist. That said, I have heard the argument that if a student CAN do the work, they just have CHOSEN not to, that they should still be passed on to the next grade level, and not "punished" for their lack of effort. At first I was offended by that comment, but now I wonder whether that is more equitable, since it is a behavior rather than an aptitude?
1. What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI have confidence that many grade level partners (meaning they teach the same grade and the same subject) would be able to give the same quarter grade to the same student, and similar grades on summative work. At our school, we have shared prep periods with our grade level partners, in order for teachers to be able to collaborate and conduct inter-rater reliability, where we swap summative assessments to ensure our grading is similar. We also share summatives across grade levels within a department and have at times even looked at summatives across departments but within teachers who have the same students. In those cases, it is more difficult to grade across disciplines or to grade across grade levels, however, but I appreciate that we are exposed to what students do in other classes. In our team meetings, we also discuss students who may need extra support, and generally if they need help in one class, they usually need help in multiple.
That said, we have had a great deal of turnover at our school, and not all grade level partners have a collaborative relationship, so I cannot say that all teachers, or even most teachers would be confident in assigning the same grade. I’m grateful that my partner and I are able to work together to share student work and ensure that our expectations are aligned. In addition, I do think that we would find a great deal of variation in grades for students that are earning D's and F's--one teacher's F may be another teacher's D and vice versa, due to the standards based grades that we use.
2. Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
According to students (who can be unreliable narrators, at times), there are certainly teachers that are harder or easier graders. Harder teachers may not give a lot of class time to work on their assignments, they may not be as available or approachable when seeking help, they may not necessarily explain the summatives very well, and therefore it’s hard to know what their expectations and instructions are, or they have high expectations and it requires a lot of work and effort to meet them. There are also easy graders that are defined by how basic their summatives are (doesn’t necessarily require as much higher level thinking, more memorization or copying information), the fact that they value aesthetics and will give high scores for that over content, or simply the students know that the teacher doesn’t necessarily read their work.
Personally, I don’t mind this kind of categorization; I’m not offended by it nor am I fond of it. I think it’s natural for students to categorize things and make judgements, I know I did this as a student as well. When it comes to the inequity of grading, however, I do have a different grading philosophy and teaching style, so I don't agree with all of my colleagues.
Truthfully, I’m not sure if the teachers know how students view them (myself included!), and therefore, I don’t know that they have any feelings associated with these categorizations. I would wager that the teacher who grades “easier” may not be aware of student perception, but they themselves have mentioned that they don’t fail students because they would rather not deal with parents, so they understand that their grading scale is not wholly accurate.
Students react to these teachers by complaining, but at the same time, they know how to earn an A in the easy teacher’s class, and they will still do the work that the harder teacher assigns, even if they complain about it. I find they complain more about the harder teacher than the easy teacher. There are also other teachers, however, who grade fairly or may grade hard but fair, and I often don’t hear students talk about them, presumably because they know why they earned what they earned.
Val Shindo-Uehira
DeleteHi Jennifer - I think its awesome that you are provided time to work with your grade level partner to calibrate your grading! As a school we have also tried to do this, but have never been consistent. We have also worked as a department on inter rater reliability, but like you, find it difficult to do this across different disciplines. Therefore, I wonder how we can move towards school-wide consistency in regards to grading.
What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI think that this question is extremely limiting. It’s limiting because, at least in my school, each teacher teaches the content area in one grade level - we don’t have multiple teachers teaching the same content area in the same grade level. Now, if the scenario was controlled, and two teachers were teaching the same content area and the same grade level and the same student with the same speciality licensure and experience, I would say that I am confident that their grading would align fairly closely.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
There are definitely teachers at my school who have reputations as easy graders. Those teachers base their grades mostly on classroom behavior - as such - knowing or understanding the content and / or being able to meet a standard is irrelevant. I don’t really care about the categorization because that’s the administration's job to confront disparities amongst the teachers. It only leads to unnecessary conflict when teachers try to supervise other teachers who are of equal standing. I don’t think the teacher cares how they are viewed because if it bothered them enough, they would do the work to make a change to be viewed differently. Regarding how students react, I think that some students are happy with “easy” graders, and that some students are not. Both reactions are valid, though I do feel especially bad for students who want to learn the content but the content is irrelevant to their grade.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAloha Nicholete! I feel that my thoughts are validated by you sharing your own thoughts on the value of having collaboration of teachers within the same content area and same grade level. It would indeed make a difference because all teachers in the group will be looking at the same elements at the same time, however, realistically speaking, we are indeed bound by the limits of our context. I also noticed that you pointed that it's the administrator's job to confront disparities amongst teachers but what is happening is we are left alone, getting comments on certain areas of our teaching, however there had been no explicit discussion within the school about what we need to include and what not, like in our grading system. Grading is an integral part of the educational system, which should really be critically examined and having teachers left figuring out on their own how to grade students is a blatant inequity. I wonder what school administrators and higher ups have to say on the current grading system and how they could make the shifts to help teachers assign grades at least close to accuracy. Mahalo for your insights!
DeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI do not feel confident that two teachers in my school would assign the same grade to a student. With a standards-based report card that is with a rubric score, our grade level ties a rubric score with a percentage. Therefore, the rubric score is tied to the report card.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
Ironically, my grade level had this conversation during data teams! I'm was told I'm a "hard" grader. For example, on an area post-test, students were asked to demonstrate finding the area using area tiles. Students were taught that an area of a 2D shape does not have gaps and overlaps. Students who had even the smallest gap were marked as "developing proficiency" because I thought they needed to "attend to precision" (one of the standards of mathematical practices). My colleagues saw the student work, and said it could have been beyond the child's control online (students were using Seesaw). I find it funny that several students from other classes have wondered what it would be like in my class, and my students tell them that all I ask for is for them to "try your best." I truly believe in setting high expectations for my students, even if it means I'm a "hard grader."
What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI am pretty confident when I think about two teachers that would give the same student the same grade because as a team we created a grading system that we would all use in Social Studies, so I would think that after looking at the lesson and following the rubric we would be able to give the same grade to the students. I do think that we collaborate often enough where we are able to be on the same thought process when it comes to grading. We also do peer grading once in a while, where I would bring some papers and we would discuss grading or discuss things that we could change for future rubrics. I am not saying that this is the best way to grade our students , however I do think when it comes to grading we collaborate and discuss so that we are consistent.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
I know that in 8th grade, I hear many of our students talk about teachers who are hard or easy, nice and kind. And then the following week they change what teachers they like or not like. I sometimes think that they change their mind based on if the teacher had a summative this week , or if they had given homework for that week. I do believe that in our school we are pretty consistent in our departments on when to accept late work, or the % of each category, so that teachers across the board are not judged because we are similar in the grading system. I do know that in college they have resources like , “rate my professor” that the students can share about the teacher's grading or if the teacher is helpful or not. I would love to see how students would rate me as a teacher or my peers.
Aloha Tammy! I noticed that you have a good system in place for vertical alignment and maybe horizontal alignment, which is lacking in most schools like ours because we only have one content teacher per grade level and PLC meetings are sometimes not utilized for calibration such as what you are currently doing. I hope I have the confidence you have as to your department's grading system and the complacency because you are sure that whatever happens, you have a team to back you up on your grading because you have a uniform and consistent grading system in place. I just wonder what difference will it make if we have the opportunity to also collaborate not just with teachers within our school but also teachers within the same content area within the KKP complex or even statewide, so we can gather some strategies and tools that are deemed effective by many, which may also be effective in our context if we give it a try. Mahalo for your input!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. What confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
ReplyDeleteI am not confident that two teachers will assign the same grade to a certain student for various reasons. First reason is, given the autonomy that teachers have in grading, categories and weights are assigned by different teachers according to their own preferences. Also influenced by their personal philosophy, web of beliefs and what matters, the criteria can be different. Second, even teachers teaching the same content, grade students differently. It might again be on assigning categories, which may include non-academic attributes like attendance and behavior; or on the range assigned to each number on a four point scale/A-F letter grade; policy of adding and subtracting points; or even on how many assignments are assigned and graded. Third, even in a system where there is a uniform scale and grading categories, or a departmentalized system where the same number of assignments are graded, there will still be a variation on how a certain teacher appreciates/judges a student output through rubrics. Also, implicit biases usually smear objectivity.
If there is a vision to achieve an across the board grading system, there should be an established and uniform categories, number of assignments and a much constant and consistent calibration of teachers.
2. Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
There are some teachers tagged as “hard” and “easy” graders. When I first entered the school where I am currently working, I had some ELs commenting that my ELA class is easier than the mainstream class, since the ELs that I had, came from the mainstream and moved to my class because of proper placement, according to the students “needs”. I had few conversations with them and the reason was about lack of scaffolds and support provided to the disadvantaged population, within the mainstream class, which is linked to the huge number of students in the class and the overwhelming variety of needs. Undoubtedly, if students are provided with the accommodations that they need and even modifications, there is a tendency that they could at least move towards meeting the standards. In addition, there should be a mindful alignment of the assessments to the standards. For instance, the standard is to write informative/explanatory texts…, Teacher A will be requiring a five-paragraph essay while Teacher B will just require a three-paragraph essay or even just a paragraph as long as the elements that are found in the rubrics are included. This then results in a difference in grading this specific work.
When I heard it first-hand, I felt startled because I never expected students to be thinking that way and I felt there was a need to address their misconceptions that have triggered them to make the labels to their teachers. It is just that, I am also perplexed by the whole grading system and I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to discuss why there exists disparity in ways teachers grade students. The categorization results in a tendency of students “liking” a teacher over the other, and wanting to be in the class over the other. Furthermore, this categorization and any side comments related to grading seems unfair to all teachers especially that teachers have never had any formal training as to grading and now, are being put into a position to grade and being questioned for accuracy, reliability and equity. Moreover, if we envision a more idealistic grading system, we should set up a more manageable class size so teachers can do what he/she has to do.
Hi Pinky!
DeleteI notice that at a younger age students tend to "like" a teacher more when they are "easier". Although, I think as students get older the stigma changes and they begin to "like" teachers who are well organized and have a structured classroom. Amongst the "chatter" in my classroom I overhear students being the most frustrated with teachers who don't have set grading scales in place or rubrics. They get annoyed with the inconsistency and also dislike the chaos.
I wonder if all teachers provided proper support and rubrics that higher level ELA students could always be in those classes? I feel like the best way for them to learn is challenging them, so I think that if proper scaffolding and differentiation is put into place, mixed level classrooms would be a great possibility (when teachers also have the proper support and maybe even and inclusion teacher in the classroom).
Val Shindo-Uehira
ReplyDeleteWhat confidence or uncertainty do you have that two teachers in your school would assign the same grade to a student?
To be perfectly honest, I am not confident that any two teachers in my school would assign the same grade to a student. As a school we all practice standards based grading and use the same weighted categories (80% summative assessments and 20% classwork/homework) each department also administers common assessments at the end of each unit. However, even with these agreements in place, I believe that there is still room for inconsistency in grading. Some teachers accept late work while others do not. Some teachers assign extra credit work while others do not believe in assigning extra credit. Some also incorporate participation points in their grades while others believe that behaviors and participation are separate from an academic grade. Even within a team of teachers these inconsistencies exist - if a team of 5 teachers cannot agree on common grading practices how difficult would it be for an entire school.
Are there teachers with reputations as “hard” or “easy” graders? What, specifically, defines them as that? How does this categorization make you feel? How does it make that teacher feel? How do students react?
I have not heard any students refer to their teachers as “hard” or “easy” graders, however I have heard students refer to a class as being difficult or easy. I believe that these labels are given based on the rigor and expectations of the class and whether the teacher provides materials and supports that will help students be successful. In classes where the teacher has a good relationship with the students and is able to provide these supports, students would perceive the class as being “easy”. However, if students feel that they lack this support and are not provided the necessary tools, they will perceive the class as being “hard”. It has also been my experience that when students feel that the class is “easy” and they are successful, they tend to work harder and will, in most cases, meet or exceed the expectations set by the teacher. In classes that are viewed as being “hard”, many times students fail to complete the work or do poorly.
Hi Val!
DeleteI notice that you have a school wide standard for weighting categories! Our school is very similar, although it is 75% summative and 25% formative. Teachers can choose their own grading scale but it is usually consistent within departments. Something that is also inconsistent is the late work policies. While some teachers accept all their work at the end of the quarter, some don't even accept it at the end of the school day. As a whole, I think students would be a lot less confused if the school as a whole maintained one consistent grading scale.
I wonder if students also classify a class being hard if a teacher doesn't provide consistency in their grading? I have seen students also classify a teacher as "hard" when a class is too rigorous where even with effort and extra time they cannot receive an A.
Every teacher at my school (that I know of) gives students the grade that they deserve regardless of what the other students get. I have very little uncertainty that a teacher would put a cap on the number of students that can receive a certain grade and I personally believe that this is biased and unfair for the students that may have a class of high achieving students.
ReplyDeleteWhile college may be a different story, I know that there are currently no rules in place that require teachers to grade a certain way.
Yes, there are definitely teachers that are “hard” graders and “easy” graders. As someone who was very recently a student myself, my perception of a “hard” grader is a teacher who doesn't set clear expectations or provide rubrics. I believe that rubrics are the best way to communicate what is essential in any tasks or assessment you are assigning Another thing that would make a teacher a hard grader is if the requirements for getting an A are almost unattainable. As a teacher, you should provide students with the skills they need to both meet the standards and be successful in your class. If getting the highest grade is “impossible” then the true questions is, why is it even offered? I would consider an “easy” grader someone that doesn't grade papers, or also someone that automatically gives student full points for participating. While there are some instances where participation is a grade, I don’t think students should automatically get a 100 for participating in a summative. Overall I can be considered both an “easy” grader and a “hard grader” by my students depending on who you ask. Being that I give rubrics for EVERYTHING my high achieving student consider me an easy grader because they always know what to do. For science, I do assign a lot of homework, so the lower achieving students may categorize me as as “hard”grader because they can’t just get participation points for being in class.