The Great Grading Conundrum

This article is part four of a series on assessment. Click here to read the intro article, here to read the second article, and here for the third!

“What should I be grading in my classroom?"

This is one of the most debated and polarizing topics in education…and has been for quite some time. But is the answer entirely subjective? That is what this article seeks to explore.

For some teachers (including young educator Ryan) the answer to that question is simple: Grade EVERYTHING! In my first years of teaching geography, I would collect multiple grades in each class period. Students turned in their homework…graded. Students took a quiz on that homework…graded. Students completed a group activity…graded (participation). Students completed an exit activity…graded (credit for completing). I was able to keep up, but the amount of correcting, grade recording, tracking student missing work, etc. was exhausting!

But the real problem was that check marks and letter grades were my only feedback to students. This is not what matters most for maximizing student learning. They need clear, detailed feedback on their learning.

When speaking about grading, Rick Wormeli often encourages teachers to use grades as a means of communication, not compensation. He views grade compensation as making students earn their grade by completing a series of tasks that may or may not be connected to their learning, including behavior tasks like participation, group work, and submitting work on-time. Whereas grade communication is a fair, accurate measure of a student’s learning…at that moment in time. 

The bolded phrase in the previous sentence is the key to answering the great grading conundrum:

A grade should be taken ONLY when it is a fair, accurate measure OF a student’s learning. Grades should never be recorded WHILE a student is still learning.

In returning to my early geography classrooms, I was consistently giving grades WHILE students were still learning. I was grading homework that was intended to be practice from the previous day’s lesson. I was grading quizzes that should have been used as information for ME about how well I taught the previous lesson. I was grading participation, which does not connect with student learning. And I was giving a completion grade for an exit ticket information that was intended to inform ME about my students’ learning.

The question of what to grade is not entirely subjective, but it is also not simple. It requires honest, thoughtful discussion as a faculty, but the guidelines below can help serve as a foundation for productive discussion.

1. Avoid taking a grade WHILE students are still learning. This means that you as the teacher are confident that ALL students have been given the instruction and feedback they need to be successful. Often, students are still learning when they are completing the following tasks:

1. Homework

2. Reading comprehension quizzes

3. Exit tickets

4. Self-assessments

2. Grade only assessments that are directly connected to student aptitude. Often the items listed below do not connect to student learning and should not be factored into a student’s overall grade:

1. Participation

2. Punctuality in completing the assignment

3. Neatness of work

4. Whether or not the student remembered to write his/her name on the paper

3. Focus on feedback more than grades. Recognize that the best way for students to maximize their learning is through clear, detailed feedback that allows each student to understand their progress towards meeting the expectation. San Diego State Professor Lee Ann Jung reminds teachers that this happens “with words and conversations, not numbers and letters” (Educational Leadership, 2020, p. 38).

Use the questions below to foster productive conversation among your faculty members:

1. What are some current practices at our school where students are being graded WHILE they are still learning?

2. What criteria should we use to determine what aspects of student work are grade-worthy? How can we ensure consistency across different subjects and classes?

3. What practical steps can we take to ensure our feedback is effective in promoting student learning, beyond just assigning a grade?

4. What challenges might we face in shifting towards grading practices that focus more on student learning and less on task completion? How can we address these challenges as a faculty, and what support might teachers need from administration to implement these changes effectively?

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