Grading: Philosophy and Reflection

Grading, the double-edged sword in teaching. It is necessary and a useful tool, but it takes a lot of time and causes a lot of stress.

Many teachers have district or school-wide grading scales, policies, and common assessments. This can be beneficial because it is a pre-established system for teachers. However, we understand that sweeping policies are often reactionary and don't always account for content and level differences.

For those of us who work in smaller districts or departments, we often have to establish our own grading system. This allows teachers to reflect on their teaching, assessment process, and to develop a system that clearly communicates to students, parents, and themselves! However, this also leaves teachers with even more work within their limited planning times. This can also mean the teacher has little backing or support from administration when problems arise if it is not a school-wide policy.

No matter your circumstance, I strongly recommend reflecting on your grading policies and really think about what your grades are supposed to communicate versus what they actually communicate.

Grades should communicate:

Student development. Period.

This is multifaceted as a high school teacher. The purpose of high school is to educate students so they become productive members of society in a capacity they choose. I believe simplifying grades to "knowledge acquired" is not a complete picture. It is a very important part, but students are also learning life-skills and social skills. Doing this while balancing content is impressive, and they deserve credit for that.

This hidden curriculum is very trying in high school. Students become more autonomous, navigate social and professional relationships, and they study 6-8 courses at any given time.

I believe students should receive credit for effectively balancing their work load and working on course content (i.e. completing work in a timely manner, working effectively during class, etc.).

Grades should be communicated:

Clearly and frequently.

Grades are not effective tools for progress monitoring when completed three weeks after completion. This is not helpful for parents, students, or you (more on managing paper load later). If you continue to assign work and progress on your calendar without knowing if your students are proficient in the previous work, you are creating a giant headache for yourself.

Your grading policies should be crystal clear before the school year starts. Write a welcome letter and send it out or offer it at "back to school night". Hit the highlights, assign first homework that adult and student sign it, record that grade, then file it away. TALK TO YOUR ADMIN about it first. You can frame this as a 1) This is what my grading policies look like and I want you to have a copy, or 2) Here is what I am thinking for grading my grading policy, can we talk over it?  This provides you with clarity for yourself and for your administrator. Proactive is way better than reactive.

Even if you are not sending home grade reports every few weeks with your school, send out a short email updating parents about important dates and the skills they can expect to see from their students. This also reminds them to check on the students' grades. See my sample email to parents here. There is also a free template on my TpT site here.

Grades should be reflective:

If you use weights or points, make sure your assignments and skill/standard are labeled very clearly. Most computer-based gradebook systems allow for subcategories within major categories. By organizing your gradebook correctly, you can quickly identify if a student is struggling in one specific area or if struggling sporadically.

Is Norma doing well in all areas and then magically is a low-performer on the "oral communication- production" area? This lets you identify that you need to talk to her; does she have a speech impediment and is very shy? does she have crippling "stage fright" and need a 1:1 opportunity to talk?

Is your 2nd period class notoriously difficult and it seems they all do poorly on "listening practice"? Is this because your assignments are too difficult/easy and they find other ways to entertain themselves? Do you need to rework your seating arrangement? Do you need to ask an administrator to come in and help brainstorm? Do you need to practice expectations with them during class, after school, with their adults present?

You should NOT be the only one reflecting on student grades. Help teach them to reflect on their own grades. Provide print outs of their class progress, have them fill out a reflection slip on big assessments, talk to them 1:1 (even quickly) during work time. This will also save you headaches later on.

Grades should have a back-up:

Keep a paper back-up. This will save you one day.

I will post a photo of my paper back-up and how I use that to monitor students in a different post here.