"If his grades start to slip then we take away that Xbox."
"She's a good student, she keeps her grades up, I trust her."
"He got straight A's. I never would have guessed he was struggling so."
Grades serve many purposes. They give teachers a way to tell students how they are doing, and policymakers a way to see how a swath of students are progressing, and colleges to see whether a student is worthy. They cause stress, too, and have been shown to actually squelch a love of learning. And they play a complicated role in any parent/child relationship.
Author and behavioral expert Alfie Kohn talks about the stress and squelching in this month's journal "Educational Leadership" in an article titled "The Case Against Grades."
I want to talk about the parenting.
You may know Kohn from the other ways he has tried to upend other key assumptions of child rearing. Among his books are Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes, in which he argues that praising and rewarding children causes them to turn to extrinsic, rather than intrinsic, factors for motivation throughout their lives, and Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason, which take similar issue with punishment as a way of influencing a child's behavior.
He has long argued against tests and grades, too. That this latest article appears in so prestigious an educational journal is not a sign of new thoughts, but, possibly, broader acceptance in school administrative circles.
Kohn begins that article by arguing forcefully that grades harm students -- diminishing rather than sparking their interest in the subject matter being learned; sending the message that the goal should be "the easiest possible task," and motivating them to focus on "what they need to know" for the test.
In other words, the goal of the student becomes the grade, not the knowledge, and reading his arguments I was struck by how often that becomes the goal of parents, too. The grades our children bring home are one of the few measures we get -- or so it can sometime seem -- of how we are doing. That explains why too many of us become too invested. We do the best we can every day, and worry that maybe it isn't our best or isn't enough. That report card seems to tell us where they, and therefore we, are doing just fine, or falling short.
The idea of eliminating grades -- de-grading, get it? -- has been raised periodically for decades, and it is in practice in dozens of schools around the country. (You can read about several compelling examples here.) The academic literature about replacing letter and number grades with narrative assessments and conferences goes into detail on how to prepare faculty and students, but far less on how to readjust the worldview of parents. (Though care does seem to be taken to reassure parents that yes, children in De-graded schools do get into college.)
In many ways, this paralells the push and pull over Preschool that we discussed on Parentlode earlier this month. In an post titled "Is Preschool Dead?" I highlighted Paul Tullis' excellent Scientific American article in which he looks at how the demand by parents for a measure that their child is learning conflicts with the certainty of educators that freeplay, not academic rigor, is how young children learn.
As a parent, I would, on the one hand embrace the elimination of grades, if in fact the researchers are right and this would allow my kids the freedom to pursue knowledge instead. I would certainly embrace the reduction of stress that this would bring. But I also confess I would be a little lost. How to measure who they are, what they know, what they can do -- and whether I am doing right by them?
Kristen Paglia: Create the State -- The Multi-faceted Role of the Arts in Education Reform
My colleagues and I, NONE of whom are a "tenured College Professor, K-12 educator or Teachers Union Rep" (sigh, you and those capital letters ...), are highly entertained by your style and how your ego gets activated when someone points out your sanctimony. We're intrigued by how fired up you must get -- furiously typing away -- such that you don't notice you've typed "educaterd."
Oh, by the way, my colleagues and I are also NOT liberals, non-commoners, or supporters of our failing system (just covering all the labels you've assigned me because I won't REFUTE you).
JROPER201, we have been having so much fun with you (I read aloud your posts), and we know you would rather dismiss this deliberate choice as an INABILITY TO REFUTE your "statements, assertions or facts" than accept the idea that people don't enter debates with someone filled with such pomposity (seriously, why bother?). Besides, REFUTING you could not possibly be as much fun as PLAYING WITH you and your ego. Even though you said goodbye on 11/20/11 (sniff, sniff), we're thinking we'll pull you back in with this one (darn ego!).
JROPER201, while we do not identify with your abovementioned labels, we acknowledge that we are indeed (darn, you got us here!) "one of the GRAVEST DANGERS American has EVER faced" (caps added). We're getting t-shirts made.
Steve Kaufmann
CEO LingQ
I guess you all want one of these non graded people to design your cars, buildings, homes, bridges, airplanes, etc.?
Get real and stop coddling kids so much. This is just like the schools that do away with grading in red ink because it hurts kids feelings. If you are wrong, you are wrong. Learn from your mistakes. Earn your grades, earn your life. Life is tough, if you make it seem like a cake walk, kids will fail when they get to the real world.
He is now attending a traditional middle school with tests and grades and I feel that he has become so much more happier, and studies harder because when he gets a low mark on a test he makes sure to study more so he scores at least a 90 percent on his next test. I suppose there are certain types of kids are motivated by tests and my child, I learned, is one of them.
You have to aquire the knowledge to get the grade. if you forget the material as soon as the test is over, then clearly whatever your studying isnt the life path for you because you clearly just dont get it. Thats why I'm not an accountant, I hate math, and I suck at it.
what grades do is hold students accountable for aquiring knowledge, and test them on their ability to apply that knowledge.
Sorry if you have kids that just can't seem to get good grades, but don't screw over all of those kids that can. Hard work and the ability to use your brain should be rewarded.
It's a lot harder if you're stupid."
John Wayne
It's becoming more obvious every day the old adage is true.
Teachers and schools responsibility used to be to PREPARE our children to become responsible adults able to support themselves their family and contribute something to society.
Alex de Tocqueville the French seer and author traveled America in 1835 and concluded America's School were it's bulwark of democracy.
De Tocqueville also stated America had a middling standard of education. Nowhere in the world were there so few learned people. But at the same time were there so few IGNORANT people.
This was a time when if parents wanted a school they banded together hired a teacher and started their own school.
This was before Social engineering, political correctness,Federal and Union intervention in education.
It's amazing how few ignorant people there were prior to the 1960s.
Now we graduate more ignorant kids than scholars.
You are glorifying a past that never was. The high school graduation rate in the 1950s was around 50%. Less than 25% of people went to college. Today the graduation rate is 70%, and over 50% go on to college.
In the 1950s, it was almost unheard of for students to take calculus in high school. Now it is routine.
The literacy rate in 1870 was 80%. That's not bad for a frontier country, but today the literacy rate is 99%.
The best students of today are as smart or smarter than the best students of generations past. Your statements are simply wrong.
IT'S very considerate of you to point out the incorrect use if the contraction it is in my reference to Alexis de Tocqueville
How do you explain the fall from first place of our brightest hand picked students in International Scholastic Competitions?
How do you explain third world country students out scouring our best and brighest hand picked students in International Scholastic Competitions?
High School Exit exams test 12th grade students knowledge at the MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL?
Dept. of Ed. studies indicate most children who do well on their SATs score higher than their teachers?
The Dept. of Education says ,It's unfortunate, butmost of our teachers nowcome from the BOTTOM 1/3 of our High School graduating classes?
That fact is scary when you figure the bottom 1/3 Graduated by passing a test written for MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS.
The California Exit Exam is multiple choice and passing is 50%.
Is it any wonder some say as many as of 60% of our High School graduates could be considered FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE?
Is it any wonder America is losing companys to other countries in a search for a better educated workforce?
Is it any wonder Corporations have to import competent High Tech talent?
Is it any wonder our K-12 system is in such deep trouble when people such as you refuse to believe indisputable FACTS?