I want to thank everyone for linking and responding to my collaboration with Anthony Ferraro.  It’s just the beginning, as I’m still really thinking about the issue of assessment.  Stay tuned.

Recently, I wrote a post in which I included the following lament about grade inflation:

I would say that my grading is tough, but fair. I feel as if I am in line with my school and department in that area. However, students expect to make A’s and B’s. In fact, students in Honors classes expect to make only A’s. It is frustrating for me to communicate to them that a B is a very good grade. In most grading scales, it means “above average.” The A grade means “excellent.” I don’t know about you, but not everything I do is “excellent.” This conveys a level of mastery that is impossible to achieve on every assignment in every class.

I received a comment from Anthony Ferraro, a 10th grade student (not my own) and we began a dialogue that I found very interesting. I think Anthony has some valid points about the complexities of grade inflation, and I invited him to contribute to this blog in the hopes of stimulating further dialogue. His contribution begins below in blue text, followed by my own. Afterward, we hope to hear from you in the comments.

First off, let me begin with a small disclaimer. As a student, I believe that the vast majority of teachers are trying their very hardest to benefit us in any way they can. They are our guides; our captains, and our friends. And while the majority of this post may seem as though I am berating and criticizing the top of the heap, the wonderfully idealistic teachers chock full of noble purpose and desire to help, I am only trying to point out an unintended consequence of their actions so that we may confront the problem as a community (clichéd, I know, I apologize).

When confronted with the dilemma of grade inflation, people – parents, students, and teachers – all seem to agree on the best strategy to go about combating it. To put it bluntly, albeit a bit simplistically, all parties involved want everyone else, simultaneously, to drastically alter their expectations. Teachers wish parents and students would stop expecting higher grades, not only when the student really isn’t up to par and therefore deserves a C in the already inflated grade curve, but also to make the students and parents instantaneously equate a C with par again.

As a student, the growing problem, however, is not the rising grade inflation. The problem is the lack of a universal acceptance of a standard, any standard. A teacher who deviates from the presently inflated grading scale — a scale which, as faulty as it may seem, currently exists as the standard grading scale — can affect a student’s life to a far greater extent than the teachers may think possible. A “C” is a killer on a transcript, especially given that an A, in today’s society, does not mean “excellent.” How can college admissions possibly discern between a C from a teacher who adheres strictly to the grading scale’s purported definitions and a C from a teacher who, intentionally or simply lazily (for it doesn’t matter at all), adhered to the modern grading scale. The first C states that the student produced work of average quality, but the second C states, particularly in public schools, that the student simply showed up for class. The effect on the interpretation of a student’s grade produced when the by-the-book C appears on a transcript can severely, if unintentionally, affect the student’s ability to apply to various colleges, because universities are working blindfolded. Their hands are tied, for it is neither feasible nor logical to somehow investigate and scrutinize each and every student’s application more than they have already. College admissions officers must make the most of the information they receive, and are therefore not weighing, interpreting, and deliberating the validity of any given student’s resume – they’re comparing it with another student’s. Particularly in disciplines for which standardized testing is not applicable, and assuming all other variables are accounted for, admissions will always take the student who, on paper, is the most qualified.

In today’s ultracompetitive college applicant environment, the acceptance percentages for all elite or even decent colleges are dropping. This fall indicates only a rise in applicants, not necessarily a rise in qualified applicants (meaning the quality of the student body isn’t shooting up at a proportional rate). However, due to grade inflation, “quality” changes. “Quality” grades are getting easier and easier to come by, and this hurts both the people who earned their A’s in, say, Ms. Dana Huff’s English class, where A’s are difficult to earn, and the people in her class who earned C’s. The people who earned A’s in Ms. Huff’s class are not distinguished from those who earned A’s in Mr. Apathy’s class, and the people who earned C’s in Ms. Huff’s class have been most unfairly divided from students in Mr. Apathy’s class. So not only are more and more students applying to more and more colleges, all students are becoming almost impossibly indistinguishable.

I guess my point is that one cannot simply fight grade inflation by stubbornly resisting its effects, because innocent bystanders can get knocked by the wayside, and hurting the people you really wish to help is in nobody’s best interest. I’d also wish to point out that standing by and doing nothing is not the best option either, for the issue must be addressed. We must work together to find a better solution, a solution that is feasible, a solution that can be agreed upon, and a solution where no harm is done. Both teachers and students deserve it.

Anthony Ferraro

I do think Anthony has some valid points. Not all C’s are equal, are they? However, I do think most competitive colleges know this. There are also other factors that determine admission, such as athletic ability, gender, race, geographic location, SAT/ACT scores, college resumes, college essays, and the like.

I think students in my class usually come out all right in the end, but they do earn grades commensurate with their performance on individual writing assignments. Students might, for example, earn C’s on essays, but bring their grade up through careful reading and subsequent good performance on reading quizzes or vocabulary tests and still earn a B or even an A in the end. I did have a student who earned a C on the first draft of his research paper last year. He was extremely upset about the grade at the time, but this year he told me that he appreciated the grade. He told me that he felt nothing he wrote up until he revised that draft was reflective of his full effort, and he said he has been doing good writing this year. I asked his current English teacher about his work, and he agreed that the student is doing good writing for his class.

Our culture has taught students that grades are the goal, when they are really a form of communication. I earned mostly A’s on my writing in high school only to receive a C on my first college paper. Not only that, but my friend had written a comma splice and I didn’t even know what that was. How could I avoid using one on my own paper? I didn’t understand how I could have earned a C. No one had found fault with my writing before. What I didn’t realize is that in comparison with my high school peers, I probably was a good writer. Did that mean I had no room to improve? Of course not. And that is still not true, for there is always room to improve. Whose fault was it? I can’t entirely blame my teachers, but I think that one way in which my education failed me was that I was compared with my peers instead of a standard, such as a rubric, which was designed to show me areas of strength and weakness. My C communicated to me that I had failed, when in my college professor’s eyes, it communicated that I had done adequate work — not good, certainly not excellent, but not poor either. My high school teachers did me no favors by drawing happy faces and A’s on my work. They didn’t help me become a better writer. They sent me the message that there was nothing I could do to improve. I wish I had learned what I needed to work on in high school, when it would have been easier and the consequences for taking risks with my writing less severe.

That is not to say, however, that I disagree with Anthony. I wish that we could dispense with grades altogether and use rubrics for every assignment, but I know that grades aren’t going anywhere. Grade inflation is indeed an issue that is hurting us all. It is going to take all of us to fix it, and it probably won’t happen overnight. To be honest, I’m not even sure what can be done, but I know it begins with the kind of communication and dialogue that Anthony and I have had over the last few weeks.

Well, as predicted, when I handed back final drafts of the research paper, there were some unhappy campers. As I explained in a previous post, students at my school are very focused on grades. There is a feeling of entitlement to A’s and B’s. It is frustrating because my personal philosophy has always run much closer to that of Tony Winger (“Grading to Communicate,” Educational Leadership, November 2005). In practice, however, I have not always been supported (not true of my current position) in using grades to indicate areas of strength and weakness. It makes me queasy to slap good grades on assignments that did not meet criteria, especially when students had rubrics in advance. I think sometimes students have unrealistic notions of their ability, and moving into a higher level class is sometimes a mistake. Sometimes, we need to be in a class at a level designed to meet our needs. Instead, students and parents are so focused on getting into College X that they challenge teachers who grade to communicate. This is very real stumbling block, and it’s one of the reasons teaching the research paper is so difficult for me.

I did have a moment this week that was one of those moments that all teachers really long for. It’s one of those moments when a student says he/she really learned something. And they kind of thank you for it.

A student I had last year told me the other day that he felt as if everything he wrote up until the final draft of his research paper last year was, to use his word, “crap.” He had earned a C on his first draft, and it was a real wake-up call. The impression he left me with was that he has been putting much more effort into his writing since then, and even though it hurt him at the time to earn that grade, he learned from it. In other words, that grade communicated something to him that is much more valuable, I think, that earning a meaningless A or B. He is going to be a better writer for it. And I happen to know he’s doing well in his English class this year.  I think, in his way, he was trying to thank me for helping him see how his writing could improve.

We had a faculty learning session during our weekly meeting time this morning. You might recall that we were asked to select, read, and think about an article on assessment provided to us.

Today we broke into groups based upon our article of interest. My group consisted of my principal, a Judaics teacher, a history teacher, and me. Our biology teacher popped in, too. One of the things I was wondering about what how my administration might feel about Tony Winger’s ideas — I suppose that question was answered.

My principal made the valid point that in our school, in a culture that is so grade conscious to the point that students will want to discuss and argue about a few points, how do we get kids to see the value of a grade that is reflective of their performance, that communicates areas of strength and deficiency? This is something I wonder about, too.

I would say that my grading is tough, but fair. I feel as if I am in line with my school and department in that area. However, students expect to make A’s and B’s. In fact, students in Honors classes expect to make only A’s. It is frustrating for me to communicate to them that a B is a very good grade. In most grading scales, it means “above average.” The A grade means “excellent.” I don’t know about you, but not everything I do is “excellent.” This conveys a level of mastery that is impossible to achieve on every assignment in every class. Yet I feel that I must have too many conversations with students justifying grades when I gave given, in most cases, copious comments and clear rubrics. I am not saying that I don’t have room to improve in communicating expectations, but I feel that at least as far as major assignments, such as the research paper, students are very clear about expectations. I think they don’t always believe I will adhere to the rubric, but that’s a different issue.

As part of our professional development focus on assessment, my colleagues and I were asked to read from our choice of several articles (many of which came from the November 2005 edition of Educational Leadership, which focused on “Assessment to Promote Learning.” One article I found particularly interesting was Tony Winger’s “Grading to Communicate.” If you are concerned about the recent trend in grade inflation, I have to highly recommend that you read this article.

Winger proposes that teachers assess students in specific areas, such as formal writing, application, and conceptual understanding. The specific areas upon which each individual teacher focuses would vary according to subject matter, grade level, and individual course emphasis. Winger’s contention is that too often, students who do the homework are able to make excellent or above average grades — A’s and B’s — when their understanding is lacking as shown on tests or writing assignments. As teachers, we understand that the students’ true understanding and/or ability to apply or synthesize material is not what is reflected in their grades; rather, their work habits are the focus. As a result, we have a school culture that values the grade above the learning. Student assessment is not a reflection of what the student knows, but how well the student plays the school game. I think we have all had a student who demonstrates a firm grasp of the concepts we teach but has poor work habits that keep him/her from earning a grade commensurate with his/her true understanding of the material. I have several every year. These students don’t do the homework, but in spite of that, they still ace the test. On the other hand, we also have those little worker bees who do each and every assignment, but demonstrate large gaps in writing or on tests. In our hearts, we feel as if we are not sending them an accurate picture with that A or B, but as grades are most commonly assessed, it is more likely that the student who demonstrates little or no understanding but has excellent work habits will have an “inflated” grade.

As I read through this article, my mind started swimming with the possibilities. If I could make this work out, I could genuinely show students where they are, what they know instead of how hard they work. Don’t get me wrong. Strong work habits are necessary, and they should figure into the grade. Winger suggest making Work Habits about 10-20% of the average. Thus, a student who turned in a paper late, as in the example he gives in the article, might earn an A for conceptual understanding, but an F in work habits. The student is still penalized for not turning the assignment in on time, but he/she still has a true picture of his or her understanding rather than a grade that has been deflated due to lateness. In addition, in Winger’s configuration, homework assignments are part of the work habits grade; therefore, a student who always does his/her homework and turns work in on time is still rewarded and students who do not will earn poor work habits grades.

I think this system could give a student a clear picture of exactly what his/her strengths and weaknesses are, once the different areas of assessment are broken down. For example, students may discover that their poor work habits are truly an issue if isolated from their other grades — there is a direct correlation between whether they do their homework and turn in assignments on time and a percentage of their grade.

I think one thing a teacher would have to do to make this work is to grade assignments from several angles, which may not be feasible. I admit to feeling daunted by the prospect of grading an assignment in three areas or more — for example, work habits, conceptual understanding, and formal writing skills. On the other hand, I think this sort of feedback could be so critical for students in helping them to see a true picture of their progress.

I would like to learn more about it before I proceed to try it out, but the prospect of this sort of assessment really excites me. Some things I need to do to make it work:

• Probably weigh grades by percentages instead of figuring by total points, as I do now.
• Collect fewer work samples, or I will go crazy with grading.
• Create more rubrics.
• Do more formative assessment, less formal assessment.
• Figure out what to do about parents and students who “treat a ‘C’ grade the same way that students a few years ago would have treated an ‘F.'”
• Determine whether or not this is something my department and administration buy into and support (my gut feeling is yes, but it’s better to know before I start).