Diagnostic Essay In today’s College in America there is a debate rather institutions should use the grade scale or pass-fail scale to determine the success of a student. I believe that Institutions in America should use the grade scale rather than the pass-fail scale. A grade scale gives the student an accurate percentage no matter if they passed or fail but with the pass-fail scale it just gives you the letter grade rather than the actual percentage grade. The grade scale method is important because it’s away that the students are able to see how they are doing in the course. Its important that students are able to see their actual percentage grade because that gives the students the opportunity to see how they are doing in their course and also it gives them the opportunity to see what exactly did they pass or fail and what areas they need to improve. Grades are better at telling students how they are doing in the course because in the case of the pass-fail scale all the students have to rely on is a letter grade that can possibly mean ten different percentage grades. When you have a student who receive a grade of 85 he/she understands that they have a B but more so they are able to see what they need to improve on in that area of the course to bring it up to an A compared to the pass-fail scale where the student is just receiving the letter grade of a B they will assume that whatever they are doing is good enough to get them by in the class when it could possibly mean that they can be declining in there grades because a B can either mean you are one point away from a C or one point away from an A. The grade scale method is important for the simple fact that student is able to see how they are doing in the course. Another re... ... middle of paper ... ...ed. An Instructor who is able to see the actual grade is able to tell a student what specific they need to work on with the grade scale compared to an Instructor who is using the pass–fail scale they are not to much help to a student who is trying to improve in the course. The grade scale method is important for Instructors to see where students’ weakness and strength is so they can insist students in the help that they may need. In conclusion, I believe that the grade system is important to the success of the students so can know where they stand in a course as far as grades are concern, and they are able to motivate themselves to light their grades up higher than before as well as the Instructors can see where students need help and they can play an important role in a students career as far as them knowing what areas they need assisting in so they might succeed.
The courses Math and Science were examples Staples used regarding the change in the grade point average weight. For some people math and science are hard course to take while in high school or college. However, math is very easy for me but I know it requires various steps to be done to receive one answer. On the other hand, I struggle in science learning parts of the body, different species, and etc. Staples proposal can be beneficial to all universities, online universities, and myself as well. I am challenged everyday by teachers to prove to them I deserve every grade I receive. I have to do the all my work to receive the good grades; however, failure to do my work results into zeros; thus, causing myself to have a low grade in the course or failing the course. I feel as if students should not have the opportunity to appeal their grades if they have a B and want an A. I know it requires a lot of paperwork and bring confirmation among the teachers and their
In “How Grading Reform Changed Our School,” author Jeffrey A. Erickson discusses about how it is common in high schools to pass each student by their accumulated average of the entire class period. He described many examples to display the way of grading in high schools such as in behaviors, lessons, and tasks. He talks about the changes that were made and were in effect to achieve a grading average that reflects the student 's’ abilities and knowledge .
The article written by Michael Thomsen addresses the issue: should we as a society continue using a standardized grading system. Thomsen includes many reasons supporting his ultimate conclusion that we should not continue with any system of standardized grades. However, the reasons he uses to support his conclusion are affected by significant ambiguity which weakens the overall argument.
This new grading scale is more to a help at raising scoring and funding than allowing students to learn the information in a way that will be reliable in the future. The no zero grading policy may allow students to pass, it may even encourage them to continue to stay in school, but it is not helping the children to be successful in society. Are colleges excepting this new grading scale? As most colleges except a new student for their grades and work ethics. With this policy schools are only motivating students to come to school for the knowledge that they will pass. The policy is not motivating them to get good grades so that they can get in to a good college to have good career. To stop students from giving up and dropping out, the schools need to see them as individual not as a group of elementary, middle school and high school
America is quickly changing to be a nation of inflation. Grade point averages have risen from 2.93 during the ‘91-’92 school year to 3.07 nearly a decade later (Harding 21). This is mostly due to the change in grading scales from a traditional seven point grade scale, which a student could only earn an A if obtaining a 93 percent or higher and doesn’t award students with any “minus” grades, giving a student a B if he gets a 92 percent, and a 10 point scale which adds “minus” grades, so it is possible to have a 91 percent and only have an A- rather than a B. Some states, such as North Carolina, are now requiring all of the high school to grade on a 10 point scale (Lee 1). This is supposed to aid students not only in getting into college, but getting a job as well, because that is the ultimate goal in everyone’s life, right? One is supposed to get into college to get a degree so they can make money for the rest of their life. But the problem arises because the importance of getting a job has surpassed the importance of getting an honest education. John Harding even made the point that grading has changed from a measure and motivator for students to perform and learn to an external evaluation
This article discusses ineffective grading, the high stakes of grading, and the steps in could take to change those practices. There were three areas that were discussed about ineffective grading that involved the concept of giving zeros, averaging all scores throughout the semester, and using the semester kill project, paper, test, or lab. All of these things do not prove what students have learned but rather show what they learned right now or are trying to make one thing more important than everything else. With the giving of zeros in a gradebook you are just validating that the student does need the knowledge. The high stakes of grading were about the cost of failure and the positive impact that grading change can have on a school system. Finally, the author outlines a 4 steps that can lead to better grading practices which are creating a sense of urgency, identifying teacher leaders who are improving grading policies, getting the facts, and reassuring stakeholders that certain
Thirdly, assessment and grading scheme is one of the most important factors of the course, but components of scores and score weighting are a challenge for students because they do not know which criteria will be
One of the issues, which Boyer points out , is that teachers and students have different expectations from college education. She says that the teachers are mainly concerned about students’ comprehension of the material, their attendance and attention while students’ hopes are to get good grades and to be well prepared for exams. It seems that the system of grading pushes students to not care too much about what is being taught from an understanding perspective, but only promotes more concern about grades instead. Some students don't really pay attention unless the instructor mentions an exam or something that will be graded. Furthermore, be...
Traditional grading system will be my focus of this essay. Grading as numbers or letters, a conventional way of assessing students’ achievement, is one part of education and has been lately in controversy in USA. The argument is that the conventional grading practice is not in support of the ultimate objectives of education. In fact, it is in conflict with the values of education. Thus in this essay, I will argue that traditional grading does not play the role it is supposed to play and it is time to have a new and better alternative to this.
...he class. The grades in high school are determined by most of the assigned work given to you, while in college not all assignments are graded. Scores on tests and major papers provide most of the grade for the course. Students have to be able to think critically and understand the material instead of just memorizing it so that they will become successful.
What has been done to make sure that grades aren’t biased and can be measured to exactness universally? The answer is nothing. It would be impossible to be able to have the grading system down to an exact science. The question of academic measurement was being mulled around by Finkelstein back in 1913 when he wrote, “Variability in the marks given for the same subject and to the same pupils by different instructors is so great as frequently to work real injustice to the students… Nor may anyone seek refuge in the assertion that the marks of the students are of little real importance. The evidence is clear that marks constitute a very real and very strong inducement to work, that they are accepted as real and fairly exact measurements of ability or of performance. Moreover, they not infrequently are determiners of the student’s career.” (qtd. Durm 1993). There are too many variables that are put into play when it comes to a standardized grading system. This is because each college has their own political influence. This is based on the demographics of where the college is located, student attendance, and even religious association. There isn’t a way for the collegiate community to come together and standardize each subject for grading universally, especially when so much of it is subjective to the interpretation of both the student and professor. The
These are not measures of learning outcomes, but rather completely unrelated (“Grading vs. Assessment…”). Sometimes if a student does not do well on an assignment, then the teacher might skew or pad the results of the students work which leads to an inaccurate picture of a student’s learning. A report by the Huffington Post states that “Teachers feel compelled to ‘grade,’ any and all student work, believing that a letter or percentage will indicate to students and parents a measure of skill.” (Rubino). This quote indicates that some teachers feel that they must grade all work that is handed out. Some of the work handed out should not need to be graded. From the same article it brings up the fact that people including teachers and students often forget what an A or a B stand for. The primary function of grades is to communicate mastery of performance and today they do anything but that. Grades do not provide meaningful feedback for improvement or growth to parents and students, which does not help both of them. The needs of the student needs to be at the forefront of the conversation and for this to happen we need individual one-on-one teaching with a parent to help students learn (Crouch). If this was to happen, students would learn better and we could communicate the needs of the students better than
First and foremost, students have high pressure to achieve a good grade. Nowadays, the focus is more on scores rather
Students are unique individuals, and each one learns differently. As Patterson remarks, “When grading students, in the name of
When students have easier grading criteria, it increases their ability to learn the material instead of focusing on earning better grades without understanding the material. Students sometimes need grading criteria that will allow them to focus on their studying more than focusing on how they will be able to pass their classes with good grades that will not affect their GPA’s. For example, I have taken many classes throughout my college career such as Psychology, Philosophy, and Statistics, some of them I need as major requirements. I took the classes and I have no idea until this moment what I have learned in those classes. As said, I have learned the material for these classes to pass the exams, and forget what I have learned the day after the exam. In this case, I do not blame myself that I have not learned the material as I have to, because I learned it to pass the class with a good grade instead of passing the class with the