"People ‘do their own thing' with grades," said Ken O'Connor, "and that ends up being very unfair to kids, because there's no consistency in the ways teachers grade in schools, let alone [across] a school district."
O'Connor, curriculum coordinator for the Toronto, Ontario, school board, presented a set of guidelines that he believes could bring more consistency to grading. O'Connor did not suggest, as some analysts have, getting rid of grades. "The reality for most of us is that grading is inescapable," he said. "It's wasted energy to try to get rid of grades. We need to try to make them better."
In that spirit, O'Connor offered these guidelines:
Limit the attributes measured by grades to individual achievement. Such things as effort, participation, or attitude should be reported separately, which may require an expanded report card format. Don't make the mistake of "using your assessment policy for things that ought to be addressed by your behavior or discipline policy," O'Connor urged.
Sample student performance. Don't mark everything students do, and don't include all marks in the final grades. O'Connor suggested providing feedback on formative assessments and including only summative assessments in grade calculations.
"Grade in pencil." Emphasize the most recent information when grading progress. For example, it makes little sense to average the marks of a student in the first week and the last week of a keyboarding class; the most recent marks should offer the best assessment of his keyboarding skill. O'Connor also suggested that, when possible, teachers offer students multiple opportunities to improve their marks. This doesn't mean teachers have to offer students unlimited chances to pass a test or improve a paper. O'Connor suggested that teachers require students who want to retake an assignment to demonstrate that they've done additional work that increases the chance they'll do better the second time around.
Relate grading procedures to the intended learning goals. The emphasis given to different topics or skills in a class should be reflected in the weight they have in determining the final grade. (O'Connor prefers this approach to the traditional method of determining final grades by allotting 40 percent to tests and quizzes, 20 percent to homework, 20 percent to class participation, and so on.)
Use care "crunching" numbers. One of the biggest quandaries is what to do when a student gets a zero on an assignment. If scores on all assignments are simply averaged, a single zero can yield a grade that doesn't really reflect the student's performance. O'Connor suggests using the student's median score. If a student earns a zero on a major assignment, however, teachers might give an incomplete until the assignment is made up.
Use criterion-referenced standards to distribute grades. Like many educators, O'Connor is opposed to grading "on the curve." Far better, he said, is to measure all students on how close they come to reaching high standards for performance (for example, how many words per minute a keyboarding student can type). If all students reach the standard, it's okay for all students to earn the highest grade.
Discuss assessment, including grading, with students at the beginning of instruction. The criteria for quality work should not be a mystery to students. It's helpful for students to see the grading schemes and rubrics that will be used to judge performance, O'Connor said.