Some have criticized the practice of assigning letter grades to students for their achievement. Should letter grades be abandoned?
No, we should not abandon letter grades, because parents, students, and colleges want them.Parents understand grades, and I know from personal experience that they want them. As an educator working in an urban district with a diverse population, I plan instructional activities with teachers and parents. I have sat in on conferences with teachers and parents whose children are in the Major Achievement Program (MAP), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and Chapter 1. These parents want to know their child's strengths and weaknesses in terms of a numerical grade or letter grade.Grades are the bottom line for parents. They ask: Is my child passing or failing the major subjects? What grade has my child received on the test?Students themselves want grades. Even when students work in cooperative learning groups, they want to know what letter or numerical grade their project has received. And most colleges want to see grades on the transcript when they consider a student for admission.My perception is that grades will continue to be part of our education system. Letter grades or numerical grades will never be eliminated totally. Because students are expected to master a core of content, there has to be a system in place to reflect a child's achievement and effort.—Alma Campbell is vice principal of Theodore Roosevelt School No. 43 in Rochester, N.Y.
Yes. A letter grade does not tell us what a student knows or does not know, can or cannot do, in a particular discipline. Nor do letter grades indicate how a student's progress has been measured.One might argue that a student receiving a B in Algebra I is fairly comparable, at least in knowledge attainment, to other Algebra I B students. But that B gives us no idea at all what these students can or cannot do in algebra, where their ceiling of competence is, what topics they need to relearn, what topics piqued their curiosity, and so on.Furthermore, letter grades are meant to communicate—in a succinct, unambiguous way—the progress a student has made during a certain time span, but they do not indicate how that progress has been measured. Letter grades may measure the student (1) against the prescribed course of study, (2) against the rest of the class, or (3) against himself or herself. Thus, they are ambiguous.Letter grades may not even reward effort. Educators are all too familiar with the dilemma of assigning grades to brilliant students who assimilate knowledge with no effort ("easy A") and those students who, although they never stop trying, cannot learn the minimum.As educators revolutionize content, pedagogy, and assessment, it is time to replace letter grades with a more accurate descriptor of what students know and are able to do.—Vincent Hawkins is supervisor of K-12 mathematics for the Warwick Public Schools, Warwick, R.I.
We should use multiple assessment measures.As a teacher actively involved in the research, design, and implementation of various modes of assessment, I believe letter grades disclose little about the student. Assessment should convey more. The use of narrative summaries, progress reports, or parent conferences would add another level of information and support for all stakeholders: students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Strategies for formative assessment—reflection questionnaires, interviews, portfolio reviews, personal exhibits, and projects—can provide varied sources for gaining insights about students.Letter grades alone provide limited information. Does an A reveal what a student knows and is able to do? Does a B report an analysis of student strengths and areas for further development? Is the quality of work or growth over time indicated in a C or D?Many people view the letter grade as a motivator for the highly accomplished student. Some students, however, have an overwhelming fear of failure and will opt out of certain courses, such as art, if they cannot be guaranteed an A. Other students, the "perceived underachievers" who customarily receive an E at mid-year, become discouraged and give up. If schools are indeed concerned with providing equitable opportunities to learn, they should use multiple forms of assessment to afford these children a chance to succeed.—Karen Price is an art teacher and Project Teacher Leader for Visual Arts PROPEL in Pittsburgh, Pa.
No. Letter grades are not inherently bad. It is their misuse and misinterpretation that is bad. When grades are assigned to students based on their relative standing among classmates, or "on the curve," they make learning a highly competitive endeavor in which most students are losers. Similarly, poor grades diminish motivation and are ineffective as punishments.But when letter grades are based on established learning criteria, they can offer parents and others a brief description of learning progress and some idea of the adequacy of that progress. Because they are brief, they lack the richness of more detailed reporting methods, such as narratives or checklists of specific learning outcomes—but these methods also have their drawbacks. Good narratives are extremely time-consuming for teachers to prepare, and checklists seldom indicate whether students' learning progress is in line with expectations for that level.Whatever reporting procedures are used, we must make sure they accurately communicate students' learning progress and enhance, rather than hinder, that progress. Letter grades will serve neither of these purposes if we continue practices such as grading on the curve, grading in permanent ink, "averaging" grades, or assigning an F to students' work that might be considered "in progress," which is almost always the case. But if used wisely and paired with other, more descriptive information, letter grades can communicate information that is both meaningful and constructive.—Thomas Guskey is a professor of education at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.