"Making" the Grade

While I have an exciting post to share about book-making and visual journaling, I am compelled to address something that has been swirling around in my mind of late about home schooling, about grades, about educational philosophy and public school, too. That "something" is grades. What is a grade, exactly? What does it mean? What is its relevance? Does it have any?

I ask these questions for several reasons. First, I am a scholar of educational and developmental theory. Next, I have a child who is home schooled for whom I submit grades. I have a child who attends public school who receives grades. Finally, I am not only a scholar but also a philosopher, which is a nice way of summing up my propensity to share my thoughts with others via a blog such as this, of course.

This year, my daughter, who is a sophomore in our local, regional, public high school, changed math levels mid-way through the school year. (The "backstory" on all of that is something I'll skip over here.) During her first semester, in an honors level course, the teacher's grading policy was something like this: if a student even "attempted" his or her homework, he or she received a grade of 100. Of course, at the honors level, most of the kids in the class are self-disciplined, so there were few, if any, who did not do homework. There were plenty who could not complete homework, or who completed it but got sometimes even every problem wrong. These students all, including the ones who are truly mathematical geniuses and who completed every problem correctly every time, got a 100 in the grade book for homework.

The difference between student ability and comprehension came when it was test time. At test time, the math geniuses got nothing below a 90. And, if that was the case, it was usually due to the test having an error because those students truly get every problem correct. (When I say "those" I mean the one in the class each year.)  The remainder of the students fall somewhere between. Some struggle the entire time, and others get private tutors if their parents can afford the $60/hour fee. The "average" student in an honors level class takes the test and receives a grade between 60-75%. However, averaged in with a string of 100s from homework, the overall (semester or term) grade is somewhere in the "B" range (B-, B, B+). This keeps the parents from calling, but also leaves the kids still very much in the dark. They have poor skills, poor comprehension of the concepts and sort of "pass" at a level acceptable to honors level students especially if their future majors are more in the humanities areas. They won't be accepted to Harvard, yet they'll get into plenty of competitive colleges with the "B" in math as long as they have As in AP English and such when they apply as history majors, and the like.

After the mid-term, my daughter, sick of not having a clue as to what was going on in math, changed to the college level course. It came as quite a shock to have her homework actually graded. Thus, unless she did her homework completely, AND got the right answers, she would not walk into a test with a "100" average any more. If she received a grade of 60 or 70 or 80, that is what was averaged with her "actual" "earned" grades for homework. To me, this seems the opposite of how teachers in these two levels might choose to grade students. The "non-math-whizzes" might get credit for "trying" and/or doing all the problems, even if 80% of them were wrong. Then, at test time, there would be a true test of skills and abilities (hopefully) gained through trial and error in homework.

This got me to thinking not only angry, fed-up thoughts about public school, but also about how I grade my own son who is home schooled. I find it incredibly challenging to "grade" his work. For one thing, since we plan a lot of what he does together, he applies himself to everything he does and he also completes everything, without question. I do not assign "busy work" and so, to me, all of his work product is kind of like a test. All of his work product is high quality, as well. And, he often works beyond grade level. Thus, my conundrum is: do I grade him according to what I know of the work of his peers at grade level? Do I grade him at the level at which he is working? If I grade him according to his peers, then he is an "A" student most of the time. If I grade him according to the complexity of the material he uses and his thought process, the actual writing might not be even a "B" at the college level in execution. However, the basis for this kind of complex thought, wherein he analyzes a text, synthesizes information from prior learning and even sometimes offers new reflections for consideration, is quite advanced, at the college or post-graduate level.

As I consider the end of my son's academic quarter on March 31st, I think about the report I am to send to the superintendent. I consider colleges like Hampshire, where grades are given as narratives, not letters or numbers. These are not so easy to review in three minutes, yet they are a more accurate and holistic representation of the actual work of an actual person, both full of complexity and nuance. While my son puts forth great insights, he fails to develop them in writing to the fullest extent possible. Of course, he is only thirteen years old. Additionally, developing insight in written form is something even doctoral students must work on as they write beyond their dissertations! Heck, reporters with thirty years writing experience sometimes fail to fully develop or struggle fully develop thoughts at such a level! The fact that my thirteen year old can even articulate a point that is a step beyond the analysis and synthesis of a text puts him far ahead of most writers of any kind. So, how do I "grade" that?

What is a grade? It is merely a number (or letter) that represents a particular kind of evaluation, decided quite individually by a teacher, a single human being, that tells something about that exact minute of evaluation. It's relevance is fleeting, since after the grade is recorded, the student may lose most of the information retained in earning (receiving?) the grade. Conversely, the student is as likely to master the information and knowledge after taking a test or passing in a paper or other assignment. It is just that possibly at the minute the grade is recorded, the student did not possess that mastery. Who is to know, really, which is the end result? And, then, what does that grade mean even five minutes after it is given?

As I await my daughter's third term grade report, I know from our conversations that her grade in math is going to be just about the same as it was in her honors level course. The difference is that she now understands and can apply the information that is presented to her in the class each day. Oh, and there is another difference, as well: the "weight" of her grade is less because she is in a lower level. To a college admissions officer, it will look like she struggled in math terms one and two, dropped down a level and "did not work very hard" since she earned the same kind of grade. It might be interpreted that she was lazy and did not wish to work as hard in the honors level course. I doubt very much that a college admissions officer will even consider that the honors level course had a completely farcical grading policy, while the college preparation level had (at least) a more honest one.

Maybe in lieu of a grade report this quarter, I'll submit a narrative without grades for my son, and include a copy of this blog post for consideration by the superintendent. I wonder how I will be "graded" (judged) as a home schooling parent if I do that?