Eden Kwan
A world where school is fun and students are excited to learn is possible. But that requires changing grades. As it is now, grades are automatically accepted as a one-stop-shop for the academic rigor of a student and their success in school, which will then be used to evaluate how “worthy” a student is for colleges and scholarships. However, what incentive structure do grades create? It doesn’t seem that learning itself is a priority.
First, grades are not standardized. Every teacher has their own way of determining the value of a student’s work. Some grades aren’t even based on work but by participation in class.
Second, grades don’t inherently motivate students to learn. While the thought process is that grades give students the motivation to do well in school, and thus learn, the truth is more complicated.
A 1982 study by AK Boggiano found that by providing a reward for hard tasks, a student’s interest in completing it goes down. However, by providing a reward for easy tasks, students are more motivated to complete it. This second situation is similar to what many students describe as “busy work,” work that doesn’t challenge or force students to grow, but is permitted nonetheless under the current model.
“[If it were not graded, I would not do] busy work,” said senior Sydney Miller. “Sometimes it feels like homework is assigned just to give homework … [When you get] a worksheet of stuff to do and it’s really basic, it doesn’t feel like it’s helping you [learn].”
Furthermore, Boggiano’s first finding is alarming, suggesting that with grades, students are less motivated to engage with material. This is because students attribute their motivation to do work as extrinsic before they decided if they wanted to do it intrinsically.
Third, grades disincentive being creative and potentially failing. If there is a surefire way to get an A, most students will take that path rather than exploring alternatives. Learning requires iteration of failing and retrying over and over.
“I tell my students on the first day and everyday that what I expect them to do in my class is fail,” said Engineering Technology teacher Mister Apperson. “But that has such a negative connotation for the vast majority of our students because it’s tied to a grade, not tied to [the fact that] what I expect them to do everyday is something they have not done before, and I expect them to not be good at it yet. I follow up … with ‘I expect you to fail better tomorrow.’”
Those are the types of structures that encourage persistence and engagement in learning. One alternative grading system that especially honors this aspect of learning is portfolio grading, where students complete a series of projects throughout the semester, each one being worked on with iterative feedback — a great way to practice out weaknesses.
Other strategies include standards-based grading, where students are graded not by individual assignments, but by how many skills they acquire; contract grading, where the educator clearly outlines the assignments they want students to complete, and only assigns grades based on how many of those they complete: and collaborative grading, where students and teachers talk about what grade they believe the student deserves at the end of the grading period.
These may sound like fairytale ideas, but they have been put into application. Many respected colleges such as Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology allow the option for choosing pass or fail grades, lowering emphasis on grades while still valuing academics.
Changing attitudes about grades requires more than just changes in the classroom – the home needs to be part of the conversation as well. Despite good intentions, when parents respond to the incentive structure of grades, they lose track of fostering curiosity within their children.
“Most of [my conversations about grades with my parents] are my parents just telling me to get my grade up,” said sophomore Tyler Sterry. “It’s not telling me to do better academically, like [to] try to understand material more. My parents generally care more about grades than about me improving.”
Strategies for positive learning environments fostered by parents include asking questions about the material one’s child has learned at school, or having them work through anything that stumped them that day. The focus should always be on reflection.
Although it may be impossible to imagine a world where grades are assessed differently, that does not mean that a reality like that doesn’t exist. If students, teachers, parents and school districts all do their part, it is possible to reach that future. Changing grading systems is the key to bringing school closer to prioritizing learning and growth.
