New teachers sometimes struggle with how to develop a proper grading system. Many teachers — new and experienced — have grading systems that have questionable foundations. It’s a serious issue that can determine whether students legitimately pass or fail.
There are No Perfect Grading Systems
Teachers need not waste time developing grading systems that perfectly communicate student progress. Human learning is affected by too many variables and assessments represent small samples of student learning.
Teachers should first be concerned with their choices of assessments before worrying about how to grade. If the gradebook contains grades on everything that students do, assessments can be needlessly polluted, especially if teachers include markdowns for being tardy, noisy, etc. or bonuses for turning papers in signed by parents or other “good” behaviors.
Assess with Proper Instruments
Total objectivity is a myth, but it is possible to move in that direction. Be certain that assessments are connected directly to learning standards. Do not include “trick” questions. Use quality assessments like well-conceived and well-written multiple choice tests, essay items, short answer questions requiring complete sentences, or problems solved using the method taught with work shown.
Avoid true/false, matching, and fill in the blanks. They are fine for practice, but have defects as true assessments.
Setting up the Grading System
A good grading system will be fair and easily interpreted by parents and students. Using a calculator to compute imaginary scores helps test fairness and ease of use.
Decide on categories to be graded. The most common are tests, quizzes, and homework. Depending on the class other categories might be added. Science, for example, might include a “lab” category. Although homework is often graded, its application is controversial, and since it has substantial defects as an assessment, it is likely best to not count it as part of a grade, although parents should be informed about whether or not students are completing it.
Categories for reporting grades should include summative assessments only — mainly tests and quizzes or other assessments which students have had time to learn, practice, and study. Record formative assessments in the gradebook. They provide relevant information about study habits, class participation, etc. and should be shared with parents.
Computing the Grade for a Quarter and a Semester
Use number grades from with 100 as a perfect score. There is no need to have exactly the same number of score each semester. Use a cut off well above zero. The 50(40) in the quiz row below indicates a quiz score of 40 was recorded as a 50, which is the minimum score in this imaginary system. This practice is becoming more common. The intention is to prevent the drastic effect of zeros and keep student averages closer to passing.
Averaging is most popular, but not necessarily best. Teachers might want to consider median grading. However, since most teachers are more familiar with averaging, a sample grading system might look like the following:
- Tests (50%): 97, 88, 90 Average = 92
- Quizzes(30%): 50(40), 100, 100, 84, 92, 60 Average = 81
- Lab(20%): 95, 90, 80, 95, 100 Average = 92
Average of all weighted averages = (test average X 5) + (quiz average X 3) + (lab average X 2) / 10 = 89
The semester grade is a matter of averaging the quarterly grades with an exam score. The weights of the averaged quarters and the exam are a matter of teacher judgment, although the quarterly averages represent more work and knowledge. An exam portion of 30% is fair.
Notice that the system is based on a percent method with different weights given to different categories according to their teacher’s opinion about their relative importance. Parents and students are more likely to understand percentages than point methods that really don’t make grading any more accurate.
Numbers are rounded off to whole numbers. There is no need to assume that a grading system has accuracy to tenths of a point.
Subjective Adjustments in the Assessment Process
Assessment is subjective no matter how hard teachers try to be objective. Teachers write or select assessment instruments and make other decisions that introduce subjectivity. When faced with a student average that is a single point below passing one should understand that any derived score has a margin of error.
If 70 is the minimum passing grade and a student has an average of 69 many teachers will pass the student because there is some evidence that a 70 is justifiable. Other teachers will not budge from the number generated by the calculator or computer program. Teachers typically have the freedom to grade as they wish, and it is worth recalling that passing motivates more than failing.
Teacher grading systems are never perfect. No matter how creative or detailed, a derived grade is at best an estimate of student knowledge. Straightforward grading and averaging of summative work is best. Formative work is for practice and diagnosis, not grading. Keeping categories to a minimum and developing a fair and comprehensible method saves time and effort.
Source:
“A Beginner's Guide to Figuring Your Grades,” educationoasis.com (Accessed: December 12, 2011)
“Calculating a Weighted Average Grade,” mathforum.org (Accessed: December 11, 2011)
Harvey Craft - I am a retired educator with diverse experience. I read anything science, education, and history. I write to share what I learn.
