Jane is a tenth grade Mathematics teacher at Littleton High School. Her student, Willie Lawrence, is a very bright kid; however, he has low confidence in math, and he does not believe he can excel in it. The previous year, she had him as a student and he was always right on the edge of a higher grade. She knew he was smart so she always gave him the benefit of the doubt to help boost his confidence and show him that he can do math.
Jane and the math department have now agreed to a new grading system, where grades would only be boosted if they are five tenths of the way from the higher letter. They set up this new grading system in order to unify the way each teacher grades. If every teacher graded in their own way, it would be unfair to the
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Willy has an 89.3. According to the new grading system that should be a “B”. If she does what she is supposed to do and leaves his grade the way it is, she compromises all the confidence Willy has gained in math and risks his grades deteriorating. She may also lose the respect of her students, for not being “fair” like she said she would be. Although, if she raises his grade up to an “A” there are many more repercussions that may follow. If other students get wind of this, then they will be outraged and begin to demand grade boosts as well. Also, her colleagues will not be very happy with her. She would lose their trust and respect because she had agreed to the new grading system. She will get in trouble with the department head, and may lose any standing she had in the math …show more content…
The only possible grades are “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and “F”. A student who gets 100’s in every class would be considered the same as a student who slides by with an 89.5. A student with an 89.4 is the same as one with a 79.5. A difference of 10 points and yet they receive the same grade. The school needs to add plus and minus to their grades; however, changing the system school wide is tough to do and may require years. What they need to do right now is change the math department's system.
One way they could make it better is by adding extra credit for those who think they may be on the edge of a higher grade. It should only add five tenths of a point to their final average, and should only be shown if they are on the brink of a higher grade. This way students who work hard and attempt it will have an opportunity to get the grade they deserve. It also gives them extra practice which may help improve their grades in the long run. The students should also not be required to do it unless they want to, that way they only have themselves to blame if they do not do
The courses Math and Science were examples Staples used regarding the change in the grade point average weight. For some people math and science are hard course to take while in high school or college. However, math is very easy for me but I know it requires various steps to be done to receive one answer. On the other hand, I struggle in science learning parts of the body, different species, and etc. Staples proposal can be beneficial to all universities, online universities, and myself as well. I am challenged everyday by teachers to prove to them I deserve every grade I receive. I have to do the all my work to receive the good grades; however, failure to do my work results into zeros; thus, causing myself to have a low grade in the course or failing the course. I feel as if students should not have the opportunity to appeal their grades if they have a B and want an A. I know it requires a lot of paperwork and bring confirmation among the teachers and their
The author was a freshman at Princeton University when this article was written. He seems to have enough drive and determination in order to embrace grade deflation compared to his peers, who complained and disagreed with the grading system, which is what started this essay.
The letter grade to symbolize this is “C”. The fair share grading system goal is to achieve the average. For this system, the students all receive the same schooling, but do teachers and faculty believe that students are all achieving above average grades? Through the fair share grading system, students are seen to be unable to reach the standard goals. With that being said, students must be guided or coached through school by those around them. This could ultimately lead to false self- value. Self-value is defined as the views or opinions one places upon oneself. In this case, false self-value is that one may be lacking believe and confidence. If the education system changed to the fair share grading technique, students could be led to believe that they are not as smart as everyone else so they should rely on their classmates’
In “What is a Grade” by Pat Belanoff, she explains the pros and cons of the grading system. In Pats ' essay she states “Perhaps the solution would to abandon grading altogether in writing class. I confess that this a solution that appeals to me greatly.” (151). Grades should not be present in the way we test students’ learning ability. School seems to be more about learning the material for a brief moment just to get a good grade rather then to actually learn and think about the information being presented.
In today’s society we feel the need to be graded in order to learn. The topic of the grading system has sparked three essays, by three different authors, about the pros and cons of the grading system. First, Jerry Farber, professor at University of California at San Diego, wrote A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System (333). Next is Steven Vogel, professor at Denison University, who wrote Grades and Money (337). The last two authors in this compilation are Stephen Goode and Timothy W. Maier. They both are journalists for Insight on the News. While each of these authors have their own point of view on the grading system, all three essays talk about how being graded affects learning.
Colleges in America grade students academically for successful careers. For years students grades were calculate by an alphabetic/numeric grade scale. Today colleges are questioning whether grades should be determined by continuing to use a grade scale or switch to a pass/fail scale. Although, there were numerous of factors both positive and negative about a pass/fail system to take into consideration before making a decision. I feel that colleges in America should continue to use a grade scale to convey to students that grades have consequences, open doors to opportunity, and alleviates perturbation.
I believe that to motivate students to do work, practice work needs to be worth more than 10% of a students’ grade. Ideally, I believe the grading scale should be closer to 75% knowledge, and 25% practice. I believe this would help students want to do their work because practice work is worth much more than 10%. If the students do not do any practice work, they can end up with a C, which in many cases is deemed average. Also, those who do their practice work well can use practice assignments to bring up bad test scores. Due to this, more students will do well on their practice work, therefore leading to better scores in tests because students are trying on practice work and they are doing work. Those on the school board may think that 75/25 would be too much weight on practice work, due to this I also think an 80/20 grading scale would be a good option. Seeing as students would still be getting more credit for their homework. The 90/10 grading system needs to be changed for Emma and for all the students at Austin High School in order to benefit them in the future, in both college and their future
One of the issues, which Boyer points out , is that teachers and students have different expectations from college education. She says that the teachers are mainly concerned about students’ comprehension of the material, their attendance and attention while students’ hopes are to get good grades and to be well prepared for exams. It seems that the system of grading pushes students to not care too much about what is being taught from an understanding perspective, but only promotes more concern about grades instead. Some students don't really pay attention unless the instructor mentions an exam or something that will be graded. Furthermore, be...
The students that enter the school might hate math before they come but as soon as they enter they start to love it they become exceptionally good at it to starting high school math in seventh grade. This is all because they are given the opportunity to become who they want to be not what they have to be, they are given the opportunity to dream about what they can become. This is all because yes school are equal now but are they really, most of the time it seems that they are yes but, they still are mainly one race or another but only because people live segregated lives within the world yet they still complain that they are not treated equally, even though they are the ones that are living in a segregated
In the front of a fourth-grade classroom, there sits the ever-smiling face of a little girl. Each morning, this girl is the first to class, dressed neatly and appropriately, with a backpack full of supplies in order for her to be successful in the classroom. Her homework is always finished, and her parents always make sure she is doing her reading, and trying for excellent grades. The constant efforts of the child in the classroom, and her perpetual kindness to all of her peers has persuaded the teacher into being impressed with the little girl’s work this year. She decides, along with her fellow faculty, to award the child a certificate stating she is the Student of the Month. The child barely makes it through the bus ride home due to
Changes made by instructors or students would have them to consider seriously for the true reasons of grade revises before submitting one. Finally in the end, this gives a fair grading system for every instructors and college students should get an evaluation and the grades they deserve. It will be a clear distinction between students who succeed and those who do not. Teachers will do the right thing on raising students ' grades, and to preserve the core value of America education, and America will have a bright future with everyone 's
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
When students have easier grading criteria, it increases their ability to learn the material instead of focusing on earning better grades without understanding the material. Students sometimes need grading criteria that will allow them to focus on their studying more than focusing on how they will be able to pass their classes with good grades that will not affect their GPA’s. For example, I have taken many classes throughout my college career such as Psychology, Philosophy, and Statistics, some of them I need as major requirements. I took the classes and I have no idea until this moment what I have learned in those classes. As said, I have learned the material for these classes to pass the exams, and forget what I have learned the day after the exam. In this case, I do not blame myself that I have not learned the material as I have to, because I learned it to pass the class with a good grade instead of passing the class with the
One change institutions should make to the grading system is to eliminate all factors that have noting to do with learning outcomes from affecting the students’ grade. According to the article, “Assessment of Learning Outcomes: What’s the difference?” written by Carnegie Mellon University, grades are often based on more than learning outcomes. Instructors usually include factors unrelated to learning outcomes such as attendance to class, participation, improvement and in some cases, grades are boosted a bit due to how hard the student is working.” These factors are
Its time to change the school system to save future students from becoming stress crazed and to let them know that there is more to this world than a grade card and in the long run it is a very small fraction of life.