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Advantages & Disadvantages of Pass/Fail Grading System
Effectiveness of the Traditional vs Pass / Fail Grading System
Effectiveness of the Traditional vs Pass / Fail Grading System
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High schools across the country have use the grading system A-F for many years now and it has worked very well without any issues and now our principle is considering changing the system to pass or fail.The Pass or fail isn't a great system compared to the traditional A-F system due to the fact it doesn't have the ability to give information about your grade and thats why we shouldn't change it. An example of the traditional system proving to be better is how if a student was to receive a C he or she would be able to realize thats an average grade and be able to see that there is room for improvement and while with the pass and fail system she or he wouldn't know that.He or she will just receive the Grade of pass and wouldn't know how exactly well she or he did. Another great perk of A-F system is it also comes with a number scale as for an example,B-82 and if a student was to check there grades they would be able to realize how far they need to improve to reach the next grade.But with the Pass or Fail System the student would only be able to see that she or he is either passing or failing and wouldn't be able to see how much work they need to do.The full number scale for the A-F is A-(100-90),B(89-80),C-(79-70),D(69-60)and F(59-0).
The article written by Michael Thomsen addresses the issue: should we as a society continue using a standardized grading system. Thomsen includes many reasons supporting his ultimate conclusion that we should not continue with any system of standardized grades. However, the reasons he uses to support his conclusion are affected by significant ambiguity which weakens the overall argument.
According to Carl Singleton, author of the article, “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s”, many of the problems plaguing the American educational system could be solved if teachers would begin to give failing grades to students who deserve them. He attributes the practice of inappropriate grade assignment on poorly educated teachers, uninvolved parents, and an ineffective administration; in addition, he contends that until educators begin to liberally disperse the grade of F to all of the students who deserve them, no other reform will work. He believes that widespread distribution of F grades will result in teachers, parents, and the educational system, taking responsibility for the failure to educate America’s youth. Examination of Singleton’s article reveals his
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’
According to Robert Jackson in . “Retooling education: Testing and the Liberal Arts” Colleges who changed their admission by making the SAT optional have directed their aims into a more high school grade based admission. This solution is the only true measurement we have at the moment and it is a better measurement than the SAT states Robert Jackson. The writer also goes on to say scholastic aptitude should be abolished, as it has no true value or indicator of student’s ability. A more precise measurement based on four years of schoolwork is a pretty good indicator of student’s ability. It gives equal playing field for all students from their freshmen year in high school until their senior year in high school. Students have equal opportunities to perform giving them four years to accomplish good grades for college admissions. this method gives unprivileged students the opportunity to go to college who previously could not attend college because of SAT Prep cost. Also this method benefits college admissions by providing an indicator on how students will perform in college classes making it easy to admit or deny
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.
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.
Sending the children home with these inaccurately given F’s would result non positive results at home as well. There is a large percentage of student that come from a single parent home, and some even with no parents being raised by grandparents. Ones that help as much as time allows them to and do the best they can helping at home. What if constant F’s created negativity between them and the child, causing the home environment to be in turmoil? What about the child that would be disciplined for the F when deep down they turned in their best “B” effort, who felt it was unfair and turned to acting
Standardized testing is a deeply flawed system. The American government continues to throw money at a program that has little or no hope of achieving the goals it set at its inception. The important message is that no test is valid for all purposes and “high stakes” decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score. Test scores provide only a small picture of student achievement or potential (APA 2014).
Standardized testing is not the best way to measure how well a teacher teaches or how much a student has learned. Schools throughout the United States put their main focus on standardized tests; these examinations put too much pressure on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events. Standardized testing puts strain on teachers and students, causing unhealthy occurrences, Common Core is thrown at teachers with no teaching on how to teach the new way, which dampers testing scores for all students, and the American College Test determines whether a child gets into college or not based on what they have learned during high school. Standardized tests are disagreeable; tests should not determine the ranking of people. Standardized testing is believed to be the best way to evaluate how much a child has learned, however most students only score average on the tests.
Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.
So what’s the big issue with traditional testing methods? They’ve been instituted for years and no one seemed to have a problem before now. Well, in the past decade, the nation’s citizens have become increasingly compassionate towards students and their individual needs. President George W. Bush has gotten generous praise for his No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 as a result of popular concerns among communities across the country. While the act may still have areas in need of improvement, it illustrates that educators, parents, and students alike have been desirous of reform within school systems. “The number of calls complaining about high-stakes exams coming from parents...are increasing, and is a reason for concern” (Report, 2001). The recent act caters to the actualization that students are different from one another, and in order for teaching and learning to take place in a non-discriminatory manner, adjustments must be made. According to the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), “Alternative assessment is any form of measuring what students know and are able to do other than traditional standardized tests. Alternative forms of assessment include portfolios that are collections of students' work over time, performance-based assessments, and other means of testing students such as open-ended essays with no single correct answer, and project work that involves collaboration with peers” (2000). Students learn in many ways. Some learn by listening to lessons and may prefer an environment with the aid of music and rhythm. Others may be visual learners who gather information by looking at photographs or watching videos. There are still others that learn kinesthetic...
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
The American education system has relied on the grade point average system for a long time. The problem with this is there is not a universal GPA grade point system varying from course to course. This creates an inaccurate way to determine ones overall achievements. Teachers have different standards than others, grade inflation can occur and students can be exposed to different learning environments. Does the education system need to change to create fairness?
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.
Students entering college for the first time look forward to the numerous tests that they are required to take least of all. Test taking and college are in tandem for many, but some debate that using testing as a grading system should be discontinued in universities. In theory it sounds like a great idea. It would cut back on stress and, more than likely, class time as well. However, stopping testing as a form of grading in universities would be soon regretted. Grading systems are an essential part of any education. Tests insure that that the student is learning what the teaching is teaching and identify areas that may need improving. The results from grading systems also show future employers or schools a glimpse of the kind of worker that a student will be. The numerous lists of positive effects on not only the students but the teachers, and even the university as a whole, outweigh the cons of using testing as a grading system.