There is a recent trend in North American primary and secondary education systems in which schools are adopting policies which eliminates the possibility of students to receive a mark of zero or in some cases, being issued a failing grade at all. These no-fail, or minimum grading policies, also referred to as ZAPs (Zeros Aren’t Permitted), have garnered as much support as they have opposition. Recognizing that not all students are able to succeed in the traditional educational system, no-fail policies are designed around the students’ self-esteem. These policies use a multitude of grading practices which allows for, or encourages, a student to succeed. Minimum grading practices generally allow for students to achieve an established minimum grade through a variety of different means designed to keep a student engaged in their studies. The positive impact to the social and emotional well-being of a student educated in a no-fail environment is undeniable; a student will gain confidence and be encouraged to continue to try even if they failed on previous attempts. Opponents of these no-fail policies argue that these programs do not adequately prepare students for life beyond grade school, where failure can have immediate and serious results. Most post-secondary institutions do not advocate no-fail education systems and most employers will find the performance of an employee who does not complete assignments to be unacceptable and fit for termination. As beneficial to the confidence of a student as a no-fail environment is, these programs pose a greater disservice to the same student in their education as well as later in life. No-fail policies can lead to students falling further behind in their education and encourage an indifference...
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...ing economic classes is uncertain. Until such a minimum grading program can be instilled in all schools, one which has positive emotional and educational effects on all students, those struggling to achieve as well as those that have found success; minimum grading policies will continue to fail students.
Works cited:
Caneva, Gina. "For Students' Sake, Say No To 'No-Zero Policy' On Grading." Education Digest 79.7 (2014): 52-54. Canadian Reference Centre. Web. 5 May 2014.
Carifio, James, and Theodore Carey. "The Arguments And Data In Favor Of Minimum Grading." Mid-Western Educational Researcher 25.4 (2013): 19-30. Education Research Complete. Web. 5 May 2014.
Greene, Jay, and Marcus Winters. "Getting Farther Ahead By Staying Behind: A Second-Year Evaluation Of Florida's Policy To End Social Promotion." Education Working Paper Archive (2006): ERIC. Web. 5 May 2014.
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.
On the topic of weighted GPAs, people often suggest two main outcomes: a strong academic society and a weak academic society (Abbott). Seeing that weighted GPAs are rewarding to students
Intelligence has begun to define individuals globally, but the goal of the minimum grading system is fairness and equality. Fair share grading is when all students in the class take an intended exam, but the class average score of the test is given to every student. Each student will receive the same grade even if one did better or worse than the average score. That being said it could reduce dropout rates, test anxiety, and competition between students. On the other hand, students could be affected negatively because it could lead to false self-value and unfairness to those students who study harder in order to earn higher grades. The debate continues about whether students should be separated by intelligence or be given equal grades in order
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.
Our education system is failing and in his essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” Carl Singleton writes that nothing else will right the ship or fix this issue except for his proposed solution which is to simply fail more students. As a matter of fact “by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions” (Singleton 1) is how he describes the failing grades should be distributed. He claims that illegitimately passing students has existed for the past two decades and even implies that it stems further back than that with many teachers in the school system today “who never should have been certified in the first place.”(Singleton 1).
America is quickly changing to be a nation of inflation. Grade point averages have risen from 2.93 during the ‘91-’92 school year to 3.07 nearly a decade later (Harding 21). This is mostly due to the change in grading scales from a traditional seven point grade scale, which a student could only earn an A if obtaining a 93 percent or higher and doesn’t award students with any “minus” grades, giving a student a B if he gets a 92 percent, and a 10 point scale which adds “minus” grades, so it is possible to have a 91 percent and only have an A- rather than a B. Some states, such as North Carolina, are now requiring all of the high school to grade on a 10 point scale (Lee 1). This is supposed to aid students not only in getting into college, but getting a job as well, because that is the ultimate goal in everyone’s life, right? One is supposed to get into college to get a degree so they can make money for the rest of their life. But the problem arises because the importance of getting a job has surpassed the importance of getting an honest education. John Harding even made the point that grading has changed from a measure and motivator for students to perform and learn to an external evaluation
Ferriter, Bill. Standardized Tests Alone Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Students. Opposing Viewpoints School Reform. Ed. Noah Berlatsky. Detroit: Christine Nasso, 2011 94-99. Print.
2. Testing and Grade Retention. Retrieved October 24, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.fairtest.org/arn/retenfct.htm
“Making the Grade,” which was published in the Salt Lake Tribune in September of this year, is an article arguing the negative sides of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through this article, a majority of the discussion regarded the budgeting involved with NCLB. This article calls No Child Left Behind a “one-size-fits-all formula for improving education in America” (Making the Grade). According to President Bush, the NCLB Act is “’the cornerstone’ of his administration” (Salt Lake Tribune). Like with any legislation, however, come both positive and negative sides.
The issue of standardized testing has been a highly debated issue in the United States for many years and shows no sign of being resolved any time soon. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was an effort to standardize and improve our education system, but 13 years later it is still in shambles. While many people agree there is a need for some sort of measure for quality education, there is much disagreement about the effectiveness of standardized tests. Some even say federal programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have gone too far in using test scores to evaluate teachers (Gordon 2013). Unfavorable results from these tests seem to generate more punitive consequences for the teachers and schools than help for the students. The words “high-stakes” are used often in numerous sources to describe the current testing system and refer to decisions that will make a significant impact on both students and teachers. These decisions include repeating a grade or not receiving a diploma for the student and possible loss of a job for the teacher. Standardized testing is an ineffective and expensive way to measure student achievement.
In “How Grading Reform Changed Our School,” author Jeffrey A. Erickson discusses about how it is common in high schools to pass each student by their accumulated average of the entire class period. He described many examples to display the way of grading in high schools such as in behaviors, lessons, and tasks. He talks about the changes that were made and were in effect to achieve a grading average that reflects the student 's’ abilities and knowledge .
What happens when students hear this new mode of grading and stop trying? What is the challenge of going to school and working hard, if they do not have to make sure they get all of their school work done to pass? Teachers will not need to try so hard to get their lecture through to their audience. Although allowing the no zero rule helps children in many ways, it hurts them in more ways. In society there are no grading scales, no one is going to give these young students an easy pass. If they cannot do what they are supposed to do in their career, then they will fail. These students need to understand the meaning of working hard to achieve in school, so they understand what it will be like with a job, or family. Most jobs run on a pass or fail scale. It is easy to think that changing the grading scale is what the students need, and that this will give parents what they are looking for to stop the children from dropping out of
Kohn, Alfie. The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann 2000.
Have you ever gotten a “bad” grade in a class, but did the best you could? This is a very common scenario that most children encounter. More than half of a student body have been pressured by teacher or guardians to increase their grade in certain classes. Except, in the end students lose interest in school and learning all together. All of this is a chain reaction due to student's work ethic being labeled with a letter grade. Schools should eliminate letter grades because it’s in the student’s best interest and it’s also a tremendous stress reliever.
Based on the Programme for International Student Assessment’s 2012 results (PISA), the United States has ranked 30th in comparison to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) participating countries. The United States, a country that has once held the ideal for educational standards, has now ranked just slightly above other countries that are just being developed. By using high-stakes test statistics to drive America’s educational standards, classrooms are beginning to lose their meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals. Because of classrooms just teaching the test are beginning to lose the meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals, results of high stakes testing which can be affected by the minutest details, are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency; a better alternative would be by performance based assessments. “Test developers are obliged to create a series of one-size-fits-all assessments. But, as most of us know from attempting to wear one-size-fits-all garments, sometimes one size really can’t fit all.” (Popham, James W.). High stakes tests are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency because educators can not expect to have accurate and precise results in just one sitting for 12 years of learning. Although tests pose an important role in education, they should not be given such high stakes of determining if a student should be rejected from a college “based solely on the fact that their score wasn’t high enough” (Stake, Robert.).