The Various Types of Grading
It's key to understand how teachers have varying grading styles in the United States today. This is critical before we begin to compare and contrast what styles work the best. Education is a huge part of the success of a society. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." The world as we know it is becoming increasingly competitive and complicated. The best way we can build our youth for the future is by making sure we educate successfully today. What styles work the best? What types of grading are being used today? In this post we will specifically look at traditional grading, grading on a curve, standard-based grading and pass/fail systems. We will look at how each one of these systems work, and will get into the pros and cons of each in a later blog post.
Traditional Grading-
This style of grading is very common all across America today. It includes tests, assignments, extra credit, and point percentages for every assignment. The grades are broken up into A, B, C, D and F ranges. An A is usually somewhen between 90-100, while a B is 80-90, and a C is between a 70-80 and so on. In this style everyone student can get an A or a failing grade F. The assignments and tests are used as an assessment of how each student is learning the material. The grades that you get in the classes are then used to determine an overall GPA. This GPA has a big impact on what colleges high school students can attend, or what scholarships they can receive in college. This grading style focuses on achieving mastery of a subject, of a desire to achieve a high grade will cause a student to study the material and to practice for the exams.
Grading on a Curve-
This style of grading is similar to traditional grading, but different in that the highest percentage or score in the class becomes a 100%. According to academics.hamilton.edu (http://academics.hamilton.edu/biology/smiller/curve.html) A curve curves scores both upward and downward. This is a common misconception made by students across the country. This means that the average score is in the middle, not an A or an F. The purpose of this grading style is to help tests become fair, meaning that either it is too hard or too easy requiring the test to be curved to the just right level.
Standard-Based Grading-
This grading style gives various standards that need to be passed in order to move onto the next subject. A big part of this style is that practice is super important to make it work. This was mentioned in an article by Josh Work when he says "Students are able to practice their mastery of standards without the penalty of receiving a poor grade in the gradebook." (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/peaks-pits-standards-based-grading-josh-work) This style is less common than the first two styles and is not utilized in most schools in the United States.
Pass/Fail-
This style is very uncommon and is becoming even less so as time goes on. The style is based on mastery of a subject. If it seems to the instructor that you understood the material and do well on the assessments then you pass the class. On the flip side, if you seem to not quite get the material then you fail the class. Although this is rarely used in classes, this formula of grading is commonly used in tests that further your career. I took a mortgage test, in order to be licensed, where the student needed to get an 80% or higher to pass.
These various have different pros and cons that will be reviewed in the next blog post. The education system is very complicated and various things have been experimented upon. The complexity of the education system is because of the various life experiences, backgrounds, and different cities where education is employed. In no way is there an easy answer or a complete answer to all of the United States school or children. The purpose of this blog is not to come up with a catch all solution, but to provide evidence to when each style should be utilized to further the effectiveness of the education system.
Standard-Based Grading-
This grading style gives various standards that need to be passed in order to move onto the next subject. A big part of this style is that practice is super important to make it work. This was mentioned in an article by Josh Work when he says "Students are able to practice their mastery of standards without the penalty of receiving a poor grade in the gradebook." (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/peaks-pits-standards-based-grading-josh-work) This style is less common than the first two styles and is not utilized in most schools in the United States.
Pass/Fail-
This style is very uncommon and is becoming even less so as time goes on. The style is based on mastery of a subject. If it seems to the instructor that you understood the material and do well on the assessments then you pass the class. On the flip side, if you seem to not quite get the material then you fail the class. Although this is rarely used in classes, this formula of grading is commonly used in tests that further your career. I took a mortgage test, in order to be licensed, where the student needed to get an 80% or higher to pass.
These various have different pros and cons that will be reviewed in the next blog post. The education system is very complicated and various things have been experimented upon. The complexity of the education system is because of the various life experiences, backgrounds, and different cities where education is employed. In no way is there an easy answer or a complete answer to all of the United States school or children. The purpose of this blog is not to come up with a catch all solution, but to provide evidence to when each style should be utilized to further the effectiveness of the education system.
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