Monday Teeny Poll
By Glinda
Last week’s question “Do you think that all children have the potential to be “A” students?” sparked many comments that generally seemed dissatisfied with the educational system. A whopping 86% of respondents answered “no,” leaving only 13% to answer yes. Quite a few of the comments implied that letter grades were unfair, or failed to quantify certain types of intelligence, which is certainly true.
So, to continue on a theme:
(My apologies, apparently the twiigs site was down for maintenance this morning, and thus their polling is experiencing problems.)
January 21st, 2008 at 9:29 am
Its one thing to do this in the elementary grades, but this poses problems if it carries into middle and high school when kids art looking at colleges, because that process is so ruthlessly competitive. How can colleges assess and compare kids with pass/fail grades against kids who have quantified grades?
Our school system (public) has no letter grades in K thru 5, just a 1 -5 assessment system based on a list of maybe 60 academic and developmental; goals. As a parent, I can say it’s been really helpful, especially in grades K-3 because how well a child may do in the early grades has a lot to do with their emotional maturity as much as their mental prowess. However, my kids start middle school next year, and the traditional grading system will begin.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I’m not a particular fan of letter grades, but I don’t much like credit/no credit either. I actually rather liked the system they had when I was in early grade school (very similar to Phyllis’s). They gave an O for outstanding, S for satisfactory, N for needs work, and P for poor. Simple and easy for the child to understand.
These “grades” actually meant something useful. Rather than telling a child they have Failed at a subject (in my experience you only really fail when you stop trying) it tells them they need to work on it, but they’ll get it evenually, which (I believe) is true of any and every child.
On the other hand, I think as long as the schools use the simpler systems while the child is learning how to learn, they’ll be okay in the A-B-C system. I don’t like it much, but it’s still better than credit/no credit.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I think more schools have a problem with grade inflation than the reverse. I think if we still had the mentality that a “C” is an average grade, we’d be fine. A’s used to be reserved for really excellent academic performance in a particular area, and a B wasn’t bad. With many classes now having B+ averages, it’s much easier to feel cheated if you (or your child) doesn’t get an A.
Sure, every child has different strengths. And sure, some of these strengths are not going to be recognized with a “A” in any class at school. But school is about finding every child’s particular strength and labeling that with a gold star. It’s about encouraging and measuring a very specific set of skills. Those other skills often have their own rewards.
Thant being said, I agree that early elementary school should be much more about encouraging and less about measuring. O, S, N, P give parents the feedback they need to work with their children, without quite the stigma of letter grades. (Although, I certainly knew that hardly anyone got a “P”, and if I’d gotten one in my early elementary school classes, it would have been as devastating as an “F”.)
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I think that in high school mandatory electives should be pass/fail. Getting a B in gym should not keep anyone off the honor roll.
At my (parochial) elementary school we got lots of letter grades. Math had three sections each of which got a grade (I forget exactly what they were but one of them was word problems) and English has sections for grammar, vocabulary and writing. I think this gives parents more information about their particular child strengths and weaknesses.
We also got 1-5 assessments for gym, music, art, and penmanship. In each class (math, English, etc) we got a 1-5 grade for conduct and one for effort.
When my brother and I got report cards with all 1s and 2s in effort and conduct my grandparents took us to Friendly’s. My brother and I were both good students but we were never punished/rewarded for academic grades.
Why, yes I do think very highly of my elementary school. Why do you ask?