What Does Your Grade Say About You?

A student comes home from school and tells his parents, “Great news. I got an A in math on my report card.” This is certainly what every parent wants to hear. However, it’s not often that people closely analyze what that grade actually means.

In most cases, particularly in a traditional grading system, the grade is based on one of two scoring options. In the first option, the grade is strictly a percentage based on accumulated points divided by the total points offered by the teacher. These points are usually a collection of both formative and summative assessments, where the summative assessments outweigh the formative by an arbitrary percent in order to make the grade more “credible”. Usually these amounts can vary based on the number of assignments given throughout the term. The second common grading option has a predetermined weighting system that gives more or less value to different categories such as: homework, tests, quizzes, in-class, etc.. The number of assessments within each category can vary without affecting its weight. For example, regardless of whether there are 4 tests, or just one test, the weight of the tests may remain at 70%.

Although they likely have a sizable impact, what’s rarely observed is how much behavior and compliance are weighed into each of these two options. Students are greatly rewarded, and penalized, for things like homework completion, attendance, in-class participation, and effort. Though not explicitly defined in the standards, these factors have a significant hidden impact on a final grade. Oftentimes, students cross the pass/fail threshold based on these non-academic issues. By extension, the aforementioned student may have received a grade of an A, when he actually had a level of understanding that warranted a grade of B or less. And certainly, the student with a lower grade in the class may have demonstrated a level of understanding that is worthy of an A, but behaviors (that he may or may not have been able to control) made that A unattainable.

This system overwhelmingly benefits students who have a better support system at home along with the ability to have a mature behavioral approach in the classroom. This elicits the question…To what extent should behavior impact a student’s grade?

First of all, it’s commonplace for a student’s grade to be used as a behavioral management bargaining chip. Holding a student’s grade hostage for the sake of trying to teach better behaviors, both in and out of the classroom, works well on those who want to get good grades and can control their behaviors. And since most kids and parents want better grades, teachers can easily manipulate child behavior to their advantage. However, if a grade is supposed to bear an accurate description of proficiency on specific standards, then it shouldn’t be influenced by behavior (unless the behavior is specifically mentioned within that standard). In order to address this obvious flaw, Skills Based Grading deviates from a traditional grading classroom.

In the Skills Based approach, students receive grades based on their performance on each academic standard (or skill) independent of their behavior and compliance. They will receive a singular final letter grade that will be easily dissected by viewing their aptitude in each individual skill, with a separate grade that focuses solely on behavior (called a CAREs grade - which will be addressed in a separate entry). All individual skills will contribute to that final grade. However, the influence of the behavioral aspect is isolated, minimized and communicated clearly. More importantly, the students and parents are able to track progress in each academic skill, as well as the students’ behavior grade, throughout the grading term without the muddled, mixed up, mongrel of a grade that comes from blending skill and compliance. Improvements are made by targeting specific deficiencies and making adjustments in those areas.

Let’s analyze what a typical final grade would look like in a Skills Based classroom. In our semester grading term, we have six specific skills for the student to attempt to master. Each skill is scaled to a value of 100 points (600 points). These skills are regularly measured using short (four questions) Skills Assessments. There are also two, 50 point, exams given during the term (100 points). One exam is taken after the first three skills are completed and covers those skills, while the other exam targets the last three skills completed. We also give a final exam at the end of the semester (200 points) and keep a running record of their behavioral grade, called a CAREs grade, throughout the term (100 points). Although we have a total of 1000 points rendered during the term, the points and number of skills can be easily modified to meet a nine week term. Regardless of the length of the term, the student who finished the semester with an “A” can confidently claim they have a high proficiency within the standards for the semester. An unwavering 90% of their grade is performance based, and only 10% is behavioral based. The two are never blended together until the final grade is designated.

Here’s the greatest impact of this system. Using behavior as a factor within your grading system is virtually eliminated. Students who lack a support system for completing homework, or getting to school, can still be successful if they can master the academic skills. Although it accounts for only 10% of the student’s final grade, behavior can still be tracked and modified as the grading term matures. It can be taught and monitored like any other academic behavior, but not so much that it would create a false sense of competence (or incompetence) within a subject. A whopping 90% of an individual student’s grade is based on performance within the actual curriculum. This allows for specific targets to be identified for remediation and recovery purposes. Furthermore, LEARNING is optimized when it’s known what students can and cannot do.