PHILOSOPHY OF GRADING AND EVALUATION
AUTHOR: DAVIDSON OTIENO OMONDI
14.3 PHILOSOPHY OF GRADING AND EVALUATION
14.3.1 Introduction
Grading philosophies vary
with each teacher, each subject, each school and each education system.
Students must be assessed and quite often. Letters and numbers should not be
confused with authentic learning. Just because students receive an E doesn’t
mean they didn’t learn. In turn, just because they received an A doesn’t mean
they did everything. So, with that in mind, how do you grade?
Many
times, grading is done just to grade. This is done because students
and parents are so programmed to equate success with percentages and
letters that without a “grade” they don’t take the assignment seriously, but
this normally results into meaningless grading, leaving no genuine way of
providing evidence of actual student learning.
14.3.2 Grading and Grading Policies
·
Set
policies guide on how learners are graded. Sometimes these policies are rigid
and discouraging students, but the policy has to be observed
·
It
is better to devise a grading scenario that would ensure that learning was at
the forefront of education, and not the points or percentages.
·
Some
assessors prefer not to grade. Instead give comments, offer feedback, and
encourage, but not attach a letter or number to any assignment or assessment.
·
This
approach provide an environment where learning is the most important aspect of
the course, a space where risks were taken without fear of losing points, and a
place where process was valued over percentages.
·
The
advantage is that Students will work because they want to, not because they
have to; they will try things in their writing they would have never tried
otherwise.
·
This
gives true learning at the core.
14.4 Rating Scales
A
rating scale does more than record the presence or absence of expected or
desired behavior. It forces the
rater to judge the quality of the performance
14.4.1 How to Improve the Reliability of a Rating Scale
1.
Obtain several ratings on different days.
·
All of us vary from day to day and from
situation to situation
2.
Make a separate rating for each
performance element.
·
Use of generalized rating scales may
result in a single behaviour unduly hurting or helping a student
3.
Guard against halo effects when using
rating forms
4.
Make considerable efforts to include major
criteria in the rating itself
14.4.2
Rating scale and appropriate Comments after Grading
·
The rating scale is an assessment tool
where the learners performance is rated using a described category of
continuum.
·
For example while observing the child
jumping over the swaying rope the following scale can be used to rate the
performance.
·
Rating scales require more from informants
than a yes or no response.
·
A description or statement is presented
and informants express their agreements with the description by selecting one
of a series of ratings
·
The recommended grading scale is the
Likert type format.
·
It can be modified depending on the skills
being assessed and graded, for example:
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Approaching
Expectation (E) |
Below
Expectation (D) |
Average (C) |
Above
Expectation (B) |
Excellent (A) |
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Reading skills |
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Maths skills |
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Writing |
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Confidence |
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Friendliness |
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14.5 ASSIGNING
GRADES
14.5.1 Reasons why Grades are not normally distributed
1)
Content mastery is not evenly distributed
in any classroom
2)
Students efforts usually are not equal
3)
The intended purpose of the evaluation
14.5.2 Need for Accurate Assessment and Grading
Many
employers require information about the basic literary and mathematics skills
of prospective employees
·
Employers have become wary of grades
because they have seen too many people with high school or college degrees who
do not have the skills expected of such graduates
·
Accurate assessment therefore will give
the school or college a good reputation with employers
·
Accurate assessment will also give the
assessor a good name or respect in the field of academia
·
Accurate assessment will help students
being placed in the appropriate careers
14.5.3 Grading Methods
When
teachers do assign grades, there are three basic methods that can be used:
a)
The
individual standard is based on a student’s progress in
relation to his or her capacity
b)
Fixed
standard method i.e. criterion-referenced tests
·
The teacher assigns a level of performance
to correspond with different grades on the basis of how students have performed
previously
·
This requires experience
c) Non – reference grading
·
Compare a student’s achievement with the
performance of the class rather than with a fixed standard of subject-matter
mastery
14.5.4 Recommendations for Grading
·
Grading should implement the philosophy of
the school and the teacher as fairly as possible
·
Fixed standards make more sense when
teachers have a firm notion of what students can do and when they can set
standards based on realistic expectations
·
Teachers who use fixed standards must be
careful that a single poor performance does not preclude a student obtaining a
reasonably high mark – lowest scores could therefore be dropped
·
Retesting i.e. make up exams instead of
dropping their lowest scores can be an alternative meaningful way of addressing
the problem
14.5.5 Adjusting Grades
Reasons for adjusting Grades
1.
Consistency of performance
2.
Performance on major course objectives
3.
Special credit work
4.
Contract work i.e. project work
14.6 Methods of
Preparing Report Cards
1.
The point system
2.
Percentage grading system
3.
The contract system and grading rubrics
4.
Grading on efforts and improvements
14.6.2 Guidelines for Designing a Good Academic Report Card
1)
Include your school name, logo, and phone number.
·
Clearly
marking your report card with your school’s name, contact information, and logo
gives your report cards the official and professional look that your school
deserves.
2)
Use an easy to read, clearly visible grade scale.
·
Parents
shouldn’t need an instruction manual to understand their child’s report cards.
·
Your
school may have a custom system that eschews “A-F” grades, but in any case,
report cards should be able to explain each student’s progress clearly without
confusing parents.
·
Minimizing
the number of marks can help aid clarity.
3)
Keep class names simple.
·
Report
card space is limited and should not be wasted on overly complicated class
headings. “Math” — or even “Mathematics” — looks better and is less confusing
than “Mathematics Part III Block 1” or “Math Section 0436439.”
4)
Teachers’ Comments are crucial.
·
Report
card comments are an important communication tool for teachers to provide
parents with insights on their students’ performance.
·
Depending
on your needs, teachers can use quick-entry numbers that correspond to a
predetermined legend, or type out their own narrative comments in an allocated
space to give parents a broader understanding of their student’s grade.
(Customizable report cards make both options possible.)
5)
Only include the “main” attendance marks.
·
Your
school might incorporate many separate types of marks for attendance — excused
or unexcused absences, tardies, etc.
·
A
comprehensive student
information management system will provide parents with access
to detailed attendance information, so report cards should provide a “big
picture” attendance overview, not a confusion of disparate indicators. For
most schools, a sum total of Absences and Tardies is sufficient.
6)
Make class Titles and Assessments Distinct.
·
When
teachers add assessments like “Participation,” “Effort,” etc., underneath the
names of the classes, it’s important to make sure that the class title stands
out from the assessment labels.
·
Parents
should be able to easily recognize which headings are for classes, which are
for assessments, and which assessments belong to which classes.
1)
Use
page breaks purposefully.
·
If
a report card requires multiple pages, clearly label the information on the new
page — don’t just continue on without explanation.
·
The right student information
software will allow you to specify the order of classes, column
breaks, page breaks, and other formatting options to improve readability.
8)
Flexible Printing options.
·
Customizable
report card styles make it much easier to meet your school’s needs.
·
Your
student information system should allow for a bi-fold, tri-fold or traditional
portrait orientation to best accommodate your school’s particular courses and
options.
9)
Get a printer that does what you need.
·
If
your school runs a two-sided report card, installing a laser printer or copier
capable of automatically duplexing is a must.
·
Duplex
capable monochrome laser printer models are available from brands like Brother, HP and Xerox.
Also, laser printers or copiers are usually more economical and have better
permanence and smudge-resistance than inkjet printers.
·
Combining
the right printing equipment with a streamlined and efficient grade reporting
process makes it possible to print
hundreds of student report cards in minutes — saving school
staff and administrators hours of work.
·
Some
schools are moving to purely digital report cards, foregoing the printing
process entirely.
·
Ideally,
a student information system with one-click publishing can distribute these
official report cards to parents securely.
·
Ultimately,
the report card is a tool that provides a snapshot of each student’s
performance. Making that information in a way that is easy to understand will
ensure that each snapshot is clearly in focus.
14.6.3 Guidelines in Writing a Good Academic Report
1.
Explain your grading policies to students early in the course and remind them
of the policies regularly
·
Give mature students a handout describing
the assignments, tests, grading criteria and schedule
·
Explain these to new students
2.
Set reasonable standards
·
Discuss workload and grading standards
with more experienced teachers
·
Give a few formative tests to get a sense
of your students’ abilities before you give a graded test
·
Take tests yourself first to gauge the
difficulty of the tests and to estimate the time needed
3.
Base you grades on as much objective evidence as possible
·
Plan in advance how and when you will test
·
Keep portfolio of student work – this may
be useful in students or parents conferences
4.
Be sure students understand test directions
5.
Correct, return and discuss test questions as soon as possible
6.
As a rule, do not change a grade
·
Make sure you can defend the grade in the
first place
·
Do change any clerical or calculation
errors
7.
Guard against bias in grading
8.
Keep students informed of their standing in the class
9.
Give students the benefit of doubt
·
All measurement techniques have some
errors
14.7 Summary
Grading philosophies vary
with each teacher, each subject, each school and each education system. Many
times, grading is done just to grade. This is done because students
and parents are so programmed to equate success with percentages and
letters that without a “grade” they don’t take the assignment seriously, but
this normally results into meaningless grading, leaving no genuine way of
providing evidence of actual student learning. A rating scale is needed in
order to grade. Rating scale does more than record the presence or absence of
expected or desired behavior. It
forces the rater to judge the quality of the performance. Grading should
implement the philosophy of the school and the teacher as fairly as possible.
14.8 Learning
Activities
1. Discuss grading and grading policies of an
institution
2.
How would a teacher improve the reliability of a rating scales?
3.
Visit a Secondary school, observe the academic reports they have written and
make critique on the quality of the reports.
14.9 Further Reading
Coon, D. (2005). Psychology:
A journey. Belmont: Vicki Knight.
Good, T.L. & Brophy, J.E. (1990). Educational Psychology. (4th
ed.). London. Longman
publishers.
Typhan,
H. (2014). How do you grade? Retrieved from:
https://artsintegration.com>magazine
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