Learning Above All

LEARNING ABOVE ALL: FOSTERING A LOVE OF LEARNING OVER OF A LOVE OF GRADES

Elementary school has a standards-based progress reporting system. On a standards-based report card, families learn about their student’s learning progress on each of the grade level’s academic standards. Here is what each score (1-4) means:

4 - Meeting standard

3 - Approaching standard

2 - Making progress/below standard

1 - Below standard

For example, when the report card shows a score of 4 for multiplying two digit numbers, that means the student has successfully mastered that skill.

Once students reach middle school, letter grades are introduced. At that point, the importance of letter grades is nearly universally preached (by school, peers, and family) and students are subsequently told that report cards “really count” now. Here is what each symbol means:

A - Really good

B - Pretty good

C - OK

D - Not so good

F - Houston, we have a problem

But what does an A grade in class actually tell you about a student’s skills or a student’s learning?

Whereas most students spend 6th and 7th grade escalating the importance of grades in their lives, in 8th grade math class at AMS, we are trying to get students to instead escalate the importance of learning for learning’s sake and de-escalate grades as the first priority in school.

Schooling shouldn’t be about the Almighty “A”. Ideally, school should be about students:

• Developing an intrinsic love for learning

• Fostering a driving passion for getting better at something that matters to them

• Establishing productive study habits/routine and a good work ethic

Students should pursue learning rather than chase the “A”. Ultimately, working towards an “A” grade devolves into a futile exercise of chasing after class points while pursuing learning is a character trait that will serve students for a lifetime.

I’m beginning to think that elementary schools had the right idea all along. Ideally, report cards should serve merely as reports of progress on the journey of learning, not as conveyors of student status or worth. Grades shouldn’t be thought of as a prize to achieve. Ultimately, I would much rather my students come to me asking for help with a concept they don’t understand rather than asking for what they need to do to raise their grade. That way, I know that their focus is truly on their own learning.

The articles “Why Grades Are Not Paramount To Achievement” and “Grades and Test Scores Don’t Matter. A Love of Learning Does.” compare the intrinsic love of learning to the drive for high marks.