What's the Point of Grades?
A good deal of the people reading this article will have taken some form of test and/or quiz and have been graded based on them. They have also most likely been given a grade on something. Tests, grades and quizzes can be nerve wracking, but their purpose can be misinterpreted easily. JGMS is a school, with teachers, so I set out to find out the teachers’ perspective on this topic.
One question asked was what teacher’s thought about the term, “Grades don’t matter.” There were conflicted answers to this question as Mrs. d’Entremont thinks that she disagrees, “that grades don't matter. Your grade shows what you know, and it reflects your student skills either positively or negatively. For example, you practice your skills by doing homework and classwork in a timely manner.” A key takeaway from this is that your grade is reflective of how you are doing in a class. On the other hand, Mrs. Grammenos says she thinks that, “grades matter insofar as they include your skill development. So we tend to be really obsessed with getting a certain grade but the reality is what does that grade actually mean? Does it mean that you can actually do that skill, or you crammed, you studied and you forgot.” What both of these teachers have pointed to is that your grade reflects how you are progressing. What Mrs. Grammenos indicates though, is that this also has a second dimension as students may merely study hard for this test, grade etc., only to forget what they have learned. Mrs. Little also adds to this by asking whether the point of school is, “to learn the material, or to get a certain mark?” While grades do present a view into your progress as a student, this only can go so far as students may have more or less than what their grade shows, and maybe, just maybe, we are looking at the wrong thing when we talk about achievement in school.
When asked about how tests/quizzes were used, there was a common theme. Among the teachers who responded, the teachers all said that they used quizzes far more often than tests, with both of them used to demonstrate knowledge at that point in time.
JGMS has a school directive that says that no student should have a failing grade at any point. That means that all grades below a 55% shall be lifted back up. This has already been covered by Reagan Puhak and Mila Maricic in their article. This topic has had some conflict, but it was implemented so that, “the student has a fighting chance of improving their grade in the future.” Mrs. Grammenos says, “ I think that in middle school, and in highschool and in college actually when you put in the work you won’t get a fifty-five, so if the material is super challenging you'll maybe not do well on tests and quizzes, and it could put your grade in jeopardy but I think as long as you do the work and you maybe retake the quizzes or maybe go for extra help there won’t be this question about that being on the line and whether you’re bumping someone above or below it usually I think that ifs someone is a fifty-five it's pretty clear that their score. I’m not a big fan of grades, because they’re inflated. Because it also affects our self esteem, and that’s unfortunate but that connection is still there. So when a person gets a B they don’t feel like they didn’t get an A, instead, they know the stuff pretty well. If you get an A, things are just too easy for you.” These comments reflect that what happens in-class is just as important as what happens with your grade. Mrs. d’Entremont comments that, “teachers don’t want students to give up.” A fifty-five could be detrimental to a student's grade and teachers want students to think that they still can get out of that hole and should keep participating in class. Mrs. Little both supports this and questions this, “I see the reasoning for why having a 55% minimum allows students to not get stuck in a hole that they can’t dig out of in the future. At the same time, are we rewarding minimal effort and devaluing grades as a tool to reflect what a student has mastered in a class?” The interviewed teachers all shared their own opinions, but those were divided.
Your grade is a partial reflection of your progress in a class and doesn’t reflect you in your whole. Perhaps you don’t score perfectly. It shouldn’t define you. The focus is very much on the grade, when you could look at what you learned today and take that with you as well. One very intelligent man named Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
-Article written by Ansel Chiou