FIX 9

Question to Ponder

To what extent does comparing students skew the level of achievement students’ grades are supposed to reflect?

FPS Staff Commentary

Steven Kopenen - Warner Middle School

I used to curve scores on tests. For example, my "highest" grade would be scaled up to 100%, and thus, other students' grades would be inflated a bit, depending on what the top score was. I suppose I did this to make my grades a little bit higher or to make a test that didn't go so well seem a little better. But I wasn't truly reporting anything about what students had achieved, other than one student achieved a certain percentage of what some other, unknown student, achieved. Now I spend more time creating a better assessment that will assess the standards clearly rather than spending my time re-figuring percentages.