Chapter 7: The relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions

The way teachers grade, and how they understand the grades they give, greatly affect how they differentiate instruction. In order to grade fairly, the criteria for grades needs to be the same across the board, and be clear to everyone. Unfortunately, grading usually ends up being subjective and does not accurately reflect student’s mastery. According to research on grading, students who are graded have less interest in learning, test worse, and avoid difficult tasks when presented with them than the students who are not graded in school. Grades are just the teacher’s interpretation of the student’s knowledge; they are not concrete representations of a student’s mastery. Grading scales have always been difficult to go by, because an A for one teacher may not be an A for another. Students should know and clearly understand what the criteria are for receiving an A, and work towards those outlined standards. While getting rid of grades one and for all doesn’t seem to be happening in the near future, working towards fair, clear, and better constructed grading scales, tactics, and practices seems to be the first step in the right direction when I begin teaching.