Friday, December 07, 2007

More on Zeros

As I continue to reflect, I think I am going to keep my zeros. I may see if I can't find a way to make zeros on homework grades less damaging, because I do agree with the formative/summative divide - that is, that it isn't right or helpful to grade a student's work when they're practicing and we don't even expect them to have learned it!

I posted this over on RepairKit:

I think we disagree on our understanding of what a cumulative grade represents. IMO, it is not simply a measure of the quality of a student's work (in which case I would agree with you); it should represent the quality of a student's work in relation to the standards. Unless each assessment covers ALL the standards, a student who has turned in all summative assessments and done well on them SHOULD have a better grade than a student who has turned in half of the assessments and done very well on them. Otherwise you are simply taking on faith the student's ability to do well on the uncompleted (and therefore unproven) work, and that's not fair either.

On tests, do you excuse answers that are not completed? How far do you think this should be taken?


If I excuse uncompleted summative assessments, it would be conceivable that a student could pass by demonstrating competence on some standards and hiding from the other tests! I mean, a student who is smart but doesn't want to work (haven't we all known them?!) could get away with learning absolutely nothing at all. Just prove your current proficiency and don't turn in anything else, yanno?

The Science Goddess has suggested marking Incompletes in the gradebook (and SG, I am SO sorry - I can't find where you said that, please forgive [and correct! :D] me if I misrepresent your position); a student who had "enough" Incompletes would not get credit for the course.

Ok, first of all, I reeeeally don't want to get into what constitutes "enough" to mark failure. Second, as a student... I dunno, maybe I was just well-indoctrinated? I would look at my grades, see all those Is, and then go, "Oh look! I've got an 85! Wow, I thought it'd be much lower!"

I mean, it sounds to me that if a student who gets a bunch of Incompletes fails the course, they work the same way as zeros, except that they don't show up in the numeric grade. Now, if your district/school/administration/WHOEVER is already moving away from the illusion of "objective" grading, then maybe you can do this. Me? I'm just... it's me. All by my lonesome. I am "the voice crying out in the wilderness," I guess... although I'm not quite that weird. (Honey, mm, yes please, but I'll pass on the locusts, thanks!) Oh, AND I don't have tenure.

So, for now, I will keep the zeros. I will continue to work to make sure my summative assessments are standards-aligned, so that I can pinpoint which standards students are struggling with and give help on those while allowing them to polish and improve work for standards they have mastered.

It's just so hard.

(Note to self: It is OKAY that you're not brilliant yet. You are still a babe in them thar woods. But one day... *shakes fist at sky* ...one day...)

3 comments:

Mrs. Chili said...

In a perfect world, we'd have meaningful assessments that suited each student's individual learning styles. That doesn't happen, and until it does (as if...), we have to do the best we can.

I take a sort of "real world" approach. In the real world, you don't get paid for not doing your job. A student's job is learning and demonstrating, according to the teachers' demands, evidence of that learning. You don't do it, you don't get "paid" with a grade. Simple as that.

Of course, it's NOT simple, and I know that, but what else can we do, given the environment in which we work?

Clix said...

1) Call mommy and cry on the phone.
2) Get a snugglyhug from the husband.
3) Eat steak.
4) Drink a cup of hot cocoa.

Unfortunately, while all of the above make me feel much better, they don't directly solve problems. OTOH, by making me feel better, they do make it easier for me to face the problems (and hopefully work toward a solution).

Hugh O'Donnell said...

"If I excuse uncompleted summative assessments, it would be conceivable that a student could pass by demonstrating competence on some standards and hiding from the other tests! I mean, a student who is smart but doesn't want to work (haven't we all known them?!) could get away with learning absolutely nothing at all. Just prove your current proficiency and don't turn in anything else, yanno?"

Just a reminder...if you will read my comment to your post above, you'll know that excusing students from work is not my intention.

Hang in there. I left a lot of angst behind when I implemented the guidelines I posted on my blog pages (see the area near the masthead). I learned them from Ken O'Connor who has done a remarkable job of making classroom assessment and grading research accessible to old warhorses like myself.

Hugh aka Repairman

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