Blow Up The Grade Book Analysis

Education is a long-term investment. We, as students, work hard to acquire knowledge and to hone our skills so that we may use them one day. The effort we put into a single assignment should be considered as both for that specific assignment and for our rounding as complete, educated individuals. And with this mindset, students should be motivated even more to put more effort and hard work into academics, with the goal of bettering themselves for the future and advancing their prospects as individuals. And with this hard work and effort will come progress, and this progress should be reflected in the grading—not necessarily on individual assignments, but on the student’s education as a

The function of the education system is to improve students education and prepare them for the real world. Students within that system should receive an “A” when they have mastered the information they are being taught. However, grades no longer accurately reflect how much students have learned. Since 1998 teachers have handed out more A-grades while the average SAT scores have actually fallen. In fact, as Greg Toppo states, an author for USA Today, the amount of A’s handed out actually went up close to ten percent (4). Students can manipulate their courses so that they can get good grades without actually learning much of anything. With grades not accurately representing what students have learned and charter schools failing to solve problehms, teachers need to change how they structure their class or grade assignments.

For this book analysis, I read the book A Piece of Cake by Cupcake brown. It is a memoir told by Cupcake about her life. She starts the book at age 11, when she was living a normal and pleasant life with her mother in San Diego. She was quite close to her along with her step father (who, at the time, she thought was her biological father), and her uncle. Then out of nowhere, she finds her mother dead in her room and her life is shaken into disaster. The court system had to turn both her and her brother over to her biological father whom she never met, instead of giving her to the man she was raised by. Her father then sent her to a foster home where she was raped and beaten constantly. When she

Most schools use a traditional grading system that focuses on homework, class work, tests, and quizzes. Some schools have used alternate systems in which the students are to do a long-term assignment to show what they have learned. The marvelous idea of a long-term assignment would be very efficient. The logic behind forcing students to do graded work is unfathomable, because those grades will only matter for a given amount of time. Schools should more openly consider switching from a traditional grading system to a long-term project grading system. The idea of a long-term assignment is more logical given the fact that stress levels would be lower, creativity would flow, and students could acquire more skills. Adding a grade to every piece of paper is overall a waste of time.

Alfie Kohn discussed multiple fabulous points in his article, “Degrading to De-Grading”. The author suggests more effective ways to assess students’ progress other than numerical or letter grades. Kohn goes into detail about why our current grading system is flawed. Grades can cause students to lose interest in learning which causes them to stop taking challenges. If students are not engaged and interested than they are not retaining the information they are being taught. The grading system can also cause students to develop unhealthy competition with one another for instance, “I got a better grade than you!”. Indeed, grades are a wonderful concept, but they tend to be more hurtful than helpful. In some cases, grades can have positive effects on students. For example, setting goals for various assignments, or receiving help where they are struggling. Though, there are alternatives that could make positive changes in the system.

It did not help me in the end because I never got to know the material and learn from it. If all schools were to lessen the grading system to just pass or fail classes, more students would most likely be able to become better learners and be able to focus more on their studies than trying to keep up a good grade.

One example demonstrating that grades lead to limited learning of material, can be illustrated by a study that was conducted of students, some of whom were graded. One group of students was told about being graded and the other group was not. The group who was “told they’d be graded on how well they learned a social studies lesson had more trouble understanding the main point of the text than did students who were told that no grades would be involved” (Kohn). This experiment shows how students concerned getting a good grade detracts from the students overall understanding. In my experience, students have so much homework, activities, and pressure to excel that it becomes challenging to learn topics outside of those being assigned. For example, in order to complete history worksheets, students do not always read the passages to find the answers, but rather skim the passage for keywords

Kohn elaborates on the grade-orientated school system as he states, “Learning doesn’t have to be turned into a quest for triumph, and students don’t have to be made to regard their peers as rivals. In fact, there’s good reason to think that students truly flourish, intellectually and otherwise, in schools that are less (or even entirely non-) competitive, those that feel more like a caring community than a rat race” (Kohn, 2). Kohn describes how the current grade-orientated and competitive education system poses a problem as this learning approach is not an accurate representation of education. A major issue that is present in this type of learning is that students are too focused on grades and are missing essential information required for post-secondary. As a student who has taken many classes throughout high school, I have noticed that the best courses are the ones where diverse methods of teaching were

While many believe that the grading system has a concrete standing in the success of education, other’s believe that it actually can inhibit or at least lessen the effectiveness of learning. In “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber states that for the longest time, many have dismissed the fact that grades could be harmful to the learning process. He argues that grades lack the ability to bring about self-discipline within the students learning the content. While the educational system has rendered changes throughout the years, the grading system maintains its virginity and has been fairly untouched. He insists that many educators are in strong belief that grades are the only way to ensure that learning is to take place within the classroom. Most of society would dictate that the system has been fairly effective in getting individuals through their schooling. But as Farber points out, students tend to focus more upon the grades they are receiving and less upon the content itself. Throughout his writing, Faber uses many forms of rhetoric to persuade the reader to believe the fact that the grading system is corrupted and should be changed, and offers a solution which is referred to as the Credit System. With this being said, it can be stated that Farber effectively conveys his argument through his appeal to a younger

The multi-dimensional characters of AP students often is underestimated. The stereotypical “AP kid,” at my school at least, is in all advanced classes and head of ten clubs and plays three varsity sports. They are often branded as the most high achieving, well rounded students the school has produced. However, their interests outside of school are often ignored. I have no idea what my classmates do when they go home, besides homework.

The introduction to this chapter was an enjoyable read. When reading the introduction, the reader can visualize everything that is happening in their head. The introduction passage is a story of a teacher, Mrs. Firpo, and how she goes about teaching a phonics lesson. There are even examples that the reader can follow along with throughout the introduction as if they were in the actual class watching Mrs. Firpo teach the lesson.

Have you had your grades fail due to missing a little homework assignment? With graded homework, students could quickly begin to struggle and grades will plummet to the earth. Recent studies have exquisitely shown how grading homework could be “the difference in passing or failing” meaning if a student fails to attempt the homework, but passes the test with flying colors he could still fail the course. Studies have also shown that although around 75% of students report the they do have enough time to do the assignment they completely understand their lesson and have excellent grades with doing little to no homework, therefore with their homework not being graded they continue to understand what they are being taught in class. Homework should no longer be graded for it demolishes grades over the simple little mistakes.

For my freshman year and sophomore year I maintained a grade point average above a 3.7. At the end of my sophomore year I decided to do running start, which is taking college courses at the local community college. For these quarters my grade point average was usually below a 3.7 but above a 2.8. The decrease of my grade point average was due to me getting used to the courses and the setting I was in. Also I did not have a method to study or time management skills prior to doing running start which led to me not doing well in my classes. This has changed. I now know how to manage my time better by using my planner and to break up big assignments into smaller chunks for me to be able to work on

In the beginning, I was skeptical about how I would employ the 70/30 in History but by exploring the resources I have come to realize that this type of model would be easier to implement than I though. I am excited that students are going to have the opportunity to shine and use their strengths to complete projects but also improving in the weak areas. My favorite part of this model is the requirement that all students must complete all of the assignments or they receive an incomplete. So many times, I have witnessed students doing calculations on the minimal amount of work that they must turn in to pass. This eliminates that calculation but also reinforces that the work we are giving is meaningful and you must complete it in order to move forward. I believe that this is the wave of the future in education where grade levels become obsolete. Students will be promoted to new courses based on competencies being met. This year in particular, I have struggled with many students who feel that they do not need to do anything in classes and they will be promoted to a higher grade. This is particularly a challenge when we are faced with standardized testing and public scrutiny on those test scores. Initially, on pitfall for me personally is the fact that I will be completely changing many of my units to conform to the new grading procedures. I will feel like a new teacher all over again but I believe the benefits of this program strongly outweigh that minor concern. I have been teaching for 11 years and feel as though I have gotten into a rut and burnt out in the classroom. I am excited about this new opportunity to develop and become a better educator and reignite my passion for the

Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.