Grades are good for you?
Wednesday, 27 September, 2006
I thought this report in the SMH about a two-tiered school reporting system for NSW is interesting. On the one hand, Premier Morris Iemma wants it to be as simple as A to E. Working from the top down, if you get an A, great! But if you get a B, that's all right not as good as an A; if you get a C, that's okay too but definitely not as good as an A; and if you get a D or an E, well, too bad you missed out on that A.
On the other hand, if you look at what A to E actually represents, it works more from the bottom up: you get an E, that's a limited achivement but it's an achivement nonetheless. A D? Well you've basically got there! A C? You're sound and you're better than basic. A B? Hey, that's high! You're more than sound! And A? “Outstanding”!
It makes me think of something Andrew Nixon said last year when we were talking about grades at Moore College. Moore doles out ABCs (with pluses and minus thrown into the mix)—i.e. top-down. Psychologically, Andrew said, it makes us more aware of our shortcomings, whereas the Uni system of Pass, Credit, Distinction and High Distinction makes you feel like you've really achieved something (i.e. bottom-up).
The former reflects a theological reality (we all fall short—Romans 3:23) but the latter is good medicine for our self-esteem. Which is to be preferred?
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
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Other comments
I like getting High Distinctions. I feel highly distinguished. But getting a Credit disappoints me. So I still feel like I got an ‘average’ mark, even if it is called something nicer…
Given the way I’ve seen some college marks make zero sense, I’d say just some consistency would make me happy.
Interestingly, I subscribe to a couple of (Latin) teaching mailing-lists, so it’s very interesting to learn about pedagogy and both the theory and practice of how marks inform/disrupt learning.
Personally, I don’t think marks in anything actually contribute to learning. They motivate some short term efforts, but they don’t achieve any learning outcome.
I’ve never thought much about marking systems in the way you describe and have been both secondary teacher and until reasonably recently a tertiary student.
Like Little, I always regarded a credit as a poor mark for me. I was very competitive but only with myself.Over a Diploma and a degree in theology from two institutions,some years study, my GPA was HD.
However for schools, it’s a mess. When my sons were in primary school, they were getting snarky comments on reports for HD marks. That was because they could have been even higher with a bit more effort. In fact, the school did change its system one year, so that the pupil was marked against himself. This saw one son getting a C (A,B,C type mark) when in reality his numerical mark was just under 90%. System was reversed the following year, although it was probably a more honest assessment. Someone doing their utmost best and gettng 51% was given an A.
Ah…consistency.
Be wary of the “ABC” system they are introducing into NSW.
It is a ranking (A = top 10% of class, E = bottom 10%), not a mark.
Which means E always means you are dumber then 90% of your class. It can never be seen as an achievement, nor it is nessesarily a reflection on how well you are going.
They have introduced the system all the way down to kindergarten. interesting when you think through what you are saying to kids, and how you actually mark kindergarten.
Is the real question here…
“What motivates us more?”
The idea of a Pass is quite satisfactory.. however, I’d be motivated to push myself for an A or A+..
Well thats my 7.5cents
In response to the theological reality…
Our attainment of eternal inheritance is pass/fail but the glory is never ours….Thankgoodness for that.
I should also point out that E officially means the student is “limited” - which is hardly something to encourage a 4 year old with. So despite the child doing really really well, trying really really hard, and improving heaps - if they are bottom 20% - they are officially labelled as “limitted”
Part of the analysis should be about the system that is being replaced, which is hopeless if the teachers are lazy and the kids are bright.
At our inner west school my daughter’s teacher tested the kids to the same level, and taught them to the same level each term (ie no provision for gifted and talented kids).
Meaning one term my daughter got all ‘working beyond’ and next term all ‘working towards.’
She, being cleverer than her teacher, saw that the report from her school was a farce, crossed out all the ‘working towards’ and replaced them with ‘working beyond.’
This has done nothing to increase our or our daughter’s respect for the school.
When I asked the teacher about how she was doing against the other kids the teacher would not tell me.
And as part of industrial action the school did not have formalised school reports in July.
So I am glad that under the new reporting system the teacher’s bias against bright kids is somehow being redressed.
I will wait with interest to see what happens at the end of the year at our school.