Student Comments, on Grading

Students on Grades
8th grade students at Shelby East Middle School offer the following advice to educators regarding how they perceive grading methods.

There are students that suffer from testophobia, which is the fear of taking tests. So a student maybe very smart, but once you put a test in front of them they freak and forget everything. Test grades are a big part in our grading system, so one bad test grade can take you down a whole letter grade. After you have had enough tests you would be failing. And that wouldn’t be your fault. Are tests that really important?

Another big part of our grading system is homework. Well, some students may have a chaotic home. They may have chores and other responsibilities. Instead, the students end up worrying about school all the time. Some students may do wonderful at school but just can’t concentrate at home, so is it fair that there grades start to fail just because of not finishing their homework?
If students are working on a project that interest them, those students wouldn’t be worried about the grade they get, they would be too interested in the project. So if the grades don’t matter to the students, why should it matter for the teachers?
-Ashley Riley

Some teachers grade us on how close our work is to theirs. In my opinion, this isn’t right. “Why do teachers grade us on how close our work is to theirs when they encourage us to be unique and different?!” says Remey. If we are supposed to be unique then why are we being judged on how alike we are, and how similar our stuff is? Will this bump our grade down? We have so many questions that nobody wants to answer. It doesn’t make sense to me really.

Did you know that 75% of students get low grades because they didn’t get all of the questions right? But they tried very hard. Some students will put twice as much effort into their work and still get lower grades than the people that copied. For instance, John goes home every night and studies for a test. Then while taking the test he freaks out (even though he did the best he could) and the outcome will be he gets a bad grade. But if Peter copied another person in the class and got a 100% that wouldn’t be fair. Justice should be served!

Instead of grades the teachers could write a report every few weeks about the progress made/ decrease in progress. So for example, when interims come out every three weeks we will receive a written report of how we are doing in our own work and our conduct. The teachers could write about whether we understand the concept or not, if we complete our work, or how obedient we are in class.
-Caitlin Rogers

Are you ever frustrated with different teachers having different grading methods? Well, there are multiple types of grading methods all over the state. How are students supposed to keep up with what method and what teacher is using which? There is so many times that students have received an assignment back with a smiley face, or a sticker, or a check mark on it, and still not know how well they’ve done. So how are students supposed to base that on how well they’ve done? Is the grade they received an, a, b, c, d? Wouldn’t it be nice to get an assignment back and know what grade you got?
-Jessie Wilson

I also propose that all parents and guardians must be able to look at their child’s grades by an online system or by mail, for those who do not have a computer. They can request for when they would like the grades to be mailed, and those with a computer can request a password. We have had online systems like Infinite Campus and STI, and hopefully we can create a newer and better system for those without the proper technology. Of course, we want to appease both parents and students with good grades.
-Lauren Greenwell

While some teachers are busy planning projects, others are off planning worksheets and other ways to cram more grades into the grade books. When teachers give fewer grades and focus on giving a project it gives students more time to make sure that that project is their best work. But, with fewer grades it also means that if a student does horrible on one thing, that one thing could really bring their overall grade down. More grades would give students a chance to make up for the one or two bad grades. I think that a combination of the two would be the best bet. Students need some time to be creative but we also need assignments to give us some grades and make up for any bad grades.

The difference in expectations can really be affecting some student’s overall grade. Teachers might believe that their teaching method is the best, but their opinion is influenced. When every teacher has the same expectations it would be less biased and hopefully more effective.
So if the problem is that there are too many different expectations, and if student’s grades are suffering significantly, then the obvious solution would be for all teachers to have all of the same expectations. I believe that if all teachers were to transfer to more strict expectations (word for word), that the quality of work that is expected and received from students would increase immensely. This would cause students to harder to earn their A, rather than just getting it with a very minimum effort, as many students do now. It would require students to think more on their own.
-Taylor Webb