Salem’s grading system has been changing for the past few years, going from a traditional points based grading scale with As, Bs, Cs, etc. to a competency based rubric system beginning in the elementary school which then moved to the middle school and is now being phased in at the high school. At a recent school board meeting, the plan was explained and feedback was given to the administration by both the board and the high school student body. The feedback was overwhelmingly not positive. In my career in Education, I have taught using both a traditional grading system and a competency-based rubric scale so I am quite familiar with the two different systems and the benefits and drawbacks of each.
For those who might be familiar with the E, M, PT, BP, LE scale that the lower grades use, it is important to understand that while similar, the proposed model at the high school is different. Instead of a 5 point scale denoted with letters, the high school is moving towards a 4 point scale using numbers (1, 2, 3, and 4) to grade assignments. One argument for this 4 point grading system is that it reduces subjectivity and increases consistency in grading. As a mathematician, I can tell you that the reason that you get more consistency with a 4 point system than you do with a 100 point system is entirely explained by probability. When there are fewer options, just by chance, more people’s choices will agree. That doesn’t always mean that subjectivity is reduced, just that it is obscured. Teachers will still have different opinions on the quality of an assignment. You just don’t notice it as much in the outcome. However, for students whose work is on the cusp of two different marks, there is still noticeable subjectivity but with only 4 different buckets, the consequences of that subjectivity are greater.
Another argument for the rubric based grading system is that it can be combined with a retake policy that encourages students to redo assignments and work towards mastery. I can also tell you from experience as a teacher that when a student turns in work that just barely reaches a level 2 and then they redo it for credit, they work really hard to make it noticeably better but even with the improvements, it has only moved from a low to a high 2, I am faced with a dilemma. Do I tell the student that despite their hard work and clearly evident improvement that it isn’t quite enough improvement to bridge the gap all the way to the next level, or do I bow to pressure and give them that higher grade even though they didn’t really make it all the way there? Because I can tell you in that first scenario that student never tries a second time ever again, on that assignment or any other. And in the second scenario, it’s just grade inflation, substituting effort for achievement and weakening the value of high quality work.
As a project manager, I also know that even if a 4 point grading system is a better option, that the poor implementation of a good idea is still a failure. Change management is the hardest part of any project. People really are resistant to change, but that is no excuse to steamroll ahead, chalking up all negative feedback to “resistance to change” and refuse to acknowledge and adjust for legitimate feedback. I was in graduate school during the switch to common core math. It’s a solid theoretical idea. But it was horribly implemented, across the whole country. The theory was misunderstood, teachers were not adequately trained. It was a failure, and one that we are still dealing with the effects of today. After seeing the feedback session at the board meeting, I see worrying signs of history repeating itself with Salem’s implementation of this new grading system.
But more important than all of that, as a parent I often look at my kid’s report card and find it useless when trying to determine how they are actually doing in school. I have even gone to the administration and talked at length with multiple people about why it isn’t helpful, what parts of it are confusing and how I think it could be improved. Don’t get me wrong, there absolutely is a right way to use this type of system, but after multiple attempts to be heard and to help improve the system, I honestly just gave up and switched to relying on the iReady and NH SAS score as my guide. Those that I met with were all pleasant and welcoming. They made time to meet with me and were more than willing to explain how the system works technically, but seemed entirely unwilling to acknowledge the flaws within the system. I felt like my expertise was being ignored, and my opinions were unwelcome. I was treated as if the only issue was that I was resistant to the change. I was told there was a committee that made these decisions but no, there weren’t any parents on that committee. Even at the school board meeting where feedback was welcomed from multiple stakeholders, parent feedback was barely even considered, much less sought out. One of the main purposes of grades, especially at the elementary and middle school level, is a way for teachers to communicate to the parents how their children are doing in school. From my experience and from the many other parents that I have talked to about it, we have absolutely no clue. The current grading system is not conveying the information that the school thinks it is and I am very concerned to see that system being expanded to the high school level without any parental involvement in the process. We are a major stakeholder in this process and we should be treated as such.
It is a trend I see over and over again in this district. Whether it be the grading system, the attendance policy, behavioral concerns or curriculum decisions, there is little to no parental involvement in the policy decisions in the school. We may not all be subject matter experts but the key to a successful education for our kids is strong cooperation and collaboration between the school and the parents. Too often that relationship feels adversarial, and it seems to only be getting worse over time. It is vitally important that the board and administration work to improve this dynamic and to involve parents more in the process. Early involvement and a stakeholder’s sense of ownership are keys to success for any process change. Having frequent and direct parent input will help ensure a smoother and more successful implementation of this new grading system as well as all other policies that impact our kids and their education.