Issues Surrounding Grading Practices And How To Report

The issues surrounding grading practices and how to report student learning have baffled educators over the last century (Guskey, 1994). Grading is used to communicate student achievement to parents, to encourage learning, to evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and to identify a student’s educational pathway. Although letter grades can give a brief synopsis of what students have learned, grading and reporting is controlled by the teacher and can be subjective (Guskey, 1994). The use of letter grades requires using one symbol to represent vast amounts of information. The problem with this method is that student grades are not solely based on what he or she has learned, but more reflective of outside factors such as poor behavior, neatness

The practice of grade assignment has historically been left entirely to the teacher without interference from administration. Although the requirements of grade and subject levels are influenced and reviewed, teachers are allowed freedom in determining values or grades for the course. The autonomy of teachers to assign grades in a given course or grade often results in inconsistencies and inequity between teachers of the same subject or grade level. Due to widespread inconsistencies in grading and reporting, school districts across America have attempted to transition from a traditional grading system to a standards-based system (Marzano & Heflebower, 2011). With the publishing of A Nation at Risk, in 1983, the nation reevaluated the current educational system and acknowledged a decline in student performance in colleges and in relation to other countries. Educational reform became a priority and national education goals were established. The reform increased accountability and the manner in which students and education authorities were assessed. Recent shifts in educational accountability has forced state and local education authorities to reform the instruction, assessment and perspective in which we educate all students in order to ensure students are prepared for college or career. This accountability would also remedy the poor economic and education standing of the United States of recent years and allow students to out-compete any worker in the world as outlined in President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative. Regardless of the ongoing debate about the role the federal government should play in education, there is no debate that educators have an ethical responsibility to ensure students are