Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Joel Everett
February 19th, 2015
Assessment has always been, and will forever be, an integral
part of any educational institution. In my opinion, grades are an
efficient and effective way to represent students progress, and show
what they have earned over the timespan of a course. The way in
which teachers measure student performance can be one of the most
important aspects of the profession due to its impact on the learner
and the progression of their education. In this paper, I will present my
views on assessment beginning with my philosophical beliefs on why
grades are important, while also touching on other, more specific
aspects of grading and student measurement such as summative and
formative assessment, late assignments, re-tests and zeroes. For the
purpose of clarity and understanding, I am writing this paper from the
point of view of a secondary math or science teacher.
Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, as high school
teachers we are ultimately preparing our students for learning beyond
high school, whether that means college, university or some other
institution. In saying that, it is certainly understood that not all
students will go on to post-secondary education, but we as teachers
should be setting our students up for that possibility. Therefore, until
these institutions change the way in which they assess students, it is
necessary for high school teachers to continue to give grades during
public school education. Alfie Kohn argues that teachers should not do
bad things to kids, because people will do bad things to them later in
life, but I do not necessarily see it in the same light. I look at it as
preparing or conditioning students to be ready for what is to come. If
we were to not give grades to students and just give constructive
feedback on everything they did in school, how would they respond to
getting grades in university or college? Kohn argues that grades
diminish student interest in material, create a desire for the easiest
task possible and also reduce quality of thinking (Kohn, 2011). All of
these statements have some merit because sometimes grades do
diminish the students overall view of education, but with standardized
testing and the university education system in its current structure,
grading and summative assessment are crucial to the overall learning
experience of children in public schools. If these systems were to ever
change, perhaps public schooling could take a more feedback-based
approach to assessment and evaluation. That being said, we must
continue to use number and letter grades with students work.
On the topic of grades and how they come to be, I firmly believe
that the way in which a teacher will formulate student grades needs to