Knowledge-Based Grades (Who'da Thunk?!?)

Although Out in Left Field blogged first, I couldn't keep from mentioning it here, too. This recent New York Times article describes a new trend in grading--basing grades on what students have learned. New? Yes. Grades are almost always based on a mix of what students know and how they act--whether they complete homework, hand in assignments on time, raise their hand in class. In other words, grades reflect how well students please the teacher as well as how well they have mastered the material. This dual function of grading shows up when students take standardized exams, in which no amount of people-pleasing will help:

About 10 percent of the students who earned A’s and B’s in school stumbled during end-of-the-year exams. By contrast, about 10 percent of students who scraped along with C’s, D’s and even F’s — students who turned in homework late, never raised their hands and generally seemed turned off by school — did better than their eager-to-please B+ classmates.

One district in New York State changed to knowledge-based grading, which didn't sit so well with some parents:

“Does the old system reward compliance? Yes,” she said. “Do those who fit in the box of school do better? Yes. But to revamp the policy in a way that could be of detriment to the kids who do well is not the answer.” In the real world, she points out, attitude counts. 

Of course, when the system was set up to work to detriment of bright nonconformists, no one complained quite as loudly.

Katharine Beals terms this favoritism toward the eager-sociable, grade reversal, and cites the larger culture's embrace of right-brain thinking as a (the?) cause. I'm not so sure; I see different mechanisms to point a finger at.

One is the selection process for public school educators and administrators. As a whole, education majors are not as academically inclined as graduates of other programs. They also seem (and I am speculating here) to have been more challenged by analytical, academic tasks than by things like motivation, organization, and "fitting in." It is natural that they would value what they excel at and redefine achievement to be more in line with their own strengths.

The second mechanism is what I call parentism, and it deserves a post all to itself.