18 Feb 2019 24 Comments
Assessment
This subject is so important and complicated. Our performance was measured by grades since primary school; and now, we are grading other students. Is grading a good or bad thing? Does it really reflect the student’s performance? I have taught some students who understand the material and participate in class; but they don’t do well in tests, so they don’t get good grades but they are learning! Can we say that they are not good students while they are the best learners? Isn’t it contradictory?
Alfie Kohn stated three different drawbacks of assessment, which I agree with. He said “Grades tend to diminish students’ interest in whatever they’re learning” because they are gonna be focused on grades more than learning. Second, he said “Grades create a preference for the easiest possible task”. This means that, students choose the easiest project rather than the most challenging one in order to get good grades. Also, he said ” Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking”. During class, instead of thinking about constructive questions that make them understand better the material, they are thinking if the material will be on the test.
Another grading drawback is the ranking! I have studied in Tunisia, and I can see the difference compared to US. Instead of letter grades, we have numeric grades and GPA, but what matters is the rank! The difference between the first student in the class and the second one, could be one or two points in a math exam. At the end of the year, they give prizes only to the first and second students in the class. If you are the third, and as excellent as the others; sorry! No prize for you! This motivates the third to work hard and beat the other two. But the motivation is not about learning, it is only about winning!
I really don’t like this grading system. But at the same time I don’t know what could be the alternative? If there is no grading, and at the same time no learning motivation (because students are obliged to take classes even if they don’t like), students will loose interest in class. They will be absent all the time and learn nothing. How can we assess them then? May be the problem is not only about the assessment strategy, but also about choosing subjects and classes. Shall we force the students to take classes they are not interested in, or shall we give them freedom in choosing all the classes. If we should let them choose their own classes, at what age should be that? Will they be mature enough to make good choices?
February 18, 2019 @ 11:16 am
I really enjoyed reading your post! I appreciate your point that assessment may not be the only problem, but also lacking freedom to choose what to study. I am also very curious about whether allowing students more (or even total) freedom over what subjects they study would make an impact on their interest in learning. I expect it would, though mightn’t there be some that decide there are not ANY subjects they want to study? And if we are allowing young students this freedom, aren’t they likely to pick an imbalanced set of subjects to study (just as my stepkids would choose to eat candy rather than veggies and protein if left to decide without guidance)?
February 21, 2019 @ 9:04 am
Yes, exactly! Young kids will not be able to make a good choice.
February 18, 2019 @ 2:47 pm
I don’t think we should let students have total freedom in the classes they take. They ultimately need to learn what is required for their future career. However, I think we an do better to engage students in their required classes so that they learn more. We should also encourage instructors to get away from intentionally failing a certain percentage of a class simply because it makes them look better. That doesn’t help anyone.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:06 am
I agree with you! engaging students in the required classes is so important.
February 18, 2019 @ 4:11 pm
During the first two years of my undergraduate career, I was doing very well in classes since I was a good test taker but I wasn’t learning much. Then came junior and senior year where most of the classes assessed students performance based on projects. I am certain that I have learned more in project based classes than in test based classes. Grading and assessment is critical, but how it is done needs to be changed — how to do that is a million dollar question.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:12 am
I also prefer projects rather than tests. The student can be assessed while he/she is learning.
February 19, 2019 @ 12:31 am
This is a great point you mentioned about the alternative to grading to keep students motivated. My question is that why students’ motivation should be their ranking and reward for that. Maybe just having a pass/fail as the assessment for letting them move up to the next grade can be a solution.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:19 am
In Tunisia, in order to move up to the next grade, the student has to have an overall GPA of at least 10/20 (all the subjects counted). The ranking does not decide if you move or not. If you are the 5th of the class with a GPA of 9.5/20, you don’t move up to the next grade.
February 19, 2019 @ 5:48 pm
I liked going through your post, and I think as a teacher the students focus on the grades more than learning. Thus, we can use projects, presentations, writing a paper, discussion board, or blogs to ensure the students learn and be fair with their abilities instead of giving them exams and evaluate them based on that. I have used this methods in my teaching classes, and they worked very well and there were big achievement in the students outcomes.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:20 am
You are right. Students learn more from projects and presentations rather than tests and exams.
February 19, 2019 @ 8:32 pm
Nice post. I really liked reading your point of view. Tunisia is very similar to India where I studied till my Bachelors in terms of grading. I think we cannot get away with the grading system completely. It has its merit and we have to stick to it. The question is how to improve it? Well, I think more importance should be given to learning rather than grading. And this can be done by making the exams more practical rather than theoretical. More real-life problems will help a student learn better. Increasing the weightage of group projects can also help to reduce competition in class and draw more focus towards learning.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:28 am
Projects are really cool; the student can learn and be assessed at the same time. However, practical exams are not always possible. I feel that for some theoretical subjects (like algebra or real analysis), we can only have theoretical tests.
February 19, 2019 @ 11:20 pm
A problem with the rank system is that it motivates students unevenly based on their expectations and self-confidence. The top tiers are highly compelling and motivated (maybe for the wrong reasons) but the ones in the middle might not see enough incentives to improve their position. It’s true that there might be less competition in the middle-of-the-curve crowd but I’m not sure if that is compelling enough.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:34 am
Students in the middle of the curve have only one objective is to move up to the next grade with at least 10/20 GPA. But you know; these numbers are not necessarily reflecting the learning progress of the students. While top students are focusing on how to do well in exams, the students in the middle of the curve, if they are interested enough in the class, they could understand the material better than the top students. Since they are interested in learning more than having good grades.
February 20, 2019 @ 12:56 pm
I enjoyed reading your post and agree that grading alone it not the best tool for assessing students learning. However, I think many faculties use it since it convenient especially when dealing with a large number of students. It became a habit and culture in the education system which makes it very hard to change or resist.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:37 am
Yes, only few teachers change their assessment strategy. Most of them just go with the strategy they are used to. It is hard to change, but possible.
February 20, 2019 @ 2:29 pm
I really enjoyed reading your post. I did not know that in Tunisia they rank students and give prizes just to the first and second students in the class! This is in a fact a grading drawback!
In Brazil, grades are not as important as in the US. Companies do not care if you have a 4.0 GPA or a 2.5GPA. All they care about is that you get your degree in a recognized school. In fact, I never had to disclosure my GPA to ANY company for an internship or full job process. We do not put this type of information in our CV. So, in school students do not care as much to get a perfect grade letter. Most of them just care about passing the class, and not getting the highest grade. A lot of times, a student who has a full time job and a 2.0GPA has more opportunities after graduation than a 4.0 GPA full time student. Companies in Brazil believe that experience is more important than GPA. This is not true for the USA though!
February 21, 2019 @ 9:42 am
I really like the system in Brazil! I didn’t know about it before. That is really cool. What matters in Tunisia to get a good job is that you have a degree from a recognized school AND you are among the top students of your school. I hope one day we can change this system in Tunisia; and even in US.
February 20, 2019 @ 3:26 pm
Nice post Maha! None of us likes grading, Students as well as teachers. But, like you said what is the alternative? We discussed before, that exams should be diagnosed technique to see how much students learned. But grade does not help in that matter. Because grade is more or less a comparison between students, Which does not help to improve learning. As you said most of the time students try to play it safe to get a good grade than accepting a challenge to improve.
February 21, 2019 @ 9:47 am
Exactly! exams should only be a diagnosed technique. If you get wrong answers, you should worry about what you understood wrong and try to learn more. You should not worry about how can I get better grades only for the sake of the grades.
June 25, 2021 @ 7:07 am
right, but not only with grades rather technical knowledge is also very important, but it is also very important to be practical in the computer world if there is any problem related to installation, download and set up in computer then see
norton.com/setup
November 11, 2021 @ 2:39 am
is an antivirus that fulfills all the security needs of your system. Whether it’s windows, IOS, or Android, McAfee takes care of everything. McAfee protects all the devices and offers a wide range of products that integrates VPN, Antivirus, Cloud, Endpoint, and other Network and privacy security options. McAfee offers a diverse range of plans that are capable of satisfying your different security needs.
February 19, 2022 @ 12:25 am
Enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing.
February 25, 2022 @ 2:57 am
This article is so interesting,thanks for sharing with us!!