Your Grade is an 89.9% B+ and That’s Final!

How do teachers determine the grades students receive? I have discovered that many teachers do not determine grades. They leave students’ grades to the numbers. They call this a “fair” grade. It is not fair. It is poor. It is a dereliction of duty.

Even putting aside the inherent problems with using averaged percentages as a grading “system,” teachers, not numbers, should monitor the progress of their students. Good teachers use a variety of assessments and instruments to evaluate what students can do and what they know. It is a teacher’s responsibility to make certain that the grades assigned to students are valid representations of students’ mastery. Leaving that to the numbers takes the teacher off the hook.

“Wait a minute,” some teacher cries! “I graded the quizzes, tests, and homework. The grade is merely the average of the students’ work. It is a fair representation of how many items the student answered correctly.”

True. However, is it a fair representation of how well the student has mastered the material taught? No. Two points off.

Students’ success on assessments should improve over time. This is called learning. If a student is getting everything correct from the start, little learning has occurred. Is the teacher even needed? Teachers often love the kids they don’t need to teach. They are the easy A’s. It is critical to provide students with instruction, practice, feedback, and assessment – and then do it all over again. Through this process, students’ achievement should improve.

So is it “fair” to average the speed of the learning process into the grade? If one student did poorly on some assessments, but then mastered the skill later and clearly demonstrated this, should that student be penalized for the time needed to learn the skill? Should the grade be more about which student made fewer errors getting to the goal? We don’t take away an Olympic swimmer’s gold medal because he didn’t make a world record in practice. No one graded down Shakespeare for bad drafts or Einstein for failed formulas.

Thus, a student whose average is on a border, who earns 89.9 or 92.4, should not automatically be given the B+ or A-. A student whose grades are trending up is really learning the material. In truth, the most recent assignments are the best measurement of mastery. Although the student may have earned an A- for the quarter, if she rocks the final or the last major assignments, a teacher should ask if the numbers accurately reflect her learning.

At this time of year, many students and parents are asking teachers, “Why is my child on the grade border? What could have happened to push him from the lower to the higher grade?”

Teacher shrugs and says, “the numbers tell the story.” But that is incorrect. What is the grade trend? Has the student mastered the skills? Are you certain, teacher, that a few items on a few assessments are not the reason for the average? Is your certainty grader (oops –I meant greater) than your margin of error? What would you see if you looked more closely?

Yes, it is more difficult and time consuming to examine student individually. It is easier just to pop numbers into a computer and let it determine the grade. But such unprofessional laziness is not an accurate representation of student achievement, and it is unfair to both the students and the learning process.

Teachers do not want to be evaluated exclusively on their students’ numbers. Their students should not be evaluated that way either! 

Subject: Your Emails To Your Teachers

Dear Students,

Your emails need improvement. They are unclear, grammatically incorrect, and far too informal. One important lesson you must learn in school is to how to communicate well. Here are some important tips on writing formal emails to teachers, professors, employers (current or potential) and anyone other than your friends or family:  

Use formal salutations and titles. You don’t call your teachers by their first names, you don’t address them with “hey,” and you don’t just dive into the conversation. Close your emails appropriately using a closing salutation like “Sincerely,” “Yours,” “Thank you,” or even “See you in class.”

Use the subject line to clearly state the purpose of your email. Don’t leave it blank or simply put your name in it. You may include your name and class, but you should also briefly state the main point of your communication.

Use formal language and a respectful tone. Don’t address your teacher as you would a friend. Your email should not read like a text message. You should have clear sentences, paragraphs, and employ good grammar and correct spelling. Be sure to spell your teacher’s name correctly. It is helpful to bold important lines and make each point an individual paragraph.

Do not ask, “Did I miss anything?” when you are not in class. “What did I miss?” is no better. It is unreasonable to ask a teacher to capture an entire lesson in an email. Do your homework if you miss class; contact a classmate, look at the website, and do your best to find out what you missed on your own. Then email the teacher to ask questions, make an appointment, or arrange to make up missed work.

Do read over your email before you send it. Before you press that send key, give a second look at what you have written. Do use the spell checker. It might help to type the email in a word processor and then copy it to your email. If it helps, read it aloud to make sure you are communicating clearly and correctly.

Do check for your teacher’s reply. Students frequently ask, “Did you get my email.” Teachers often reply, “Yes, did you get mine?” If you aren’t going to read your teacher’s reply, don’t send the email at all.

Your email communicates far more than the words themselves. The messages you send tell people about who you are, what you know, and how you treat people. Your emails can enhance and strengthen your relationships or they can leave a lasting poor impression. It is worth taking the time and thought to use them well.

Please consider these ideas when you are emailing your teachers or communicating with anyone with whom you have a formal relationship. 

Sincerely Yours,

Mr. Hirsch