The Shocking Truth About Grades and Why Teachers Should Care

by Guy E. White on 27 October, 2014

What does a student’s grade really measure?

Every week, I look through the binders of my students. This is not a binder I assign; it’s just the binder that they are using in the daily business of being a high school student. What I find scares me, but the student is not the creator who scares me most; the teachers are.

My first year teaching, I told students that they had to keep a specific type of binder – a separate binder for my course. It had tabs, a pencil pouch, and required that students take notes in a format (invented by me) and kept in an order that defied all sense of logic. My students hated it. In the end, I hated it too. The grading was a nightmare and so was ensuring students kept the binder tidy. In the end, I gave up out of absolute frustration.

Strangely enough, however, the world did not end. My students, in fact, became more organized than ever before. All my work ended up in their master binders, in chronological order, and spirits were much higher.

EVEN MORE STRANGE was that their grades dramatically improved. It was when this happened that I started asking some very important questions of myself. Why did the students’ grades go up when I dropped my system? How was me being less rigid (at least with regard to the binder) producing higher student performance?

In the years since the binder incident, I have come to know some profound, shocking truths about grades. Here’s what I’ve learned. Do you agree?

1. Grades Directly Reflect Your Teaching Style

Over the years, my teaching style has changed. At the start of my career, I obsessed about the WRONG details. I was very concerned about plagiarism, cell phone use, and reading entire 500-page novels, because that’s what I thought a good English Literature teacher was supposed to do. I was wrong. Though these are important concerns, they should not be my chief concerns.

I’ve discovered that the most important aspect of my teaching is the WAY that I teach. The grades students get are a direct reflection of (1) my teaching style and (2) my students’ performance, habits, etc. Guess which one I am able to change most? When I began focusing on what learning strategies worked best for my students, the grades went up.

The question hit me: “Are grades, then, a reflection of my teaching style?” To some degree, the answer is “yes.” It’s on the student too – but I want to take ownership of what’s mine: my teaching.

2. Grades Often Measure Obedience Above All Else

When I changed my teaching style, the grades changed. Some of the worst performers seemed to suddenly be middle achievers. Some of the higher performing students suddenly dropped into the middle levels of achievement. How did this happen?

First, some students have an uncanny ability to do exactly what the educator wants, without having a high level of proficiency. One student could truly understand only a moderate level of what is being learned in the course – but know exactly how to get the assignments done on time, in the right format, submitted in the right way, and on my radar in a positive way. Boom, the student would get an “A.”

Second, some students simply can’t keep up with the teacher’s system. They don’t understand what assignments are due and when. Zeros fill up the gradebook, not because they are not gaining proficiency in the subject matter, but because the student does not understand what the heck is going on in the class (or refuses to do so).

Grades, then, can sometimes measure obedience of the student more than their proficiency in the subject matter.

3. Grades Aren’t All They’re Cracked Up to Be

With the advantage of time, I have seen students over the years go from high school, to University, to people in the full throws of life (spouse, kids, family, career, house – all that).

Grades don’t predict a life.

I’ve seen many previous students with A’s and B’s (and a similar GPA) end up in an entry-level position and do little with their diploma, degree, or high GPA.

I’ve seen C level students open companies, employ others, and buy the homes of their dreams.

In any case, just because they did not do well those four weeks we were reading Macbeth in 2005, does not mean that they aren’t going to go on to do amazing things later. Quite similarly, just because a student did EVERY SINGLE assignment in my course and received an A does not mean that she’s going to have a happy life.

Summary

Grades exist. Grades are useful. I grade my students. However, I remember, each day, that their grades are not the whole story. What’s in my hands most? My teaching.

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