At Ipswich High School, teachers use a variety of methods to assess the comprehension of students.
There is much criticism from the student body about several of these methods. A couple of ways to assess a student’s understanding are through grading homework or classwork assignments on accuracy, and using completion grades for review. When asked about the hardships of grading for accuracy on assignments, senior Lila Borgman responds saying, “Graded assignments make me feel like I am being punished for my mistakes. Mistakes are how we [students] learn so I don’t like graded assignments at all. Like, for progress assessment tests I get it but for almost everything else, it should all be completion grades.” Lila explains that when she gets a bad grade on an assignment it has a large negative impact on her overall grade. She feels disappointed when it is brought down despite her always being on top of her work and putting as much effort into all the other assignments.
One grade can affect a student in big ways. Lila, like other students at Ipswich High School, tends to prefer completion based assignments to protect their grade that best reflects them.
From the perspective of a teacher, they just want to do what is best to help students excel in their academic studies even if that means giving a student an unfavorable grade. A science teacher at IHS, Mrs. Kjellson, uses a mix of both graded and ungraded assignments. She states, “I think it is helpful to have a balance of each at lower levels like middle school to tenth grade. At these levels, completion based homework allows students to practice regular review and other academic skills. It serves as a way to incentivize classwork and studying for students who might not otherwise do any. In my sophomore chemistry classes, there are not very many graded assignments that aren’t quizzes, tests/projects, or labs (all things that we prepare for or work on together). I like making homework in these classes’ completion grades because students don’t get caught up in worrying if they are right or wrong – they just try.” It is important to not discourage a student if they don’t understand the material at the moment. They get credit for putting in the work and attempting to solve the problem which is the minimum a teacher could ask for.
An article published by the Harvard Graduate School of Education backs up this idea as teachers interviewed in the article have concerns over graded homework having a huge impact on students’ overall grade. The founding principal of Greater Dayton School in Ohio states, “A student may demonstrate mastery of content on a test, quiz, and classwork, yet still fails a course because the teacher decides to weigh homework 40%, and the student, for one reason or another, struggles in that regard. Obviously, that’s inequitable, and it illustrates the variation of weighted grade scales and how it impacts a student’s success or failure, regardless of whether they mastered the standards taught in the course.” He says that he has seen many teachers make the mistake of making homework worth so much and it inevitably leads to the failure of students.
As much as completion grades protect a student’s grade, it is also important to understand where students are in their academic standing in the class. “As a teacher, graded assignments give me a better idea of how students are likely to perform on a test or quiz. If I just had completion based assignments and everyone attempted them, I might give everyone full credit but not realize that half the class was confused about a key concept. Grading assignments allows me to see both individually and collectively what students have mastered and what we might need to spend more time on,” Kjellson states.
The whole point of school is to teach students knowledge that can benefit them in the future. Teachers find many ways to get their points across in the most effective way they can whether that is grading assignments thoroughly or checking off review sheets each day.
