Grades+are+Accurate+Indicators+of+student+learning

**Grades are accurate measurements of students' academic achievement**
//"Teachers don't need grades or reporting forms to teach well. Further, students don't need them to learn."// Tomas R. Gusky, "Making the Grade: What Benefit Student"

So far, I didn't come across any study, any book or any publication on education that lists grades as an essential part of the learning process. Yes, constant guidance and feedback from the teachers are essential to make the learning process effective and help students achieve goals. If we believe that every student can learn and that every student learns differently, then giving just one letter as an evaluation of their learning progress is a highly limited measurement. Since the minute the baby is born, the learning process begins for that child, that's given and if we believe that the learning process is ongoing and is a lifelong experience, how can we really put an accurate measurement on it by just using a one specific letter. Even if the letter grade measures how much the student knows at the given moment how do we know if it is good or bad, what are we comparing it to? Are we comparing students with each other or are we comparing their learning with a specific standard?? If we are comparing students to each other, then we are not acknowledging the fact that the students learn differently. If we are comparing the students' achievement with the specific standard, then that standard has to be the same for all the people in the world. For example, if the standard says that by the age of 7 all the children have to know the multiplication table, than that should be the same for all the children in the world, not only in CA, USA. It means that's the natural development path for all the humans. But it's not. Somehow however, by the age of 20, almost everyone knows how to multiply, add, subtract, even if they received an F in 3rd grade for not knowing it. So why do we need to give an F to a 3rd grade student, who doesn't know how to multiply, if we are not going to be there to give them an A, when they are 20? For example, Kirk Kerkorian, who is known as one of the important figures in shaping Las Vegas, dropped out of school in 8th grade to follow his passion and was very successful since then. Or, Steve Jobs, who left college to follow his dreams and has singlehandedly changed today’s lifestyle in terms of technology in a way that no other man has done before.

As a teacher I grade my students on daily bases. Every time a student gets an "F" or a "D", they ask me "How can I raise my grade?" or "How can I make my grade better?.” This question is very interesting, because you would think that after going to school for several years, my students are 7th graders, students would understand the purpose of grades. So, if they get an "F", they should know that they are not learning enough, but they never ask "How can I learn, more" or "How can I learn better". For them, grades are independent of their learning, grades are associated more with some tangible work, like finished papers or worksheets or some score on the test. Every time they ask me or another teacher how can they improve their grade, we look in the computer and we say: "You are missing this..." or "You got a low score on your test" and so on. I believe that when students come to school every day, they learn something and they discover something. It may not be exactly what we expect them to learn and it may not fit into any standard, but they definitely learn. Every day in my class, I have students answering questions, asking questions, reading, writing, discussing, talking to each other, talking to me and having these wonderful "ah-ha" moments. So why is it that there are many students who get "F" for their grade? Does this mean that they didn't learn anything or that they cannot learn at all? What message does it really give them?? So students, who get an "F", should understand that they are far behind from the students who get an "A" and therefore should be motivated to work harder to catch-up to those students who have an "A"? And these are children, whose frontal lobe is not even developed to its full potential and their reasoning skills are still in their early developmental stages.

If the students are not performing according to the standards that we set, doesn't mean they are not learning. Please refer to Andrea's myth to read more about this: http://mindmaps.wikispaces.com/If+you%27re+not+learning%2C+you%27re+not+trying+hard+enough

In his book "The Art of Possibility", Ben Zander and Rosamund Zander talk about the practice of Giving an A. According to Zander and Zander, every child carries a treasure inside, which is that unique ability of learning, development and self-expression. As educators we could focus more on uncovering this treasure and bringing out the best of every student to allow them to perform at their full potential. I have students in my classes, who try hard every day, they try to understand and learn, they listen, they follow directions, they make mistakes and fix them and yet they still don't reach the standards. If they keep trying, they certainly will, but it will take them longer, than others. If I compare these student's academic skills to the other students, they will get an "F", but if I just had to grade their own learning progress and their efforts, it would be an "A". An "F" would just tell them that even though they are trying very hard, they are still failing, so why should they even try? An "A" would give these students an opportunity to move on and realize that they can do better. "This A is not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into." Zander and Zander, "The Art of Possibility".

Resources: The following article talks more about grades not giving an accurate measurement of the students’ academic performance. []

Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, 2000, "The Art of Possibility"