A Report Card on Assessment
Evaluating and Reporting Gifted Students’ Progress
In this article, teachers and administrators can evaluate improving gifted students' assessment practices.
Grading – A Truly Festive Experience for Teachers
Teachers spend tens of hours agonizing over every possible detail from the preceding nine weeks of school. What were the test scores? What were the quiz grades? How was class participation? Was all of the homework completed and handed in on time? Was there any extra credit?
After anguishing over each and every grade, the dutiful teacher then begins to draft a narrative that tries to personalize what could otherwise seem a sterile set of numbers and grades to the parents. Yes, it is true that his quiz grades dipped this quarter; however, there was more expected of him as a gifted student…
After spending all this time, the teacher then submits the report cards to the assistant principal, who also has to spend some less-than-joyous quality time assuring that the teacher’s report is consistent with the school’s policies and expectations.
Finally, after hours of studious concentration, the report cards are handed out to the students, who after ripping open the envelope despite the clearly visible instructions that state, to be opened only by the parents of…, ignore the narratives and skip right to the bottom line final average and scream, “No fair!”
What are Report Cards, Really?
The ideal answer would be that report cards serve to make parents better partners with their teachers. But, it often goes in a different direction. Most people believe that report cards are pieces of paper that have letters and numbers on them that moms and dads somehow translate into determining how well Missy or Junior are “doing” at school. They signify the difference between going to the movies on Saturday night, or staying home and studying. They make for happy parents, or wild, snarling familial ogres.
How can a simple slip of paper hold this awesome power over a kid’s very existence?
To answer this ostensibly rhetorical question, it is important to have a working understanding of the business of running a school. A simple overview of everything that goes into a class could be stated this way: the teacher and the school are responsible for deciding what is going to be taught in conjunction with federal, state and local standards (the curriculum); how the teacher will teach what is to be taught (the instruction); and how the teacher and the school will be able to know if the students actually have learned what was taught (the assessment).
Each of these components has a multitude of options for the teacher, along with thousands of different people with different ideas and loud voices on how it should be done. Of the three, curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the latter may be one of the most challenging for educators. In fact, the same scheme concerning student assessment has even been applied to grading American schools’ performances!
What are the Issues Regarding Grading?
For years, a debate has been raging over how to report a student's classroom progress. Is the traditional report card with its A-F scale the best method? Should progress be measured authentically by using tools like portfolios? Should gifted students be compared to other students to receive a grade in a competitive fashion, or should they only be compared to their own ability? Should students be assessed or graded? Should be grades be eliminated altogether?
And finally, why do we have grade reports, anyway? More to follow...
