Opting out of Grading (Revised)

Sometime ago I wrote a post called Opting out of Grading, and since then I have received 50+ comments. Some of the comments were supportive, some were angry, some were sympathetic, some were offended, some were dismissive, some were reflective and some were helpful.

One of the many reasons I blog is so that I can learn from others and rethink my own understandings. In light of the comments, I've revised the letter that I drafted to my children's teacher about opting them out of grading.

The first thing that I learned from the comments was that I would have a face to face conversation with my children's teacher before I would ever give them this letter. Because I plan on having a face to face meeting, I actually won't likely need to submit the letter. But I would use it as a guide for the conversation.

In light of some of the comments, I've also revised the my letter and talking points so that it takes less of an adversarial tone and more of a collaborative one.

A huge thank you to Jennifer Borgioli for helping me with many of the revisions. Here is a sample letter that could be used to guide a discussion between parent and teacher.

Dear teacher, 

Margaret loves to learn and is very excited to start school this year. I am writing to you about an issue I have wrestled with, thought deeply about, and spent hours researching and discussing. 

Because the case against grades has a wealth of anecdotal evidence and scientific research, I am requesting that when it comes time to providing Margaret feedback on her learning, I'd like to request that you rely on written or spoken feedback that focuses on her learning rather than a grade. If you need to generate a grade, I'd like to ask that you leave that grade off of Margaret's work. If feedback does not make sense, it's okay with me to send home her work with no comments or grade. I am happy to let the evidence of her learning speak for itself. 

As a family that plays an active role in our daughter's learning, the best feedback I can receive about Margaret's learning is to see her learning. 

If you are interested in learning more about the case against grades, I would be happy to provide you with these resources, and if your school's assessment and reporting policies make this request problematic, I would like the opportunity to discuss this further.

I look forward to working with you to support Margaret's natural intrinsic desire to go on learning. 

Sincerely, 

#takethetest

Here is a two part story where a School Board Trustee in Florida took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, commonly known as the FCAT.

Part 1: When an adult took standardized test forced on kids

Part 2: Revealed: The school board member who took standardized test

This story reminds me of an excerpt from Alfie Kohn's Confusing Harder With Better:

How many adults could pass these exams? How many high school teachers possess the requisite stock of information outside their own subjects? How many college professors, for that matter, or business executives, or state legislators could confidently write an essay about Mayan agricultural practices or divergent plate boundaries? We would do well to adopt (Deborah) Meier's Mandate: No student should be expected to meet an academic requirement that a cross section of successful adults in the community cannot. 

(In the same spirit, I propose Kohn's Corollary to Meier's Mandate: All persons given to pious rhetoric about the need to "raise standards" and produce "world-class academic performance for the 21st century" not only should be required to take these exams themselves but must agree to have their scores published in the newspaper.)

On Tuesday, I came across this Will Richardson Tweet:

Richardson's tweet inspired my brief Twitter discussion with Alberta's Minister of Education Thomas Lukaszuk:

Join #takethetest and invite your politicians to take your state or province's standardized tests and publicize their results.