What's the Point?

Every now and then, and especially when you've been doing something for a while, its good to come back to the question, "Why are we doing this in the first place?" I have been mulling over this question recently when it comes to grading policies. I have two examples of the same problem:

1. Test Retakes. We allow students to retake their tests (if they get a D or F) to raise their grade on that test up to a 75%. In order to retake a test, students have to fill out a Google form, come in for help to go over what they missed, and then make time on a certain day to retake the test. However, we have begun to think about requiring students to complete and show us all their homework for the entire chapter before retaking the test. This would likely increase the students' work load if they want to retake a test (since their homework is daily, but only collected occasionally).

My concern with this is that, due to the increased required work, students will opt out of retaking tests, thus keeping their D or F grade. Megan pushed me to consider what the point of the retake is in the first place. Are we simply trying to give the students more points and higher grades? Or are we trying to get the students to learn the material? If the emphasis is on learning, then increasing the workload may be a good idea. The work is what causes the learning. If the emphasis is on points, then lets just let them retake it as much as they want to get more points. But why try the test again if you haven't learned any more of the concepts that you were missing in the first place?

2. Every section (i.e. chapter), students are required to take all the concepts from that section and explain or show how they all connect together into one coherent "big picture." The students almost unanimously hate doing this, and quite frankly, I hate grading it. Its always terrible, and the students complain about the grades they get. It has turned into "point-grabbing," where students are just doing it to get it done and get the points. They don't see the purpose in it because they don't really understand how all the concepts of the section are interrelated. Their idea of a connection is that we talked about temperature on two different days, therefore, those two lessons are connected. We have been grading them with points, but now we are shifting to only making it worth 1 point - you either did it or you didn't, and then giving feedback on how they can deepen their understanding of the concepts.

I spent several minutes today trying to get them to see that this requires a shift in mindset. They have to shift their thinking (and so do I) from getting a certain grade to learning the material. If they learn the material, the grade will be good. In talking about this connection sheet, they said they aren't going to do it because now it isn't graded, which shows that they are thinking about the points rather than the learning. To quote Megan, "Its not about the points, its about the learning."

This is a difficult paradigm shift for both myself and my students. All we've ever known is points. Get as many points as possible to get the good grade to get the good GPA to get into the good college to get a good job. Nowhere in that line of thinking is growth.

I think the more we can get our young people to have growth as their goal, rather than reward, the better off we will all be. Growth often requires discomfort, hard work, and error, which is why we shy away from it.