It's a common scene for students—the semester is coming to a close, we're scrambling to calculate our grade going into the final, and we're still not sure if we've done the math right with drops and extra credit assignments. Plus, we've all been in positions where we're either spending an all-nighter because according to our calculations we need a 90% on the final to get an A- in the class or we're on the other side of the spectrum where we don't study at all for the final because we would only need a 50% on the final to get an A.
What if I told you that there was a more efficient and innovative way to promote student learning and content retention while making it easier for both the student and the teacher to gauge their progress in the class?
I recently got a chance to talk to my previous AP US History teacher, Paul Henry who currently teaches the AP Capstone program at my alma mater, Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. With 15 years of teaching under his belt, he has had a lot of experience in terms of grading systems and their effectiveness in the classroom. After our conversation, I gained a lot of awareness about our nation's grading systems. I learned that teacher preparation programs barely cover grading systems so the systems that they implement in their own classrooms are usually based on what they've learned from their mentors and what they've experienced. Currently, we can see three different types of grading systems today: traditional grading, standards-based grading, and the hybrid style grading system.
The traditional grading system is the one we have all probably seen the most. There are percentages that correspond with a letter grade and there are categories in regards to academics (like tests and quizzes) and behavior (based on things like coming to class on time and extra credit things like not having to leave the class for a bathroom break). Standards-based grading is measured on a scale of 1-4 and is determined by a student's ability to meet certain standards and level of understanding of the subject.
The third and most interesting grading system is the hybrid system. Hence the name, it's basically a mix of the traditional and standards-based system. This hybrid system uses something called "gamification" within the classroom. Students are put into an environment where they start from zero and work their way upward, just like in a video game. This environment keeps students more engaged, more determined, and more focused on more in-depth learning rather than just learning for memorization and then forgetting it after they've been tested on it.
After implementing it in his classroom, Henry says that he has found greater performance from his students because all they have to do is turn in the work to earn their points and work harder to earn more points. In his classroom, students earn their grades which are all based on work and not on behavior. He focuses more on the basis of "Did you learn it vs. When you learned it." With the traditional grading system, students are pushed to be able to learn concepts by a certain date in which they will be given a grade based on their level of knowledge by that time. Henry recognizes that all students learn at different paces, and that's why he is more focused on if the students learn these concepts. Assignments are given and students are awarded points based on if they meet certain standards. When the students get their assignment back and they don't like the score they received, they can resubmit the work until they get the points they want. This allows students to go back, see where they can improve, and work to improve. Then, their hard work is reflected with the reward of more points towards their grade.
In addition, Henry has implemented an alternative to extra credit points called "XP Points" or "Experience Points." Compared to just receiving extra credit points by doing busy work, students are given work that reinforces the standards they had to meet in other assignments. This helps to develop their knowledge and shows Henry that they can express a deeper understanding of the concepts. With personal experience with this hybrid grading system, I can say that it really kept all students on their toes to work as hard as they could to earn as many points as they could and it was a great learning environment to be in.
Today, more and more classrooms are adjusting with the times and are beginning to use the hybrid grading system. Students are driven to really learn and are immersed in a positive environment where they can see how they earn their grade instead of starting at some percentage and going down whenever they score anything less than perfect. Plus, since their grades are more affirmative because they can only move forward, students are more aware of their progress in the class. With points leaderboards within the classroom, they can see how they measure up to their classmates and they become more motivated to do better. So, by using this new hybrid grading system, students are motivated to learn more and are given a grade that is more true to their level of understanding. It may be just a matter of time before all classrooms adopt this style of grading.
