Research Wednesday | January 8, 2025

This week’s evidence comes courtesy of Jodi Anderson, who found this fascinating article on the origin of grading in the 1700s at Yale. I’ve attached it, and it is worthy of study: The Origin of Grades in American Schools

So much of the public controversy about grading is full of strawman arguments. The essential argument of the critics of grading reform is that low grades are related to high standards. But our research is clear that pervasive low grades, especially those related to missing homework, are not a reflection of rigor but rather an ethic of punishing students from low-income families. Thanks to the attached article, we can gain a historical perspective. As you all know, our grading philosophy is not about being soft or easy but rather about being accurate and fair. The single most significant impact to improve achievement, attendance, and behavior is to stop the use of the average. 

You can’t fight every battle, but this is a battle worth fighting and winning.  If you stop using the average, you don’t have to argue about the 4-point or 100-point scale, the ”minimum 50”, or any number of other unproductive arguments. If you focus on evaluating students on how they finish the race and not their mistakes of 3 months ago, we will keep them engaged. If, by contrast, we cling to the average like Charlton Heston clings to guns, kids will stop coming to school. As I heard a teacher say in March of 2023, “It doesn’t make any difference what this kid does – he’s going to fail.” No wonder he stops coming to school and acts out behaviorally. We can do better than that, and we have an ethical obligation to challenge our clients to do just one thing – stop using the average. Thanks to Jodi for sharing this article!