Grading Procedures

Alfie Kohn, speaker and also author of several books on education, has much to offer on the subject of grading in his book, The Schools our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and Tougher Standards (Kohn, 1999). Due to the fact that grading causes so much pressure on students, Kohn believes grades should be eliminated and an alternative way of assessment should be found. Kohn states:

Before considering alternatives to grades, which are used to communicate information about student performance, we should take a hard look at how teachers collect that information.  There’s a good reason to think that the best teachers do not rely much on pencil-and-paper tests because they rarely need them to know how their students are doing.  Teachers who base their practice on a constructivist theory of learning are always watching and listening.  Everything from the kinds of tasks assigned to the way the classroom is organized has been designed to help the teacher know as much as possible about how the students are making sense of things. This kind of informal assessment is continuous, making things like quizzes very nearly superfluous. We might even say that the more a teacher needs formal tests to gauge student achievement, the more something is wrong.  (With direct instruction, exams would be seen as necessary.)  As parents, we shouldn’t be worried about teachers who rarely give tests; we should be worried about those who need to give frequent tests because they may have no feel for how their students’ minds work (p. 191-2).

Assessment that is considered to be excellent will be built on the most up-to-date teaching/learning theories and grounded in what the student needs to be successful in the future.  Good assessment, many believe, is also defined by what it is not: standard, traditional multiple-choice items (Herman, 1992).

Although not eliminating grading altogether, I AM Academy is eliminating those grades that only serve to destroy student confidence and self-esteem, namely the D and F grades. Each course will require a certain minimum standard that must be met to receive the grade of C.  Going above those minimums will constitute the grades of A or B, just as in any traditional grading institution. Should a student not meet the minimal requirements for at least a C grade, the student will not receive a grade at all on the course.  No credit will be given for that course and the course will not be listed on the student’s transcript.  It is as if the student never took the course, except for the time and money spent.  We believe learning has still taken place, but not in enough areas to warrant passing. The student has the option of retaking the course, but will have to begin over, just as if they had never enrolled.

The advantages of such a grading procedure far outweigh the disadvantages.

• The student does not have the low grade on a transcript, thus possibly lowering chances of getting into a better college or university. 
• The student has not been labeled a failure in any subject matter, thus their self-esteem is not shattered.
• Everyone maintains at least a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average, thus assisting in sports eligibility, employment possibilities and possible auto insurance advantages.
• The student has the option of retaking a course, thus teaching an attitude of keeping with something until one is successful.
• A student may wish to enroll into a course they may not feel they are ready for, without fear of failure.  They may find they are gifted in a certain area afterward.

The following will be the grading breakdown for I AM Academy:

90-100% A 80-89% B 65-79% C