C: The Dangerous Grade

As a teacher, I often ask parents how school is going for their child. The typical response is a shrug and a

letter: “Meh, B last quarter.” If pressed for more detail, I will often get a quick rundown of the teacher’s

personality followed by another letter: “His teacher is nice, C on the last quiz.” What do these letters

mean?

Usually, letter grades are attached to percent scores. While percent scores may seem to provide additional

detail, in truth they tell little more of the story. Percent of what? If a child scores a 99% on a test, does

this indicate that the child retained 99% of the material with which he or she was presented? If the child

scored a 0%, did he or she literally learn nothing? Why is 90% considered excellent while 89% is only

considered good? Why is 60% enough while 59% is too little?

While I would love a little more detail in the response, I understand how difficult it is for parents to be

involved enough in the child’s schooling to be able to provide it. Unfortunately, letter grades have

become a ubiquitous surrogate for real progress reports. They function poorly in this regard.

In a perfect world, teachers would have time to create comprehensive reports detailing much more about a

student’s performance in class; how the student has grown, skills and concepts he or she has mastered,

attitudes towards the subject matter and learning, ability to complete specific tasks, efficiency in

completing those tasks... the list goes on. Unfortunately, teachers seldom have the time to compile such

reports and rarely do they have the resources.

While some schools have adopted non-traditional grading systems which are designed to provide a clearer

picture of each child’s progress, such as standards-based grades or competency-based grades, it seems

for the time being, most parents, especially those of students in middle or high school, will need to make

do with the letter grade system with which so many of us are familiar

The practical flaws in this system are far too numerous to detail here, however, it is important for parents

to understand some of its shortcomings. While most grade reports equate a grade of A with excellence,

this can be very misleading. Excellence in what? That A may very well indicate that the child has

mastered a preponderance of the material, or it could mean the child was well behaved, submitted

assignments in a timely manner and demonstrated at least a mediocre level of mastery of the material.

What that A grade almost always indicates is that the child knows how to earn good grades, regardless of

what he or she is learning in the class.

The manner in which letter grades are assigned can be largely dependent on the state, district, school and

even the individual teacher. The Common Core State Standards attempts to normalize this a bit, but has

not been complete.

When a child earns A or B grades in a consistent manner, parents can be reasonably confident that the

child is doing well in class and retaining a fair amount of material. Likewise, when a child brings home a

stream of F grades, parents can be reasonably sure the child is retaining little of the material. However, as

the grades move towards the middle of the scale, confidence in precisely how much the child is learning

drops precipitously.

F grades will usually cause the school or individual teacher to put in place some corrective plan for the

student. This plan may include extra help at school, mandating the student retake the course or even

grade retention in severe cases. D grades often trigger a “red flag” for parents. This is when parents will

often seek extra help from teachers or tutors or try to intervene in some other way. In short, D and F

grades force parents and students to take notice and take steps to improve the learning.

This leaves the C grades. All too often, parents allow C grades to slide by with little scrutiny, assuming

their child is doing average work and learning enough in class. In actuality, C grades are often failing

grades inflated by extra credit, completed homework and good behavior. While extra work, responsibility

and good behavior definitely deserve recognition, inflation of grades can send a dangerously misleading

message to students and parents when requisite mastery of topics is not developed.

Students with these kind of C grades can seamlessly matriculate to the next math course with an

inadequate foundation necessary for mastering the upcoming concepts. This can easily begin or

perpetuate a “cycle of Cs” where a student practices excellent studentship but continues to lack

development of requisite mastery of concepts over the course of time. This cycle will inevitably reach a

point when the student simply cannot compete in the class in which he or she is placed. Suddenly, the

student is faced with failing grades which he or she cannot overcome. By this time, the aggregate amount

of unmastered content may be sizable and require a long term, intensive intervention.

There are a few steps parents can follow in order to avoid this pitfall. First: understand that no grade

report can supplant the vigilance of a parent when it comes to recognizing the growth and learning of a

child. Stay involved in your child’s education. Communicate with teachers. Ask to see homework and

graded tests. Talk with and listen to your child about school. Be sensitive to your child’s attitudes about

school and each individual subject or class. Recognize when there is a marked shift in those attitudes.

Second: Know and understand the grading policies of the district, school and individual teachers. If a

heavy emphasis is placed on homework completion, recognize that this can inflate grades, even when test

scores are quite low. Extra credit and “test corrections” will also contribute to grade inflation; know

when this is likely occurring. Understand that passing grades don’t always indicate mastery of content.

Third: When you suspect your child has not mastered a preponderance of their given material, despite

receipt of passing grades, take steps to rectify it. Find your child extra help. Stop the cycle before it gets

started. Studies show that early intervention is imperative for getting students on track for learning,

especially in math.

Remember that the goal in any class is to learn and grow, and that grades are intended to be a reflection of

that. It is very easy to confuse these two things, placing great emphasis on grades while paying little

attention to learning and growth. Often times the schools, including teachers, counselors and

administrators, are complicit in creating this confusion and focus students’ energies on acquisition of high

grades rather than on growth; we have all heard stories of “teaching to the test.” Awareness is the first

step in eliminating this confusion and understanding your child’s academic progress.

By Nicholas Mele