Tales of Horror and Non-Congruence

A Highly Personal Take

on

Grades and Homework

Steve Unruhe, sunruhe@dpsnc.net

We need great teachers

More importantly,

we need good schools.

Horror Story #1: Una lección de baile en Ecuador

• Salsa for two left feet?

• 6-count? 8-count?• Dancing towards the

exit

Horror Story #2: Lily

• Single mom, often working two jobs• Mom’s ex-partner intermittently involved• Unmotivated, easily frustrated, but not

hostile• Frequently missed school• Failing math due to zeroes for

homework and projects

Should Lily Repeat Algebra I?

Part I: Grades

• What are we trying to accomplish through our grading practices?

Goal for Grading: A fair assessment

of content knowledge

• Should student advance?

• Into which course?

Congruence Problem #1

• Do grades accurately reflect content knowledge?

• Scenario - student does B work on three assignments; fails to turn in fourth assignment

Three Grading Schemes - Three Grades

Which grading scheme accurately reflects

content knowledge?

Horror Story #3: How Estelle Failed

Lunch Duty

• What if teachers were evaluated the way students are evaluated?

Congruence Problem #2

• What does a student learn by repeating a course?

• What does a student learn from a zero?

• Why do we put a kid in another teacher’s classroom who already knows enough material to pass the class?

My grading practice

• Use A-F scale, translated into numerical points (60-100)

• Students fail for not passing assessments (tests, quizzes)

• Students do NOT fail for missing work; they fail for not knowing content (or, more to the point, pass if they know enough content)

Part II: Homework

• What are we trying to accomplish through our homework practice?

Goals for Homework

• Practice

• Learn new material

• Learn responsibility

Congruence Problem #3 - Homework Reality

• Copied• Scribbled• Wrong• Time-consuming to

grade

Solution

• Give more, harder, homework

• Grade all homework, every night

• (Just kidding)

Horror Story #4

• “Calculate the lateral area of an octagonal prism lying on its side…”

My homework practice

• All homework problems have answers

• Homework is practice

• Homework counts for a grade only to help a student

Data Imperviousness

• Teachers (all humans?) resist data• Teachers (all humans?) learn by

anecdote• Math teachers live for the counter-

example (“What about…?)• Data “slides off” when it hits anecdotal

counter-example

Still, here’s the data….

• Retention: “In summary, the research indicates that grade retention provides limited or no

academic/social advantages to students” (Retention: The Balanced View: Social Promotion & Retention; Prepared by Westchester Institute For Human Services Research. Available at http://www.sharingsuccess.org/code/socprom.html. Undated)

• Homework: “No research has shown that homework is necessary to help students learn….Nor is there a shred of evidence to back up the folk wisdom that homework builds character, promotes self-discipline, or teaches good work habits.” (Homework: “The Tougher Standards Fad Hits

Home” Alfie Kohn in Rethinking Schools, Vol 21, No.1; Fall 2006)

In search of congruence

• Teachers are heroes - we will go to almost any length to help a student succeed

• Teachers are martyrs - and this is not a good idea

• We must connect homework and grading practices to realistic goals

We need great teachers, and we need good schools