As a hearty skeptic of the modern American grading system, I often complain about grades. To simply be frank, they’re the shadowlands (C.S. Lewis) of the real aims of a classical Christian education and yet we so often use them as the goalposts. And, who hasn’t looked over a report card before and thought, “I could dispute that assessment?”
What does a B- mean to you? Well, it:
Depends on the student
Depends on the parent
Depends on the teacher
Depends on the curriculum
Grades are subjective. You can’t precisely assign a number value to a 2nd grade student’s mastery of mathematics, let alone of theology. Maybe we can get close to accurately assigning a numeric value to a student’s mastery of arithmetic if you assume that the tests he takes are the best measure of mastery of arithmetic. You can definitely say whether a child has or has not entirely memorized the multiplication tables, for example. But can you say whether or not those tables are embedded in his long or short term memory? Can you say whether or not he can apply multiplication to help him solve problems? Have you tested how easily he is able to understand division based on his comprehension of multiplication? Does the child even like knowing all these tables? Does that even matter? It might take an excellent teacher months to learn the answers to these questions for one student for this singular topic.
If grades are used to help students and their families identity their progress and call for more growth, we have a real issue, because report cards seem to bring out the most un-productive tendencies in us. Children so often want to give the impression that assessments are easy for them, that school at large is entirely easy. “That wasn’t hard” or “That was so easy for me!” is a bravado that encourages students to compare themselves against one another. That’s not the fault of report cards, of course, but it does happen and does add to the muddled understanding students bring to their report cards. We have students prone to legalism – always striving for perfection or excellence, inclined toward total compliance with whatever their authority says so that they can be correct or feel at peace. We have students prone towards the foolishness of childhood that lacks direction and is prone to bad judgement. Our students need goalposts that point them toward the true aims.
We have another possible issue in the form of grades themselves. Chronological snobbery though it may be, it doesn’t hurt to note that letter grades are not actually particularly old or time-tested, let alone classical or Christian. They arose in America in the early 20th century with the rise of industrialization and the growth of free public schools. Schools needed to be efficient in the landscape of larger classes and more students, and needed common language and information to communicate well amongst themselves. Industrialization of course helped usher in such uniform education and what Wendell Berry would associate with society’s growing “contempt for quality, for responsible workmanship and good work” (Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays).
Ironically, it was even prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic that modern pedagogues have been calling for the abolishment (or at least reform) of graded systems which reek of patriarchal oppression. Local schools in our area known for extremely rigorous and demanding programs are part of this. Or think of high schools that require their own entrance exams because the A’s and C’s of one school are entirely different from the A’s and C’s of another. Think of students receiving GPA boosts, forgiveness of homework requirements, and more. There is a strong felt need for teachers and schools to refrain from judgement of students and their work, which is pervasive in current pedagogical discussions across America. There is almost no talk of how poorly American students perform in international academic assessments despite how much America spends per child on primary schools. What is going on?
I agree with my modern colleagues from all sorts of pedagogical models that grades as we know it should probably die, but probably for different reasons. I think we should assess students based on what we can observe of their mastery of the learning objectives. I note this involves a lot of careful judgement from a teacher, and again note how important it is to assess based on what is observable, not based upon speculation, pity, favoritism, or self-preservation.
What should teachers and schools assess for?
Knowledge and information – A teacher should be able to answer at almost any point: “ What does the student know?” This is the easiest thing to ultimately assess for, but still requires intentional effort to craft the right kind of assessments and assess honestly and openly.
Skills – A teacher should be able to tell you at almost any point: “What can the student do?” This even includes behaving virtuously.
Appreciation – A teacher should be able to tell you if a student can articulate the truths, beauty, and goodness they are exposed to. This is about ultimate understanding and is probably more of a rhetoric skill than something one can fully expect of a young student.
When we assess students and write report cards and study report cards and have family meetings about homework and celebrate the victories of the children and so on, we should be operating based on a system that assesses what is real (true) and based upon what is actually observable of a student’s growth in knowledge and skill. We should be assessing for mastery of knowledge and skills as articulated in our study goals, not assessing to remove roadblocks to access or achievement.
In all of this, heavy is the responsibility of a faculty who are at once to know and be able to do the things they teach, know what their students know and can do of the same things, and who are able to articulate to students and their parents how much the child knows and can do and does not and cannot. A grade scale seems inadequate, but so does the length of a school year.
In all of this, the virtues we aim to teach challenge us: for assessing students should involve both mercy and justice in balance. (You might consider reading from Andrew Kern at the Circe Institute – I learned this idea from him and he was influenced by Aquinas so I’m fairly certain it is worth its weight in gold).
Schools may be anxious to step out and create a new system for assessment and feedback, but I firmly believe classical Christian schools should have the courage to create these new systems and share them with one another. Our students will be able to speak for themselves and our reputations will as well. We do not need to be fearful about abandoning the letter grades.
Interested in reading more? Consider:
https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/a-brief-history-of-grades-and-gradeless-learning by Chris Mutt
https://circeinstitute.org/blog/bad-grades-might-be-bad-luck/ by Josh Gibbs
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/accurate-grades/ by Jennifer Gonzales
Mortimer Adler!
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