What is the harm that comes with traditional grades?
As a teacher, I hope that I do not motivate my students to become grade chasers, I want to motivate them to push themselves and take risks. However, the term “grading” means to allocate and sort. By giving students grades, we putting them into groups of kids who are good at school and kids who are not. That is definitely not my goal. In my dream classroom, students would ask “how can I improve?” not, “how can I get a better grade?”
A 2008 assessment on the effects of grading on college students engaged in an “authentic” task revealed that those who received a letter grade felt lower self-efficacy than those who did not. In addition, personalized feedback was found to be the most beneficial in terms of motivation and self-efficacy. Students who received praise felt a slightly lower motivation than those who did not receive praise (Lipnevich & Smith, 2008). Therefore, students who received grades had lower feelings of success than those who received personalized feedback. In addition, those who received feedback found ways to improve their essays.
So, what does this all mean?
Alfie Kohn, lecturer and author, came to three findings when discussing the issue of grading: grades diminish student interest, grades lead students to look for the easiest task, and grades reduce the quality of thinking we see from students (Kohn, 2011). According to Ron Ritchhart (2015), overwhelmingly we hope the student will become “an engaged and active thinker able to communicate, innovate, collaborate, and problem solve” (p. 19). If Kohn is correct in saying that grades eliminate interest, thought, and the ability to challenge oneself, then by grading students we are effectively killing their ability to become the learner we hope they will become.
In addition, Kohn (2011) found that grades tended to extrinsically motivate students, which also limited their intrinsic motivation. If that is the case, what will our students do when they are no longer receiving grades? Will they still try? Obviously, that is often the fear of many teachers: if students do not receive a grade, they will not see a reason to complete the work. John Bower (2013) found this issue to ring true is his classroom when he abolished grading -- but only for an instance. Eventually, once his students fully “detoxed” from grades, he found that they were receiving authentic feedback and “real learning” (Bower, 2013).
What does an A really mean? That the student is able to complete the work on time? That they can stay quiet in class? The primary purpose of school cannot be to create passive learners, but instead it must be to create lifelong learners who take pride and ownership in their learning. If traditional grades do not lead to the intrinsic motivation to succeed, there must be something else to do.
Tweet it: Grade chasers don't take risks. If students are to succeed, they must chase their learning, not a percentage. #intrinsicmotivation
Bower, J., & Thomas, P. L. (n.d.). Reduced to Numbers: From Concealing to Revealing Learning. In De-testing and de-grading schools: Authentic alternatives to accountability and standardization. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.youblisher.com/p/852611-Reduced-to-Numbers-by-Joe-Bower
Kohn, A. (2011). The Case Against GRADES. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 28-33.
Lipnevich, Anastaysia & Smith, Jeffrey (2008). Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information. ETS, Princeton. Doi: https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RR-08-30.pdf
Ritchhart, Ron. (2015). Creating cultures of thinking: The eight forces we must master to truly transform our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
A 2008 assessment on the effects of grading on college students engaged in an “authentic” task revealed that those who received a letter grade felt lower self-efficacy than those who did not. In addition, personalized feedback was found to be the most beneficial in terms of motivation and self-efficacy. Students who received praise felt a slightly lower motivation than those who did not receive praise (Lipnevich & Smith, 2008). Therefore, students who received grades had lower feelings of success than those who received personalized feedback. In addition, those who received feedback found ways to improve their essays.
So, what does this all mean?
Alfie Kohn, lecturer and author, came to three findings when discussing the issue of grading: grades diminish student interest, grades lead students to look for the easiest task, and grades reduce the quality of thinking we see from students (Kohn, 2011). According to Ron Ritchhart (2015), overwhelmingly we hope the student will become “an engaged and active thinker able to communicate, innovate, collaborate, and problem solve” (p. 19). If Kohn is correct in saying that grades eliminate interest, thought, and the ability to challenge oneself, then by grading students we are effectively killing their ability to become the learner we hope they will become.
In addition, Kohn (2011) found that grades tended to extrinsically motivate students, which also limited their intrinsic motivation. If that is the case, what will our students do when they are no longer receiving grades? Will they still try? Obviously, that is often the fear of many teachers: if students do not receive a grade, they will not see a reason to complete the work. John Bower (2013) found this issue to ring true is his classroom when he abolished grading -- but only for an instance. Eventually, once his students fully “detoxed” from grades, he found that they were receiving authentic feedback and “real learning” (Bower, 2013).
What does an A really mean? That the student is able to complete the work on time? That they can stay quiet in class? The primary purpose of school cannot be to create passive learners, but instead it must be to create lifelong learners who take pride and ownership in their learning. If traditional grades do not lead to the intrinsic motivation to succeed, there must be something else to do.
Tweet it: Grade chasers don't take risks. If students are to succeed, they must chase their learning, not a percentage. #intrinsicmotivation
Bower, J., & Thomas, P. L. (n.d.). Reduced to Numbers: From Concealing to Revealing Learning. In De-testing and de-grading schools: Authentic alternatives to accountability and standardization. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.youblisher.com/p/852611-Reduced-to-Numbers-by-Joe-Bower
Kohn, A. (2011). The Case Against GRADES. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 28-33.
Lipnevich, Anastaysia & Smith, Jeffrey (2008). Response to Assessment Feedback: The Effects of Grades, Praise, and Source of Information. ETS, Princeton. Doi: https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RR-08-30.pdf
Ritchhart, Ron. (2015). Creating cultures of thinking: The eight forces we must master to truly transform our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.