The phenomenon of data accumulation has evolved in recent times. Over the last few decades, the breadth and depth in student data has grown exponentially. But why does it seem as though little has changed in terms of student outcomes despite the abundance of information we are now receiving? We know that if a student fails a third-grade literacy test she is likely to fail it again in the 6^th grade and, if so, even more likely to struggle in high school. So what? We are at the point of using data to make somewhat-accurate predictions but it seems as though that is all we are doing. But the data should be able to tell us more.

What exactly is the data telling us? Is it telling us that are children are less scholastic? Our teachers are worse than in prior decades? Our standardized tests are not calibrated with current modes of teaching? The questions, at this point, have to be rhetorical. That is because by merely collecting more and more data there is no way of knowing the answers. Right now, all we have is a collection of information – without exactly knowing what we are looking for in it. We have gone beyond looking for the needle in the haystack. It seems as though we are looking for a specific needle in a pile of needles.

To take from statistician and writer, Nate Silver, we must decipher between the “signal” and the “noise”. Meaning, we must use the data beyond our Monday morning quarterback readings of student outcomes and instead become proactive with our teaching and learning, figuring out what are the key statistics in the data and what is just “noise”. We must look at this data that we have collected to determine trends; trends that go beyond the “boys fall behind girls in reading and writing by third grade”. And if we do want to stick to the conclusions we have made, we must be more proactive in correcting our fault lines. It is great to know things, but it means little if we do nothing about it. I don’t know if I have any of the answers to what the data is telling us. But I do think our first step is knowing just what the data even means before we can attempt to utilize it.

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I ask this because I have sensed that the conversation regarding homework has veered so far to the left that most “progressive” educators feel it is useless. But is homework useless? And by extension, is “grading” homework unnecessary? And by grading, I don’t mean assigning a mark out of ten or five or even a point. I am misusing the term “grading”, but I am simply getting at the idea of at least walking around the class and doing a “homework check”. Is that a no-no now?

It seems that way. During a recent Twitter chat I was engaged in, several educators chastised me for my philosophy about the homework check. They said the only thing a homework check teaches students is compliance. I don’t disagree. But by not disagreeing, I was painted as an authoritarian who is missing the grander purpose of 21^st century education. But y’all wrote your report cards on time, right? You try to pay your phone bill by the deadline? When you apply for a job, do you not fill out the application in the way it is requested by an employer? Compliance (to a certain extent) is one small lesson that students should pick up in school. It is not the most crucial but it still holds some small value. And on second thought, I think the term expectation is more accurate in the context of a homework check.

Issuing random homework checks is not a violation of progressive education. When I walk around my classroom and check homework, I either assign a check minus, a check, or a check plus. My students are made aware of the homework policy at the very beginning of the year. This means that students not only know the standard I expect, but they are also aware of the fact that as long as they did some of the “practice” work during class they will still earn at least a check minus. I do not see the harm in that.

The kicker is that the homework check doesn’t even affect their grade. There is no “5% towards homework” in my syllabus. But what it does is “put students on notice” that practice is important and so are expectations. I am not affecting my students’ academic achievement through a homework check, but I am trying to affect my students’ achievement through a homework check, you feel me?

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To do assessment well, you must:

Know your students first

The children you are responsible for nurturing come first. When assessing children, you must understand, firstly, your students. You must learn their work habits, their styles, their engagement – them personally. Without understanding your students and what drives them to answer questions and write what they do on a paper, you will be lost, and your formative assessments will serve as mute reference points.

Understand that all assessment is fundamentally subjective

Unless we are talking about black and white answers in math and maybe science, all answers by students are personally judged. Some teachers use formative assessments to boost students’ “grades” on the presumption that the summative examples they dole out will be the ultimate arrival point of objective knowledge. But all knowledge, realistically speaking is subjective. So we must understand that when we assess we are using our subjective biases, for better or worse, to judge children. Counterintuitevely, keeping this in mind will lead to a more “objective” stance in understanding the various unique knowledges that our students possess.

Assess formatively in ways that are not always “formative”

Formative assessment is not confined to the barriers of nonchalant observations. Tests can be formative. Assignments can be formative. Formative assessment derives from an understanding that knowledge is split into two terms – a priori knowledge, and posteriori knowledge, both still underpinning the fundamental assumption that the human is always capable of learning more. If you want to test, that is fine, but understand that your students often learn at different paces so be prepared to scaffold your classroom learning to accommodate for varying deadlines and overall objectives.

Reject your savior role and understand that your students sometimes garner other needs

All types of assessment instill a sense in teachers that they are the be all and end all of their classroom. This is true to a certain extent. But grading and assessment must take into consideration the effect they have on a child. We may feel like Old Testament God in the classroom, but we are not. Some students need more nurturing, more positive encouragement, and a host of other needs that are not solely derived from a grade or a teacher student conversation. Be flexible in your role as a teacher and understand your importance without getting caught up in it.

Grades are not the be all and end all of education

When you mark an English paper and give a paragraphs worth of personal commentary on the back page, what is the first and only thing students do. They look at the grade only! I am close to being an advocate for a grade-less educational system at the elementary level because I know that power that a single letter or percentage has on the psyche of a young mind. But teachers weild this power. And they often use it with the understanding of the implicit and explicit damage (or reward) that it can do to a child. Stepping away and instilling a notion of creation, innovation and personal growth that is not necessarily attached to a final grade is a move that education desperately needs. It will take a lot to finally move there, but when teachers create a classroom community that is dependent on a heirachical order based on grades, it perpetuates the dysfunctional aspects of the society we live in today. Grades are important, but they are not the ultimate marker of a child. Teachers should constantly relay this message to students when handing back work that has been assessed. Personal growth is the key, not a grade.

When using assessment, keep these keys in mind. There are many other watch-fors when assessing, but with these 5, you will ensure that you are as “objective” as possible and putting your students first.

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It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that every teacher teaches with the “burden” of getting through curriculum. It also wouldn’t be a stretch to argue that the curriculum currently prescribed cannot be adequately covered in 10 months of school. Teachers adapt by skimming over parts of the common core and going deeper into others, teaching topics that they have a passion for, and being flexible to students’ needs. But unfortunately, when that end of the month (or curriculum unit) comes, it usually signifies test time and we move onto the next “strand”. Under the pressure to cover curriculum, we move on whether students “get it” or not. And we do this primarily because we have to write a report card at the end of the term or year. We have to show proof of what we did with our students.

I asked several teachers how not writing a report card would change their practice. Some pointed out that they would slow down and teach according to student needs (what a novel idea!). Others suggested that they would, “teach what they wanted to teach and not what the curriculum dictated as important”. While this idea has the damaging potential to re-create provisional self-esteem and privileges the teacher once again in the power dynamic of the classroom space, teachers who are engaged with the material would also exponentially benefit student learning.

No report cards would change my classroom immensely. It would afford the opportunity to truly co-create an educational environment where kids would enact agency in their learning. We could establish relevance and engagement in a way that goes beyond what any burdensome report card produces. No report cards – fine, we can introduce peer reviews and grading, that way the teacher is not the sole authoritative figure dolling out some final piece a paper that is supposed to mark their idea of how they think a kid did throughout the school year.

If used correctly, a final pass/fail letter could be a great move. Our current system is intrinsically flawed anyways. So despite the political maneuvers between government and teachers’ unions, below the surface this “no report card thing” marks a tremendous opportunity to re-examine the paradigm of education and how we demarcate student success. Not having a traditional report card is unfortunate for the children who are programmed to base their academic validity on a letter grade or a percentage. But despite its shortcomings, it is also a unique opportunity to explore how the politics of accountability and traditional forms of professionalism impact how teachers teach.

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The age-old pedagogical questions when teachers grade work always seems to eek its way on to the table of progressive practice year after year. Ultimately, grading involves notions of fostering self-esteem or delivering “objective” (but very subjective in most cased) assessment. So, where do you fit on the continuum of “grade dealers”?

I recently finished marking a pile of culminating Language assignments. This is the second part of the job that I would love to avoid if I could. What usually tends to happen is that soon as I get around to marking a set of assignments, I collect another pile of work! Unfortunately for teachers, the turnstile of grading work never stops. Teachers must not only mark but must also wrestle with the dualistic realities that are espoused through grading a student’s work. Two prominent and dueling philosophies arise when teachers talk about the “purpose of grading.” One is grading to send a “wake-up call” to students and the other is grading work to boost student’s “self-esteem.” Put into context, this means there is usually two different ways that most teachers’ grade work. Some give a student a little better mark than their work deserves because they want them to live to those expectations set for them in the hopes that the elevated mark will boost their self-confidence and make them believe that they are actually capable of achieving success. This sort of self-fulfilling prophecy works in athletics all the time (which is a loaded sentence in itself and a topic I may eventually blog about).

By using the “positive validation” method, you also run the risk of inflating their competence and diminishing their understanding of effort. Youth are forever internalizing experiences. If they know they did not put their best effort forth and still got an A, instead of wondering how well they could have done if they worked their hardest, they may be satisfied and fall into a complacent false consciousness of what merit, self-worth, and effort all mean. But again, it depends on the student and their character.

Then there is the other pedagogical side of “waking up” your students with an assessment that delivers the brutal and “honest” truth (and at times, may even exaggerate it). A numerical “you need to step it up” can sometimes shake up students and re-focus their efforts and eventually churn out better work in the future. Whatever philosophy you begin to employ, grading is an especially fragile subject near the beginning of the year. From my own personal experience as a student growing up, high scores on early assignments encouraged me; they pushed me to continue working hard in class to maintain the high grades I initially received. They also demonstrated to me that my teacher thought I was smart. Conversely, once I received a low grade or two at the beginning of a course, I subconsciously “checked out” of that class, putting forth minimal effort with the simple intentions of sliding by since attaining excellence seemed unreachable. This dynamic speaks to the adolescent mind and what the beginning of a new school years means to them. The beginning of the year serves as a fresh start for students; a chance to create or improve an ever-developing identity in a whole new classroom and an opportunity for them to “re-classify” themselves.

Individuals have a multiplicity of motivations that run their daily hopes, goals, and ambitions. These internal drives combine with external experiences to create one’s character. With grading, you have to judge it on a case-by-case basis. When you are looking at a student’s work, it is important to have a thorough understanding of that student. Some students need a boost in confidence; others need to be brought back down to reality. Grading then becomes especially effective when you have a feel for your students. This is precisely why I don’t support the idea of “blindfold” grading. Teachers often tell me, “I cover up the names when I mark that way I am objective.” And while I understand the premise and logical pedagogy behind their statements, I feel that a teacher is more that a body whom is simply distributing “un-biased” assessment. Grading is yet another facet in which we teachers are provided the opportunity to build and nurture tomorrow’s future, our students. So we need to be a little personal about it.

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