Vignette 13: Apples and Oranges

There are so many ways to come up with grades it is hard to decide which method I am going to use. In class the other day we got to decide how we were going to use gathered evidence to determine a final grade for a student. At the end of the task the class had a wide range of grades. Everything from a B- to a B+ and it was all based on the same information. The ways in which we had decided to evaluate the grades was not wrong just different. It all depended on how we calculated the data. What I got out of this is in order to be fair to all students make sure that however you are evaluating the data is the same method you are using for all the students. Do not switch methods half way through or it will not be consistent for everyone and will not reflect a true report of the learning they have accomplished.

What I would do if I was Mr McIntyre would be to turn all my grades into percents and then figure out what the weighting for that percent is. This is another point we learned about in class this past week. You cannot compare grades or take averages if the data is not all in the same format. It literally is like comparing apples to oranges. Until the scores are converted in whatever method you decide it cannot be tabulated to make a grade. If it is added up without converting to the same format then it will not reflect an accurate picture of the student's learning. If Mr McIntyre converts all the grades to the same format than it will be easier for him to figure out the final grades for his students.

Weightings are another component of accurate grade reporting too. It is important to be aware of how much work and effort go into each part that is going to make up the final grade. If you are aware of this than it will help to make sure that what you are reporting is really the student's true abilities and what they have learned. If the weightings that are decided for the final grade components are out of balance or not considered it could end up hindering the student.

The other point I am going to comment on is that he should not include the group work grades. It is not fair to the students to have their final grade dependent on the amount of work and effort other members put into a project. I would not use group marks but I would use aspects from a project as part of a final mark. Aspects of group work I may consider would be a reflection on the project as it is something that the students would each do and it would be an individual mark for each reflection not a group mark. I think it is important for students to learn how to work in groups but I think I would report those skills in another section of the report card not in the achievement part.