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**Abstract & Synthesis**
By: Tyler Brookings

Chapter 7 of //Fair Isn't Always Equal// discusses the [|inconsistencies of grading] and the problem it presents in the classroom. The main issue which just about everyone focused on was the simple fact that grading goes much deeper than just the number or the letter. Grading should deal with the overall performance of the student, not simply the work itself, as some people expressed in their reflection paragraphs. This chapter also touches upon the fact that grading is meant to be objective but in many cases it simply cannot be, and is not.

[|The controversy] over this chapter was evident in every single reflection below. Grades are one of the many "disliked" portions of a students high school career and yet they decide so much of the students futures. The issue with grades, as many of you pointed out is that grades are not always objective, as they should be, they are more often then not subjective. The confusion over this chapter stemmed mainly from the chapters discussion about grades being "inaccurate" but at the same time teachers must have something in order to base their students progress off of. One issue brought up in almost every reflection was the belief in the inability of grades to truly measure a students knowledge. Grading a student, and judging a student simply by a number and a letter are pitfalls which haunt the grading systems of the American High Schools. In the end, time will tell us whether or not the current grading system will endure.

Erika Tingley
This chapter focuses on the sticky and inconsistent issue of grading. There is no clear-cut easy solution to grading and the grades are fairly subjective most of the time. Because there are so many layers and things that are considered by a teacher when grading it is hard to determine what really is meant by a grade that is given. The one point that was made in this chapter that really stood out to me was the idea of basing grades on what I intend for my students to achieve. I need to be clear to my students what my expectations are and the criteria should always be what my grading is based on. It doesn’t do my students any good if I grade on someone else’s view of evaluation or if I don’t hold them up to high standards for learning. Students need to know that their grades mean something, and it needs to be clear to them what they are working towards.

Tim Grivois
I never understood that many teachers felt so similar to the way I feel about grading; personally, something about the entire process just never felt right to me. Each teacher goes about their business and grades their students the way they have been instructed or taught to, and nobody ever does anything to discuss or change the system. I strongly disagree with this. Grading as an institution is flawed because the process is very subjective, and inherently so, for something that should technically be objective, but cannot be. Assigning a letter grade to an assignment or to a student themselves is not exactly the most helpful academic technique either; it offers little to no insight into the student’s level of mastery with a content, and because of the many different ways grading can be structured, it may very well just mean that a student has exceedingly good memorization skills. Grading needs to take into account every personal and outside factor that has affected the student doing the work. The grade needs to reflect something, whether it be a set of goals, criteria for improvement, or indicate mastery. Teachers should provide, along with the grade itself, grade interpretations. Grades should not be a be-all end-all system, but a constant work in progress.

Josh
Chapter 7 discusses grades and the importance of laying out expectations clearly to the students. After the expectations have been clearly identified a teacher must fairly administer the grades to all students the same way. While there are different levels of learning it does not do the students any good to accept low quality work and give a good grade. This will only show the student that you don’t expect anything from them and they will not strive to grow. This is important in a math class because students need to try in math. It is not a subject that you can fake your way through, either you know the steps or you don’t. It will be my challenge to find a system that allows all levels of students to succeed at their own rate. That is why I like the point system. A student that is a “good” math student can get 50 points on one assignment while a “low” math student might do an assignment and a redo, or two assignments that combine for 50 points. They are not competing against each other; they are both simply trying to learn the material. It is such an absurd concept to me that some teachers will let socioeconomic status influence the grades they give. It will not matter in my classroom how much money your family has or doesn’t have, what color of skin you have, or what religion you are, the only things that will play into grades are effort and math.

Olivia Wandelear
This chapter was a lot to take in, because I am still a little fuzzy on what exactly the purpose and value of grades are according to this chapter. On one hand, the chapter states, “grades are not always accurate indicators of mastery,” (93) yet another professional states, “teachers have to hold students accountable for the material so those grades mean something” (99). I hope I am accurate in my assumption that the chapter wanted to suggest that grades should not be the only forms of mastery used in the classroom, because so many different teachers have different assumptions about what an A, B, or C represents. I really liked some of the suggestions the chapter offered for how to deal with grading. “Anything less than C grade should be considered temporary,” and “A, B, and ‘you’re not done’” are really cool concepts on how develop mastery in the classroom. Too often, a C means that the student passed, and they can move on to the next thing, but really, they have not grasped all of the concepts and understandings needed to build upon that knowledge. I can definitely see myself using concept in my classroom as a way to ensure mastery in the classroom. I can work use this method to figure out which students really haven’t quite grasped the concepts, and should therefore not be thrown into something new.

Kasey Darnell
This chapter explores the idea that grades are not always an accurate measure of mastery. The author stated that "grades are inferences,personal interpretations on the part of the teacher, not infallible truths about students' mastery" (Wormeli 95). Often times, grading can become subjective in nature, instead of objectively assessing the student based on a standard. Another issue is consistency with grading. Different teachers might have different definitions of what an A,B,C, etc looks like, or might use a completely different system. Teachers can try to stay consistent with their grading by discussing their definitions of different grades with colleagues. This chapter also noted that students need a lot of feedback, but not necessarily in the form of a letter grade. This is where the ongoing,formative assessments come into play. This is something I will definitely try to implement my classroom. Also, the idea of emphasizing achievement rather than deficits was an important skill I would like to utulize in the classroom. The author gave the example of writing 88/100 at the top of the paper instead of -12, as a way of emphasizing acheivement. This is something I never even considered and will make sure that I do this when I am in the classroom.

Andy Shorey
This chapter of Fair isn't always equal is discussing the topic of grades and how to deal with them in the classroom. It discusses how it is not fair for students to just get a letter grade and not have any explanation of why. As a teacher you cover so much throughout a quarter and it is important to report to students how they did on different sections. The chapter gives examples of ways that students can know that they have not mastered the material but still have something to strive for because students who receive d's or f's without explanation may not want to put in any effort after getting that grade. I think that the chapter also raises some really good points at the end that on tests or anything that is really graded when making comments or showing a final grade do not be negative let the student know what he or she did well.

Courtney Burns
This chapter introduces the problems and difficulties with grading which arise because of their subjective nature. The subjectivity of grades means that while one teachers definition of A work means the student has met the standards, another teacher may believe it is a grade that represents a student who has reached above the standards. The author asks the readers if a single number or letter can really represent a student’s mastery of the subject considering the fact that there are multiple concepts contained within one subject area. This chapter also gives the perspectives of teachers who work in school that no longer use grades as an indicator of students mastery, the consensus being that without grades, these teachers spend more time developing feedback of the students work. As a teacher it will be important for me to not put as much emphasis on grades as many teachers often do. Instead it will be more beneficial, for both my students and I, to concentrate on assessments where the criteria is well understood and the main goal is supply students with the feedback they are going to need to help them mastery the content.

Heath
Grading is a subject within education that both students and teachers benefit when is it discussed in the open. Students need to have clear understanding of what is expected of them academically and receive feedback beyond a number or a letter grade that guides them to strive for their best. Teachers benefit when they confer with colleagues about the systems in use and draw from each other. Both of these conversations need to happen with more consistency in tomorrow’s classrooms. This chapter reinforced the ideas of knowing my students, and just as learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum neither does grading. The grading strategies we choose to use can be teaching moments.

Dylan Stefani
Chapter seven talks about how teachers do not consult with others about their grading process. I find that my teachers all had different opinions about what was good work and what was bad work so I was able to slack off in some classes, but not others. A better grading system should be put into place. How will this happen? When teachers start communicating with each other on what constitutes as an “A” in a class about geometry, English, or computer science. Students need to be able to understand a grading process and be able to see a brake down of what they are being graded on. Grades will not be what matters in the long run, they are just indicators on test taking skills. What matters is that through a teachers formative and even summative assessments students master the knowledge by applying what they have learned to the real world.

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Caitlin Alexander
Grading is a subject that is very difficult for me, not because of the time consuming nature of grading itself, but because I have difficulty really assessing work according to a standard. When I have had to grade items in the past, whether they be self-assessment pieces or peer review pieces, I feel that when grading myself I become too critical. What might be work that is at the A or B level suddenly drops down to a C- because I don’t want to seem like I’m being too proud of my own work. On the other hand, I had difficulty being critical of other people’s work because I don’t want to be too critical of their work, considering the time and effort they must have put into it. I understand the necessity of grades, and what they can do for instructors, but for me, grades are far too subjective, and the chapter seems to agree with me in some ways. The book says that grades are opinions, and I think that this is true. Unless there is some kind of perfect, universal rubric that can magically apply to every student and every paper on the face of the earth, grading will always be an opinon. Even now times are changing: the chapter says that a “C” used to be an average grade, and now it is considered by many schools to be below average. I remember this from my own experiences. As a child I often felt ashamed when I came home with a report card with a C on it. It was almost like coming home with an F. I didn’t think that I had done alright, or average: I felt like I had failed.

Chapter 7 address a concern that every teacher will have constantly throughout their career. This concern is grading. The fact that summative grades have little actual use is brought up in the chapter as well. Another major thing that I took from this chapter is that without differentiation many students will simply fail. Although all of that was important the part of the chapter that really shocked me was when the text explained that many high schools do not use any grades whatsoever. This does not make sense to me at all. If there are no grades what ambition is there for the student to get their work done, how can we monitor for parent, students, and ourselves what is actually being learned without some sort of scale? I don't know that I believe in this, and I wouldn't do this in my classroom given the option.

Ben Villeneuve
Chapter seven of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// discusses grading. It dispels the notion that grades should be a sort of be-all, end-all of feedback. I feel this is important to my future classroom because my students will earn grades largely through more subjective means. To me, when grading an essay, the grade at the top of the first page will be the least important part. I will strive to make helpful comments throughout, and to then allow students to rewrite their essays. As the chapter points out, grades are not the best forms of feedback. All they really are is a shorthand way for teachers to let students know how they’re doing in a class.

Kay Sue Collins
===This chapter articulates what I have often thought about grades but was never able to describe. I have had the opportunity to grade rough draft essays for a teacher and found it very frustrating because I was not given any criteria by which to judge the work. I thought it was just my inexperience that made it so hard. I didn’t realize that there was so much variation from teacher to teacher and school to school. I ended up doing the right thing by accident. Instead of deciding what letter grade to give them I just found the errors in their work and gave them suggestions for saying things more clearly, and praising the things that were good in their work. As it turns out this was the best feedback I could give. Sometimes though the essay was so scattered I didn’t know where to begin. In those cases I suppose the best thing to do would be to have the student go back to the drawing board and rewrite with more organization in mind then try again to edit for those things the student didn’t catch.

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Tyler Brookings
Chapter 7 discusses one of the issues which teachers and students struggle with everyday and every year. A little thing called grades. The chapter tells us that we should not have the grades be the prime objective or main reason for an assignment. I believe that the issue with grading is simply using fair judgment, students in the class progress and understand the material at different rates. I know that I will definitely use grades, they are in most ways, fair judgment but I will let my students know that the content of the assignment is more what I'm looking for rather than the grade at the top.

Kyle Rines
This chapter lays down the lines for setting a fair grading system and giving the students clear expectations. I liked how the chapter talked about setting letter grades as expectations, such as 'A, B, and "you're not finished". This is how I believe I want to grade. If a student receives something less than a B, I believe that they should do another piece of work or revise the current one until they show that they understand the subject and are capable of an A or B. This is a great way that I can ensure my vague belief of subject mastery and understanding.

Dan Horne
I this chapter the book talks about the process of grading the the classroom. It talks about how grading is used as the final means of assessment. For my class I will use the practices I have been using at college, where i submit a rough draft, get feed back, and then fix it and resubmit to ensure that they get a good grade and learn the material through my feed back. I also like the idea of re-submiting after the the grading process, especially on tests. After they get their test back give them a chance to correct all the questions they got wrong and earn points back on their test grade and at the same time are forced to look up answers and learn the materials.