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We Changed the Math
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10 thoughts on “We Changed the Math”
I like this. I may be ready to finally start using this thing.
QUESTION!! Ben, what’s your grading scale?
Do you think this mathematical equation would work well with this grading scale below?
A – 93-100
b- 84-92
C – 74-83
D – 64-73
F 63 and below
Or should I tweak the percentages a little bit?
And I should mention that I”m iffy about giving zeros. I’ve recently read that zeroes are devastating to grades and is extremely difficult to recover from. So I’m thinking of making the lowest grade a 50% (It’s still an F)
And I should mention that I”m iffy about giving zeros. I’ve recently read that zeroes are devastating to grades and is extremely difficult to recover from.
In a traditional scale, with which most of us work, it is. I am able to try some things in my district that others of you obviously cannot. For me, the 5-4-3-2-1 scale is divided into segments of 20% each on a traditional scale. So, when all of the grades are averaged, the percentages look like this:
81-100% = A
61-80% = B
41-60% = C
21-40% = D
0-20% = F
As a result of the straight 1 to 5 scale, the zero does not have the devastating effect that it does in the traditional scale. This is the effect of an even distribution as opposed to a weighted distribution. For example:
5/5 + 0/5 = 5/10 = 50%
On a traditional scale, this is an F; on my scale, this is a C.
I’m not saying one way is better than the other; they are both attempts to make an inherently unfair system fairer. In real life the percentages don’t have to be high for the person to be considered competent, proficient or even an “ace”. In baseball, for example, a batter with a .300 average is very good; he safely hits 30% of the time. In most school settings, 30% is abysmal. (I know baseball and academics are different endeavors, but I fail to understand why “passing” is set where it is. It seems arbitrary, perhaps as the result of teachers being 1. unable to make their classes rigorous without being onerous and 2. elitists.)
Chris in my school the scale is similar to yours
93-100 – A
85-92 – B
77-84 – C
70-76 – D
under 70 – F
For most of my kids getting a C is equivalent to failing. Believe it or not, the language department has a policy saying that students need an 80 average (mid C) just to move up to the next level.
For me personally, if I gave a C (80) for 3 on the scale, I would be dealing with a huge uproar from the kids and push-back from the parents. Like I said earlier, I am a softy, so I made the percentages much higher
I use:
5 – 100% (I don’t like going over 100 percent, although I appreciate the rationale)
4 – 93% – (they respond all the time, but don`t have to produce, still an A)
3 – 86% – this is the lowest B in our system
2 – 79% – this is the lowest C and a grade to be avoided for all the kids
1 – 72% – low D
0 – 60% – It is an F but doesn’t kill them like a zero would.
I am doing it daily and averaging it every 2 weeks and putting it into the electronic gradebook. Through the first 5 weeks almost all of my kids are falling into the 86-92% range. I have one or two above that, and just one below that. I will say that this is also capping the highest grades kids can get in class because it is so rare that anyone gets over a 4 (93%).
I like it, too! I’ll start entering mine in this way right away. Thanks for doing the thinking for us, Ben.
This is perfect!!! I have been racking my brain over this and temporarily halted entering the grades in my book. No more! Thanks so much, Ben, to you and your whole department.
Credit to Cara Hoagland, our practicum teacher from Denver University and her mentor and our colleague in Spanish at Abraham Lincoln High School, Barbara Vallejos, who has been doing CI almost as long as Jody, since 1997, and basically kicks ass with CI. I just walked into a meeting on Monday and there it was. The kids love the change and so do I.
Robert, I’m with you! Wormelli, Marzano, O’Connor, and all the other standard-based grading gurus (including Scott Benedict) have been urging that scale for years. Ben’s makes the traditional system a bit more fair, but it’s still not right.
I’m revisiting this post. On Nov 2nd, we’ll be finished with 1st quarter. I wonder if it would make a big difference to the grades in total if I were to make changes for 2nd qtr? I ask that someone look at my scale and tell me if it can be adjusted or if it needs to be…
In my school, the grade scale is:
A= 93-100
B= 86-92
C= 78-85
D= 70-77
F= Below 70
The jGR rubric current is:
5= 10
4= 9
3= 8
2= 7
1= 5
Would it benefit for me to make changes as in Ben’s original post?