TOMMIE SAYLOR: Grading is about mastery of the material

“Grades don’t measure anything other than your relevant obedience to a manager.”

John Taylor Gatto

By Tommie Saylor

Kennedy High School Principal

Teachers place a tremendous amount of effort into the development of their lessons, trying to make their lessons authentic, relevant, specific, rigorous and entertaining. 

But, after putting so much effort into the development of their lessons, teachers often forget to place an equal amount of effort into what can arguably be the most important part of the learning process: Grading.

The purpose of assigning grades is to assess the student’s mastery of the material taught, and the extent to which the student mastered the material.  In addition, assigned grades are as much a measure of the student’s effort, as it is of the teacher’s ability to inspire the student’s willingness to learn. 

Given this, each instructor should place a good amount of effort into determining how they are going to assess their students, what is important enough to grade and what does not have to be graded, and most importantly, make sure that what you are grading is student learning – not the students’ ability to follow directions, procedures, or other such incidentals.

The days of granting extra credit for bringing in a box of Kleenex are gone. Soon, the days of averaging grades and taking points off for turning an assignment in late will be gone. Remember, it’s not about making things easier for the instructor; it’s about measuring if the student gained mastery over the material, and if not, finding a way to help them master the material. 

Teaching is a service job – it is not about making your life easier. It’s about improving the lives of your students by opening doors through the medium of a good education.

The future of education is aligned with standards based grading and mastery learning.  The “Holy Grail” of education is grading a student purely on the level of knowledge gained, and nothing more.

Helping students to find their greatness. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.