This is Part 4 in a series on grading and equity. Throughout this series, I will explore ways we can improve grading practices to increase student achievement and well-being.
Thank you for joining me for this series! This is the last post in a series tackling one of the most emotionally-charged topics in education, grading. As we enter into a learning space together, I am going to ask that we keep the following presuppositions in mind:
- We can learn from others even when we disagree with them.
- The best interest of our students is at the center of our decision-making.
- It is possible to agree with something in principle but struggle with what it looks like in practice.
- Change is not always a bad word. However, meaningful change must be grounded in research not common sense or intuition.
In this post, we will examine how practices like mastery learning, late work policies, and retaking summatives can impact a student's level of motivation.
Let's Talk About Motivation
If I had to choose one area of psychology that is my passion, it would be motivation. I love learning about factors that drive human behavior. Quite honestly, a HUGE part of my job is motivating people to do things that they, quite honestly, don't want to do. As teachers, we attempt to motivate our students through a variety of means.
Many of our current grading practices are heavily based in the work of BF Skinner and other behaviorists. The Behaviorist approach emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior. According to this school of thought, behavior can be modified based on conditioning. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on one type of conditioning, operant conditioning. Simply stated, they argued that behavior that is rewarded will be more likely to continue and behavior that is punished will diminish.
There are two types of operant conditioning; reinforcement and punishment. The purpose of each type of conditioning differs based on the desired outcome. The effect of reinforcement is to INCREASE a desired behavior. The effect of punishment is to DECREASE undesirable behavior. There are limitations to the behaviorist approach. First, extrinsic motivators are most effective for simple tasks that do not require significant amounts of creativity. Second, it is likely that once the stimulus (either positive or negative) is removed the behavior will cease to exist. Third, one must be careful that the behavior we are reinforcing is actually the behavior that is being targeted.
To be completely transparent, I am not a proponent of using punishment. I rarely use it at school or at home. In my experience, it is not an effective form of behavior modification. Punishment typically informs the individuals what they shouldn't be doing but it fails to tell them what they should do. For example, assigning a student a detention for tardies does not teach them how to arrive to class on-time. Instead, it can encourage unethical behavior like lying. In the end, the students learn how to game the system, not how to learn.
Additionally, there is no evidence that supports the finding that failing grades (a punishment) motivate students (Feldman, 2019, p.75). In fact, the opposite is true. Low grades often cause students to give up and withdraw from learning. It can feel safer to not try than to risk failure. Therefore, we want to move away from practices that act as a deterrent and move towards practices that are rehabilitative.
This does not mean that the behavior is not addressed and it is a free-for-all. Instead, students are given the opportunity to correct the behavior. There can certainly be consequences for undesired behaviors, such as detention or a removal of privileges, but a student's grade is not the place to enact them.
Mastery Experiences as Motivation
If you follow my blog, you are probably aware that I tend to look at human behavior through the lens of self-determination. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) of motivation suggests that humans are naturally oriented towards growth but that social-contextual conditions can facilitate or thwart this process. By facilitating learning experiences that support autonomy, competence and connectedness we can increase autonomous or intrinsic motivation in others. According to SDT, people need to have the following needs met in order to achieve psychological growth: autonomy, competence, and connectedness.
- Autonomy: Students need to feel in control of their own learning.
- Competence: Students need to feel like they can accomplish what they are being asked to do.
- Relatedness: Students need to feel supported and connected to other people
This paradigm has radically changed the way that I cultivate motivation in my students. I want my students to become intrinsically motivated learners. I want them to experience success and be able to identify how their actions led to success. I want my students to know that what they do matters! I want learning to be a process that we engage in together.
One way in which we can support this is through mastery learning. Learning is a vulnerable process. It depends on a student taking risks, making mistakes, and failing. Traditional grading practices orient students to see academic success as a performance-avoidance goal. Ultimately, they are most concerned with losing points. They are focused on their performance, not their learning. This can lead to undesirable behaviors like cheating, cramming, or even withdrawal. It can become psychologically safer to not do something at all than to fail.
Late Work
Very fews things can rile up a crowd of teachers like a discussion on late work policy. Some accept it, some don't. Some accept it for reduced credit, some accept it for full credit. Quite honestly, this can lead to a great deal of tension between teachers. In an earlier post I prefaced my late work policy with the following disclaimer, "This might be the most controversial statement that I have ever made" because I accept late work for full credit.
I know that we want our students to become responsible adults. However, I think we need to keep in mind that students are at school to learn. Learning involves making mistakes. Who among us has never been late to work, asked for an extension on a project, or forgot a meeting? Imagine you are late because of a car accident and your boss yells at you and writes you up. How would this make you feel towards your boss? What did you really learn from this interaction? Is it building a relationship with the student or building a wall that interferes with the learning process? My class is not a free-for-all but I have found that blanket policies are not a panacea. I absolutely do address it on an individual-level.
A few notes: Your approach might differ based on the needs of your students. I teach upper-classmen in a Dual Credit course. If I were teaching younger students, I would scaffold my expectations and offer more concrete guidelines. For example, I might offer to accept late work but only until the summative assessment. Your policy could also depend on the subject matter you teach. This needs to be sustainable for you as a teacher. You cannot be expected to grade 100 papers turned in late the night before grades are due. Take it for what it's worth and make it work for you!
Retakes
There is a lot of debate in schools regarding retakes. This probably won't surprise you, but I allow retakes. Why? Because the ultimate goal is that my students learn the information; not that they learn it in a set period of time. However, my policy is not carte blanche. They have to complete their formative work, conference with me, and develop a study plan. This requires them to be resilient and persistent. THESE are the skills they need to be successful in life.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. I recognize that this is a particularly difficult topic. I appreciate your willingness to explore and consider other ideas about grading and assessment. I honor and respect your feedback on this topic. Please leave your thoughts, comments, and questions below. I do read them and I grow from our discussions.
Be Well,
Cori
I am trying to reach more educators and build my readership! Please consider subscribing to my blog. I post two posts per month. That's it! If you received this in your inbox, I have a new website! Check out https://ablendedlearningjourney.com/ for additional resources. I am excited to now be able to offer "A Blended Learning Journey" merch! Over 50% of all proceeds will go to local charities in the Chicagoland area.
Other Posts in this Series:
#80: Equity in Grading: The Purpose of Grades
#81: Equity in Grading: Moving Forward
#82: Equity in Grading: We Don't Talk About Zeros
Resources:
Adams, K. (2022, April 22). To close the educational equity gap, teachers have to understand their position of power - Edsurge News. EdSurge. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-03-21-to-close-the-educational-equity-gap-teachers-have-to-understand-their-position-of-power
Alex, P. (2022, June 27). Time to pull the plug on traditional grading? Education Next. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.educationnext.org/time-to-pull-plug-on-traditional-grading-supporters-say-mastery-based-grading-could-promote-equity/
Anderson, J. (2019, December 11). Harvard Edcast: Grading for equity. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/12/harvard-edcast-grading-equity
Donald, B. (2012, May 10). Stanford Psychologist: Achievement goals can be shaped by environment. Stanford University. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/may/shape-achievement-goals-051012.html
Faraj, K. (2021, April 23). How to set up mastery-based grading in your classroom. Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/mastery-based-grading/
Feldman, J. (2019). Grading for equity: What it is, why it matters, and how it can transform schools and classrooms. Corwin, a SAGE Company.
Gonzalez, J. (2020, October 5). How accurate are your grades? Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/accurate-grades/
Hough, L. (2019). Grade expectations. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/19/05/grade-expectations
Professional Resources: Grading and Equity Resources. LibGuides. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://libguides.centralcatholichigh.org/professional/grading
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