(Forbes) by Willard Dix.
Conscientious teachers at any grade level know how difficult it is to grade students fairly and honestly. Although it may be easier in math and the sciences to put a number on students’ achievements, the questions of effort, ability and overall attitude can color one’s decisions at grading time. Should a student with an 88 get a few extra points because she really tried hard? Should a student whose work has been all over the map be marked down even though recent work has been good? What about students who are clearly bright and involved but can’t seem to catch on to basic principles? These questions torment every teacher at one point or another.
When considering individual students, it’s frustrating to have to assign a number or a letter that supposedly encapsulates their achievement at any given moment. It’s even more frustrating that pressure from administrators, parents, colleges and other outside forces can unduly influence grading decisions: “If you give me a B I won’t get into Stanford!” “I can’t get a C, I worked so hard, and my parents will kill me!” “If you give him Cs, he won’t get into college and he’ll be a BUM!” (That last one spoken by the parent of one of my English students.)
To address these complexities, a group of about 100 private schools, including Andover, Blake, Punahou, Spence, Masters, Chapin, Thacher and Lovett have created the Mastery Transcript Consortium, a major effort to change the way high schools evaluate students . Instead of boiling everything down to a single number or letter each term, the MTC proposes that students “demonstrate a mastery of skills, knowledge and habits of mind by presenting evidence that is then assessed against an institutionally specific standard of mastery.”
The group calls for a portfolio-style evaluation “organized around performance areas (rather than academic departments), mastery standards and micro-credits (rather than grades). Each micro-credit applied to a transcript signifies complete mastery of a specific skill, knowledge block or habit of mind as defined by the crediting high school.” Ultimately, Consortium members hope to change the way students are assessed, take the pain out of classes (“School Shouldn’t Hurt”), “transform high school” and, perhaps most important, “change the relationship between preparation for college and college admissions for the betterment of students.”
It’s far too early to know whether this format will achieve any of the goals the Consortium has set for it. But it does suggest a very real desire to provide a fuller picture of each student, one that a simple number or letter can’t. It would also in theory enable college admission officers to see each applicant more clearly, enabling better decision making. The Consortium would also like to see this method adopted by public schools.
