Why Are Grades Important? Some Teachers Say They Do More Harm Than Good
Schooled is a series by Zach Schermele, a freshman at Columbia University, that explores the nuances of the American education system.
English teacher Gina Benz began to worry when several Advanced Placement (AP) students she knew were hospitalized for behavioral health problems in 2010. The need to “keep a high GPA, get that high ACT score, and get into that certain college” was taking a toll, she said. And she felt it, too. Benz used to spend hours grading papers at home — time that she said could have been better spent with family and friends and caring for herself instead of “drowning in the waters of competitive academic culture.” Something needed to change.
“Initially, I waded into the gradeless classroom waters for my own wellbeing,” she told Teen Vogue. “I wanted to reduce the hours of schoolwork I was doing at home each night. After only a few weeks, I realized that I wasn't getting the benefits I'd hoped for, but my students were experiencing benefits I never anticipated.”
Benz decided to make her classroom “gradeless” two years ago. Instead of “slapping a letter or number at the top of an assessment,” she now focuses on providing her students with high-quality feedback instead. Her students test ideas, make discoveries and embrace failure in an environment where learning is “transformational, not transactional.” Although she is technically required to give a final grade at the end of the semester, that number is based on cumulative evidence of her students’ progress, not a grade average. Benz says her students’ AP test scores haven’t dropped because of the change, and that parents have embraced it. Students tell her they have more “joy for learning” and better emotional health.
“Every week, I hear students talk about being awake until 1, 2, or even 3 in the morning doing homework,” she said. “The gradeless classroom releases students of the pressure CONTINUE READING: Why Are Grades Important? Some Teachers Say They Do More Harm Than Good | Teen Vogue
