The concern in education regarding the relationship between curriculum and low student achievement includes the use of grades to measure the success or failure. However, there is a problem with using grading systems as the method to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum. Allen (2005, p. 220) states “grading systems used by teachers vary widely and unpredictably and often have a low level of validity due to the inclusion of nonacademic criteria used in the calculation of grades.” Allen states there is a significant problem with grades accurately reflecting the performance of the students, and he is not alone in this belief. The Kansas State Board of Education (2006) agrees that low achieving students rarely benefit from the current grading processes as it fails to take into consideration the struggles they face including low income and minority students status. The assessments, standards, and accountability systems are not enough to address the problems (Kansas State Board of Education, 2006, p. 2). Changing the curriculum will not necessarily assist students with low achievement if the grading systems remain the same, ineffective in honestly assessing the students’ abilities.
Consider a student who appears to have read the material assigned and participates in informed dialogues and debates in the classroom. The student appears to know the material quite well. However, the student receives an assignment to write an essay and cannot adequately describe the material on paper receiving a low score for the task. The teacher tests the student with a written test on the material, the quality of the student’s answers is less than what the teacher expected, and he receives another low score. Because the student is articulate and can present a quality, verbal argument; the teacher may believe the student just does not choose to apply himself towards the other assignments. His grade reflects a high participation score but low homework and test scores. Overall, the student appears to be low achieving.
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However, the problem may be combining the verbal knowledge into written knowledge for any number of reasons. The grading reflects poorly for this student, and it does not accurately portraying the student’s grasp of the curriculum. The grades do show the inability for the student to articulate his knowledge in writing which is critical to understanding areas of deficit. However, many educators fail to see the difference between the understanding of the material and using the grades as identification of other issues such the inability to articulate in written form at the same level as their verbal abilities. This becomes more of an issue when the end of course (EOC) testing occurs. A student who understands the material verbally and has problems with the written portion of communicating may not reflect his abilities accurately on standardized testing (Ballard & Bates, 2008, p. 560). Again, the accuracy of the students’ abilities fails to receive representation by the current measurement tools. The teacher may receive credit so to speak on having a student passing with high marks on the EOC because it did not require writing but failing in other aspects of his education (Ballard & Bates, 2008, p. 560).
In a school where there is a large population of students coming from diverse cultures such as Hispanics and Native Americans, the probability of students falling into this situation is high. If the teachers are likely to have difficulty in understanding the best approach in fair and accurate grading, then the students have no hope in finding an honest representation of their knowledge of the curriculum. This action is likely to result in promoting students unprepared to move to the next level.
- Allen, J. D. (2005). Grades as valid measures of academic achievement of classroom learning. The Clearing House, 78 (5): 218-223.
- Ballard, K, & Bates, A. (2008). Making a connection between student achievement, teacher accountability, and quality classroom instruction. The Qualitative Report, 13 (4): 560-580.
- The Kansas State Board of Education. (2006). Possible causes of and solution for low achievement. Retrieved 25 May 2013 from: http://www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=sOUB2VgvZh8%3D&t.
