Alfie Kohn is doing back flips

Thanks to the great blog at the RRVWP (see the link to it on the right), I came across this interesting approach to grading: turn it over to the students (don't worry. It's not as bad as it sounds).

Duke professor Cathy Davidson (check out her blog on the topic) returned to teaching after several years in administration. She learned she hated grading because it became students trying to do the least work possible for the best grade possible.

Sound familiar?

Is this the intended purpose of grades?

Here's her plan --

"So, this year, when I teach 'This Is Your Brain on the Internet,' I'm trying out a new point system. Do all the work, you get an A. Don't need an A? Don't have time to do all the work? No problem. You can aim for and earn a B. There will be a chart. You do the assignment satisfactorily, you get the points. Add up the points, there's your grade. Clearcut. No guesswork. No second-guessing 'what the prof wants.' No gaming the system. Clearcut. Student is responsible."

I love this.

And it's quite doable. It's not like you've gotten rid of grades completely (so maybe Kohn isn't doing as many back flips as I thought). But the onus for the grade is on the student. As it should be.

And - really - how different is this from what we do now? My grade system is designed to put the onus on the students. They do great work; they get a great grade.

But we all know the other factors that determine a grade: attendance, daily work, hovering parents, sob stories from students, make up work, cheating, 'gaming' the system, and extra credit . . . I think Davidson's formula would eliminate that.

But here is where it would get difficult at the high school level -

If a student is dissatisfied with their grade on an assignment, "any student who wishes can revise. If you revise, you get the credit. End of story. Or, if you are too busy and want to skip it, no problem. It just means you'll have fewer ticks on the chart and will probably get the lower grade. No whining. It's clearcut and everyone knows the system from day one."

If I allowed my Comp students to revise every theme, I'd go insane trying to keep up with the reading and grading. Still, I knew several college professors who allowed this to happen. And truth be told, in my early Comp II classes (before there was College Comp), I allowed this to happen. The problem became students sought to correct the one missing comma or period instead of striving for meaningful revision.

So I'm not sure that would work for me. But I certainly like the idea of clearly putting it out there for students to see that this is precisely what you need to do to earn an A. This is what you need to earn a B and so on.

There's always next year . . .