First of all, Evan, thanks for sharing my thoughts. It encorages me a lot.

On the topic about what 72 means… I think it’s a no solution problem. A number is just that a number. So we just could summarize the state of the learning of one particular problem. But the learning is a process: so we need the start (what a student knew), the end (what a student knows right now) and the road (how much and how the student have learned in all the time).

How do you solve that? With a sequence of numbers? With a sequence of grading meaning the skills she knew in every time?

If you have an answer, say to us.

With all of my admiration,
Xavier

I completely agree that deciding what to grade, and how to grade it to indicate learning, is the defining question here. Your idea of abandoning the mean is interesting, as that calculation certainly obfuscates learning in some cases, or at least blurs the details enough to reduce the grade as an indication of what has been learned.

In your post, you suggest adding points as a way to get away from the average. I agree that this might be a better measure than the average, but I think there still needs to be an indication of what that number means. Is a 72 an indication of making good progress, or does it show that a student is behind the mark? Some process of normalization is required. This is what I’m thinking can be solved using some creative use of technology.

The struggle is widespread, for sure. Part of what I’m exploring in this series is a way to make things better, given that schools likely aren’t changing their reporting away from a 100 point scale any time soon. Some simple guidelines behind assessment design, scaling, and conversations about what grades should mean at any particular school are required for moving forward.

The grading function is an oversimplification. And with that we lost the meaning of grading: knowing what our students know. The secondary school should not be divided by courses. They should be divided be skills. And in the report card should appear only the skills. Nothing more. But the systems does not match the “it-should-be-this-way”.

I hope you publish your next post soon