Plus Minus Grading System Case Study

Michael Thomsen argues against the A-F grading system in his essay “The Case Against Grades.” Thomsen even goes as far to say that the A-F grading system is to blame for the difficulty in reforming American education (1). He supports his conclusion with a few thought-provoking studies and statistics, but overall there are holes in his argument and he does not offer a realistic alternative. Thus, I disagree with Thomsen’s conclusion as I think that the A-F grading system is currently the best method for the United States to use.

In the essay “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” the author Brent Staples states that for the past years many colleges have changed their grading policies in order to make them less strict and more permissive. The author explains that there are several reasons behind this change. According to Staples, this trend is happening due to the need to make less appealing classes more attractive to students. Also, he adds that the demand from parents and students have led to more lenient grading policies to avoid hassle. Lastly, the author expresses that when professors do not give students high grades, they possibly will be given negative comments and evaluations from students that could affect their salary and tenure. Grade inflation devalues college diplomas and put society at risk.

This type of grading system has been shown to have several advantages. Body I. The Pros of Pass Fail Grading System. A. Takes pressure off students at certain levels. B. Give students a clear cut idea of their weaknesses

Alfie Kohn discussed multiple fabulous points in his article, “Degrading to De-Grading”. The author suggests more effective ways to assess students’ progress other than numerical or letter grades. Kohn goes into detail about why our current grading system is flawed. Grades can cause students to lose interest in learning which causes them to stop taking challenges. If students are not engaged and interested than they are not retaining the information they are being taught. The grading system can also cause students to develop unhealthy competition with one another for instance, “I got a better grade than you!”. Indeed, grades are a wonderful concept, but they tend to be more hurtful than helpful. In some cases, grades can have positive effects on students. For example, setting goals for various assignments, or receiving help where they are struggling. Though, there are alternatives that could make positive changes in the system.

In the first section, Erickson considered the need for a more consistent and clear grading system. When Minnetonka High School decided a new and improved grading system was essential, Erickson pondered what factors should determine a student’s grade. For a considerable amount of time, grades could be affected by presence, manners, determination, extra credit, and contribution. These grades, however, were meant to represent and embody only what a student has learned and the knowledge he or she acquired.

This sort of situation can be defined as ‘Grade Deflation’ which means that higher grades are harder or more difficult to receive because a very small amount can be given out or to protect an institution. Grade deflation should be reduced or even eliminated because it can improve education and positively affect a student’s future. Elizabeth Wissner-Gross tells us about grade deflation and why and how it should be terminated in her article “Invitation to a Dialogue: Stop deflating Grades” published on the New York Times. The Author argues against high schools and colleges that are manipulating numbers in order to protect their institutions from being accused of grade inflation. Some administrators believe that too many A’s can, in some ways, affect their institution’s image negatively. The author, while

Pragmaticism, indeed, will dictate that schools, assessments, and organizations long-established will not be altered for light and short-lived causes. Hence, a gradual shift in culture and method must occur which reforms the quantitative nature of grading systems. However, let the negative effects of the current grading system be known in a direct way:

Many teens are facing challenges with being accepted into college because some high schools across the United States do not have weighted grade point averages. Nor do they have equal grading scales. Although some schools follow this code, some do not, and that is unfair to students who take more challenging classes. Along with that, there are many other pros to this situation. For example, according to high school Superintendent Jack Thompson, “The pro of a weighted grading system is an effort to kind of give value to what we would consider a more rigorous class” (qtd. in Bonchak).

If you got your classwork back, what would you rather hear, a C or a pass? I would rather hear a C because I know how well I am doing or know how much I need to improve. Many schools have switched from the traditional A-F grades to the new pass/fail grading system. Famous colleges have even adopted the pass or fail grading system, “Yale has adopted the pass or fail system, Harvard and Stanford followed suit” in the 21st century (Strittmatter). The reasons why we should keep the traditional letter grading system is students would get specific feedback from their grades, and letter grades promotes competitiveness.

Throughout my education I have experienced many different grading systems. The one that worked the best, in my opinion, was grade shading (pluses and minuses like B+, B, B- etc.). However many schools and colleges still use traditional grades (such as A, B, C and so on). Having been to five different schools and two different colleges I have seen both systems first hand. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, however I prefer grade shading because it is more fair and makes you a more competitive student.

Another less thought of version of grade inflation is called content deflation, where students receive the same grades as students in the past but with less work required and less learning (Schiming). Thirty years back, an A+ was a grade granted in grade schools. It normally was not a grade given at the secondary school level, and was definitely

This is bad as it teaches students the wrong idea because GPA should not be considered the most important component of them. For example in the real world, many job interviews do not ask for their GPA, and they are mostly interested in somebody’s internships, experience, and participation in extra circulars. This exhibits the point that GPA is not the most important thing about you. This is important because NHS should be promoting the idea that it is important to improve on other aspects instead of only improving on grades. In reality, NHS is discouraging the importance of extra circulars and encouraging the importance of GPA, which can spell trouble for them later in life. Therefore, it is important that NHS does not raise the GPA minimum in order to prevent sending the wrong message to

As you can see, the history of our grading system has proven that our grading systems work, so no major changes have been

Over the past few years, the traditional grading system of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s have slowly faded away only to be replaced by the insufficient “Standards-Based Grading”. While some schools are adopting this unorthodox grading system, several others still continue to follow the traditional “A-F” grading system. Many believe that the standards-based grading system does not work well with all students and doesn’t accurately grade them. Standards-based grading is a fairly new system of grading where the student is evaluated on his or her ability to complete an assignment and master the concept, not by what they get right or wrong on each individual assignment. This has been very confusing to those who are unfamiliar with standards-based

Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.