At the elementary level in our school district we have done away with letter grades in favor of proficiency based report cards. In doing so I believe we have been able to avoid much of the negative consequences associated with unfair assessment in the letter grade system. On the other hand, I wonder if we have at the same time made it less rewarding and less challenging.
Grades of "Advanced" and "Excellent" are far less given than grades of "A" and "B" were under the letter grade system. With most of our students receiving the equivalent of a "C" and not having much hope of receiving an "Excellent" or "Advanced" what do they have to work for? In my eyes a grade of "Proficient" should be equivalent to a "C" in a our essential learnings (minimum proficiency) based checklists and report card. "Excellent" though sounds like it should only be awarded to "A" students and "Advanced" should only be awarded to students that are working at such a high level that they are working on stuff that is at least a full year ahead of what is minimally expected of them now ("A+" stuff). What about our "B" students? How do we recognize their effort in being more than minimally proficient? We have PP1 (just beginning), PP2 (working on it), & PP3 (almost there) to recognize the small differences of our "D" and "F" students. Maybe we ought to recognize the differences in "B" and "C" work. Maybe a Pro1, Pro2 and Pro3 - think that might confuse parents?
I really liked one of the alternative assessment systems that Reeves proposed. It linked the letter grade system to a proficiency based rubric where students were given say 6 assessments during the trimester. Each assessment is grade on a proficiency based rubric like the following:
4 = Exemplary
3 = Proficient
2 = Progressing
1 = Not Meeting Standards
The trimester letter grades would be given based on the following:
A = Four assessments scored "exemplary" and two scored at least "proficient"
B = Four assessments scored "proficient" and two score at least "progressing"
C = Three assessments scored at least "proficient"
* Any performance lower than a C is scored as "IP" or "In Progress" a grade that becomes an F within two weeks after each grading period unless the student submitted work that was sufficient for a C grade.
Can we go back to a letter based grading system at the elementary level that links to our proficiency based assessment system in this manner? Is there state or federal legislation that would prevent this (that made us move to a proficiency based reporting system in the first place)? Would our teachers fall back into bad letter grade assessment habits (using zeros and averages and mixing behavior and academics)? I think parents and students would find our assessment system less of a mystery and students would have more than just "Proficient" to work for if this were our approach. Just a thought.
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