Recently, Georgia has adopted a new grading system based on individual proficiencies and moving away from the traditional A,B,C,D,F and 0-100 system. I was at a dinner with a group of parents and universally, they all hated the system. In fact, they said many teachers of their children hated the system. Personally, I completely support the new system. I've seen its use in helping us identify strengths and weaknesses in our own children. The system is quite simple. A list of proficiencies are listed in various topics. Students are rated on a 4 point scale in each topic.
1 - Emerging
2 - Progressing
3 - Meets Requirements
4 - Exceeds Requirements
Topics are broken down into finite, measurable categories, such as "Identifies Shapes." A rubric is provided which defines the criteria for receiving a 1, 2, 3, or 4. In the end, students receive a report card with a matrix containing topics and scores. There's no overall score... you can't simply average the scores to get a overall "how well is my child doing?" And therein, I believe lies the issue. Our generation is so used to being defined by a grade rather than proficiency in a topic. To better focus learning, we need to properly identify areas for improvement. If we take grading as an indicator of proficiency and an identifier for areas of improvement, the new Georgia Standard is an ideal system. If we continue to think of grades as a way to rate one child in relative comparison to another, then we will forever be stuck thinking in terms of a numeric score that we can derive a GPA from. I'm a supporter of the new Georgia Standard. We should move in the competitive aspect of education into standardized tests and use grading as a tool for both teachers and parents.
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