Grading students is more difficult than a simple equation

I became wildly impressed with myself this week when I calculated that since the beginning of the school year, I have processed in excess of 2,700 assignments from students.

Broken down over my five classes, that comes to 540 for each class, and since each class has met 42 times, I am averaging nearly 13 assignments each class period, every day. Assignments range from fairly simple things, like chapter study guides or short quizzes, to more complex tasks like essays and poems that go through several drafts and require concentrated feedback.

I’m not normally an obsessed-with-numbers gal, but I started on the calculation jag because of an article I read recently — two articles, actually — that say giving students zeros for work they had not submitted is not equitable, unjust and, in fact, unethical.

Each author operated from the premise that a zero is an inequitable grade because, on a normal grading scale, each grade is determined in increments of 10 percent. In other words, on a 100-point assignment, the cutoff for an A is 90 percent, for a B it’s 80 percent, for a C, 70 percent and a D is 60 percent.

Both authors argue that by dropping a student 10 percent per grade, a student who gets a zero has suffered an unfair burden of having lost at least 60 points while those earning other grades have lost only 10 points per grade. One author says students who do not submit an assignment should receive 50 points, which represents the lowest passing grade (60) minus an additional 10 percent. The author believes that to give the student who does not submit the assignment is not in fact giving the student 50 “free” points; rather, it is assigning a failing grade.

Not being smart enough to work out that kind of mathematical prestidigitation on my own, I asked my students what they thought. A couple thought it sounded good to them, but several raised some good questions. One girl wanted to know what would happen under that system if a student turned in an assignment, but failed it so miserably she earned less than the 50 points awarded to the student who hadn’t done it at all. Another suggested that with the number of points available in a given semester, it would be possible to ignore several assignments completely and still earn a passing grade in the class. A third student raised the issue that not doing something at all was different from doing it and failing, so that what appears mathematically to be inequitable may actually be appropriate.

It’s that third point where the crux of my argument lies — a grading system, while based on numbers, is not a mathematical equation. Grades are awarded on a points earned out of points possible scale, but the numbers, no matter how hard we try, don’t always come out even. For example, some assignments require a combination of academic and behavioral achievements to be completed and graded. A student has to do more than demonstrate an understanding of the plot of “Frankenstein” to write an essay about it. The student must also be able to follow a specified format for the essay and it must be completed on time to get feedback on it either from peers or teacher. The student them must demonstrate an ability to process that feedback and rewrite the essay.

If a student doesn’t bring a draft of the essay to class the day it’s due, there are academic and behavioral issues that need to be addressed. The article that protests so vehemently against giving students zeros says academic issues need to be addressed academically, behavioral issues behaviorally. To punish students academically for behavioral transgressions is inappropriate. But timely submission of assignments falls into both of those categories. So does following directions, both of which are school-wide, district-wide and even statewide academic outcomes for students.

The other red flag that went up for me when I read these articles has to do with the idea of equity. Teachers are enjoined almost every day to treat students as individuals and to respond to different needs present in different students. Sometimes the best way to treat students is in what appears to be an inequitable fashion. For example, if I tell a student whose mother is undergoing cancer treatment that I would not give her an extension on an assignment, I would be accused — and rightly so — of being heartless and inappropriately rigid. However, it would be equitable to have the deadline remain the same for all students.

In the case of whether or not to assign a student a zero for work not submitted, that seems to me to be the only equitable thing to do for the rest of the students, the ones who spent time and effort doing the assignment. If a student can ignore an assignment altogether and get a 50 percent, what does it say to those students who did the assignment about the value of their efforts?

This past weekend, as I graded and recorded grades for assignments roughly 2,742-2,850, I included zeros for students who had not submitted them. And, as I do every time I record grades, I wonder about the circumstances that led some students to complete and submit their work on time and others not to do so. Fortunately, with well over 1,400 points available in each of my classes each semester, one missed assignment here or there will not carry sufficient weight to cause a student to fail a class, which is the most equitable system I have been able to create thus far.

Prudence Plunkett teaches English at Colony High School.