No Thanks

The email I wrote to one of the deputy heads this evening…

Well, she did ask for feedback :)

Hi XXXX – I have a very many concerns about the proposed changes to the reporting/grading structure; I’ll be brief here, but if you’d like any further information on anything I touch upon please follow up with me.

Before any changes are made I think it is important to assess the current position (what works, what doesn’t) and to think very carefully what benefit these proposed changes would have on all members of the school, for example pupils, parents, staff. I would ask that the following points are considered with great care before any changes are made:

Pupils

• Will increasing the frequency of assigning grades affect pupils performance in formal assessment?
• Will it have any impact on pupils’ motivation to learn?
• Will the removal of written reports and the increase of other praise effect achievement?
• Will increased formal assessment help pupils across the ability spectrum achieve?
• How will these proposals impact pupils well-being?
• Will teacher-pupil relationships be affected?

Parents

• Will parents understand the data given?
• Will easier access to increased data mean that parents support their daughters more thoroughly and are more engaged with their schooling?
• Will parents feel more engaged with the school when written reports are removed?
• How will parents evenings be affected by the proposals?
• Will school-home links be affected?

Staff

• Will the removal of written reports affect the workload on staff?
• Will the increased data available mean that staff are able to estimate more accurately what their charges will achieve in formal assessment?
• Will the ending of teacher-led target setting have any impact on achievement?
• Will teacher-pupil relationships be affected?
• How will parents evenings be affected by the proposals?
• What impact will the proposals have on directed time?

I have been reading some work by the American educational researcher Alfie Kohn which looks into many of the areas covered in the proposals. He is particularly interested in the effect grading has on performance, and his (well-referenced) work finds the following:

1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
2. Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.
3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.

1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
“One of the most well-researched findings in the field of motivational psychology is that the more people are rewarded for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. Multiple studies have shown that pupils demonstrate less interest in learning as a result of being graded.”

2. Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.
“Students of all ages whose main focus is on getting a good grade are likely to pick the easiest possible assignment if given a choice. The more pressure to get an A, the less inclination to take on a challenge. Pupils who cut corners may not actually be lazy but are adapting to an environment where good grades, not intellectual exploration, are what is emphasised.”

3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
“Given that pupils may lose interest in what they’re learning as a result of grades, it makes sense that they’re also apt to think less deeply. One series of studies, for example, found that students given numerical grades were significantly less creative than those who received qualitative feedback but no grades. The more the task required creative thinking, in fact, the worse the performance of students who knew they were going to be graded. Providing students with comments in addition to a grade didn’t help: the highest achievement occurred only when comments were given instead of numerical scores.”

“In another experiment, students told they would be graded on how well they learned a social studies lesson had more trouble understanding the main point of the text than did students who were told that no grades would be involved. Even on a measure of rote recall, the graded group remembered fewer facts a week later. A brand-new study discovered that students who tended to think about current events in terms of what they’d need to know for a grade were less knowledgeable than their peers, even after taking other variables into account.”

In Summary
So many of these points are framed around “increased achievement”, but as we are all very aware there is much more to education than what can be measured through grades or a tick-box approach.

The proposals seem to fly in the face of Assessment for Learning, which we are (rightly) encouraged to use.
As Peter Wilby writes:
“Dylan Williams, co-author of Inside The Black Box (1998) is quoted as saying: ‘Above all, teachers should stop awarding grades each time children hand in work. Instead, they should make constructive comments and ensure children read and act on them. ‘We’re addicted to grades’” Wiliam says. ‘I’ve nothing against grades at the end of the school year. But telling students, after every piece of work, that they’re at levels 5, 6 or whatever is bizarre, perverse. The national curriculum levels were meant to be descriptions of the totality of achievement over an entire key stage, not judgments on individual pieces of work.’ Assessment, he explains, should be part of a conversation with pupils that helps teachers to decide where lessons should go next. It should be ‘assessment for learning’ (AFL), not ‘assessment of learning’.”

For many of reasons included above (and others) I am very concerned as to the direction being suggested in these proposals. I feel that there is a lack of clarity as to whom the proposed changes are hoping to benefit, and that there is not enough certainty as to what the changes are setting out to achieve. The proposals as they stand are flawed and will almost certainly lead to increased workload for staff, continued reduction of pupil independence and observably increased stress levels in pupils and staff.

I care deeply for the children in my care, their current happiness and future progress. I do not think the removal of written reports, nor increased assessment, nor the ending of pupil planners will be of benefit to the pupils, parents or staff of the XXXXXX School.

References
Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn.org)
PUNISHED BY REWARDS: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes (Houghton Mifflin, 1993/1999)
From Degrading to De-Grading (High School Magazine, 1999)
The Case Against Grades (Educational Leadership, 2011)

Teaching guru is optimistic about education: Dylan Wiliam is known as a teaching guru with some ‘gimmicky’ methods. So how does he rate this government’s chances of improving educational standards, asks Peter Wilby (The Guardian, 2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jan/18/teaching-methods-government-reforms