Show l tI mi H i N BYr By r Dr Wagne hyne Held Iteld i Superintendent i. i I Is there too much grade grod inflation nfl tion Wherever grades are given in any school or any school district throughout the United States Stales the question of grades always surfaces Advocates point to the competitiveness of oC the world and other ideas to support their viewpoint Protagonists claim that children should work against their own skills and make improvements along this line Regardless what ones one's opinions are one thing is certain lain tain ie i.e. grades do not necessarily mean what they used to mean Research points to the fact that teachers teachers' grades when equated equaled with A B C etc are arc weighted heavily in favor of the higher marks An analysis of oC grades given at 23 of the nations nation's schools shows that between 1963 and 1974 the number of As A's awarded at those institutions went up from 16 percent to 34 percent At the old reliable reliable- same time that and at al one time even table grade of C declined from 37 percent to 21 percent In academic circles this situation is known as grade inflation Students' Students grades like their parents' parents salaries have gone up while their value has gone down Some schools across the land are now tossing around an idea designed to combat grade in in- Schools that adopt the proposal would issue a relative transcript along with the regular transcript of a students student's grades The relative transcript would indicate the average grade given students in ina ina ina a course and in some cases would even list the number of students in the course Therefore an A in a class where 8 out of 12 students made As A's obviously means something different from an A in a course where only 2 of 30 students earned that mark i rau This situation may work however it would undoubtedly become time consuming and costly It would be easier if teachers simply took look it upon themselves to buck the trend toward higher grades for Cor all It has become easier to cope with student and parent complaints complaints complaints com com- plaints that little Johnny or Susie must have better grades by doling them out to a child than to resist the confrontations when giving the child what he deserves in school This procedure has hampered many school districts in their attempt to bring relevance back to the basics in any school setting It warps the real worth of oC a achild's achild's achild's childs child's accomplishments in that school It literally lies about the truth of the work done in any class Add to this dilemma the fact that many non academic classroom grades are arc relatively higher than those in mathematics English etc and it is easy to see students shying away from classes which may maydo maydo maydo do them good in the future but tear away from their at the present and which in turn hurt the childs child's chances of oC obtaining a scholarship upon graduation Somehow all teachers must be able to return to the idea of making an A worth what it once was Returning to required concepts within the structure of oC each classrooms classroom's activities In the Uintah School District we want to emphasize the basics and want our children to compete favorably on national testing Better Beller grading practices can help achieve this goal In addition goal cards are arenow arenow arenow now adopted and will be sent home f for Cor or each academic area in inthe inthe inthe the childs child's curriculum by grade level Presently these have been completed for Cor grades K through 6 The secondary minimal competencies are being compiled and will be similarly available These are in turn coordinated with standardized testing and skills needed for total citizenship in inthis inthis inthis this or any other community Now parents can actually see in writing what each child must do doin doin doin in the classroom to get a grade or to pass on to the next grade level In addition parents now become partners in the total educational effort and can ably help direct areas where the child is weaker The Uintah School District does truly care about the academic achievement of each child We plan on continuing to demonstrate this precept upon precept and item upon item |