Guilt-free Grading

And now the math!

Grading differently obviously produces different results. Let's look at some students' performance and see what difference guilt-free grading makes.

Typically, many teachers (including me until last year) base their grades on the total number of points earned divided by the total number of points possible from all activities. By weighting each activity according to the three equal categories, scores come out a little different. It is interesting to see what happens exactly. Let's look at these four students' grades. Keep in mind that they have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, Beulah loves grammar but hates to dance.

 

Basics

 

 

 

 

pts earned

pts possible

%

 

Rufus

110

200

55.0%

 

Clyde

180

200

90.0%

 

Thelma

180

200

90.0%

 

Beulah

200

200

100.0%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Culture

 

 

 

 

pts earned

pts possible

%

 

Rufus

59

80

73.8%

 

Clyde

50

80

62.5%

 

Thelma

80

80

100.0%

 

Beulah

10

80

12.5%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication

 

 

 

pts earned

pts possible

%

 

Rufus

100

120

83.3%

 

Clyde

100

120

83.3%

 

Thelma

100

120

83.3%

 

Beulah

120

120

100.0%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calculated Grades

 

 

 

Traditional

Guilt-free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rufus

67.3%

70.8%

 

 

Clyde

82.5%

78.7%

 

 

Thelma

90.0%

91.0%

 

 

Beulah

82.5%

71.1%

 

 

 

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