Thus, all we have to do is figure out how to grade “more effectively” and the harms will vanish. Kohn: This is a question I wish more people would ask! There’s a tendency to assume that any negative effects – of grades or other things – must be limited to the details of implementation. What makes the process of grading so problematic- is it that the concept of grading is intrinsically unreliable or that it is misused by teachers? The evidence on all of these effects is very clear, and it seems to apply to students of all ages.Īs far as I can tell, there are absolutely no benefits of giving grades to balance against these three powerful negative consequences – except that doing so is familiar to us and doesn’t take much effort. To put it positively, students who are lucky enough to be in schools (or classrooms) where they don’t get letter or number grades are more likely to want to continue exploring whatever they’re learning, more likely to want to challenge themselves, and more likely to think deeply. Third, students tend to think in a more superficial fashion – and to forget what they learned more quickly – when grades are involved. After all, if the point is to get an A, your odds are better if you avoid taking intellectual risks. Second, they come to prefer easier tasks – not because they’re lazy, but because they’re rational. First, their interest in the learning itself is diminished. Kohn: The research suggests three consistent effects of giving students grades – or leading them to focus on what grade they’ll get. What effect does handing out grades have upon the student when it comes to motivation and learning outcomes? We asked him to articulate how grades impact a student’s education, as well as what adults can do to minimize the negative effects. Certainly parents deserve to know how their children are doing in school, and students benefit from understanding how they are performing but how that progress is communicated can have a great impact on how a child learns.Īlfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” and Punished by Rewards, writes extensively about the influence of grades on learning. Many researchers, educators and parents are now questioning the purpose and effectiveness of grades. But what do those letters really mean? And do they really do any good?
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