Cathy Davidson's blog |  |
| My Response to the NY Times' "Quest to Explain Grading" Posted: 29 Dec 2010 04:24 AM PST In "A Quest To Explain What A Grade Really Means," New York Times writer Tamar Lewin discusses an attempt at the University of North Carolina to really nail down "what a grade really means." We're talking about telling students and the world what the median grade in each class is, crunching the overall grades given by a certain prof in a certain field, and in other ways measuring the measurements and the measurers. The punchline is that if everyone gets an A, the grade means nothing. Really? What if a certain professor (in this case, yours truly), has reconceptualized education for the twenty-first century as a group project in learning not as an individual process of measurable achievement? What if the goal of a class is to set the bar higher than it's been set before--and to do what is necessary to ensure that everyone helps everyone get over that bar? What if the goal of assessment isn't to win the race a footfall ahead of one's peers but to work together to erect a sound, innovative, creative edifice? |
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