Shift in grading philosophy to impact approach in match classes this fall

In an ever-changing world, students can depend on at least one thing, tests. In every class, students bear the stress of exams and how it will affect their grades. Math, in particular, harbors an even more anxiety-inducing environment with two types of tests: individual and team tests. Students will be surprised (and maybe even excited) to learn that team tests will be removed from their grades beginning next year. To fill its void, an extra review day will take place on those days. With this change, 90% of students’ grades will be individual assessments and 10% will be other coursework.

Sixteen years ago, the math departments of West and North decided that team tests should be included in the overall student’s grade. Travis Miller, head of the math department, says that the CPM curriculum does not recommend the use of team tests as part of an individual student's grade.

“Student grades are meant to be indicators of their individual understanding and growth and including scores from team tests muddles that measure of the student’s conceptual understanding,” he said.

Currently, the school district is implementing a new type of grading system that focuses more on student learning. 

“The district is moving toward a grading system called CALM grading: consistent, accurate, learning, and meaningful,” Miller said. “The ‘accurate’ portion of the grading system discusses not giving a team score, but rather having student grades based on what they can do individually.”

Principal Erin Kohl thinks that this will be a beneficial change to some, as teams don’t always show the strengths and weaknesses of individual students. 

“As a school, our teachers have been exploring and discussing different grading practices,” she said. “One of the practices we have discussed is group grades and the challenge of knowing if those grades truly represent what each person in the group knows or is able to do.” 

To be clear, team tests will still be a part of the CPM curriculum, according to Miller, but they will not be graded.

“We are not removing team tests next year, nor have ever had any thoughts to remove them,” he said. “Team activities and daily teamwork will still be the foundation of the curriculum.”

As a part of this new system, Miller thinks that team tests can now challenge students in a more productive way, without them having to worry about their grade plummeting.

“We are no longer having the team tests as part of a student’s grade,” he said. “The team tests will still be given, possibly with even more difficult, thought-provoking questions.”

Math teacher Doris Bailey hopes that without the grade of team tests, students can be relieved of some of their anxieties.

“Challenging math problems can now be incorporated into the day that was reserved for team tests,” she said. “Problems that students can tackle without fear that their grade will be detrimentally affected by the results of the task.”

On the other hand, Bailey also acknowledges that it will be quite the adjustment for some students and validates the stress that they could possibly get.

“Other students’ grades will reflect only their own understanding and not that of their teammates,” she said. “This could create some stress as they currently rely on the team test grade to boost their individual grade.”

Sophomore Jacob Oberkrieser doesn’t welcome the change as he feels that team tests help your grade and are otherwise useless.

“Team tests are a great grade booster and also the chance to help people that are having a difficult time with a concept to get better,” he said. “But if you're not going to grade them, then there’s no point because that's what homework is for.”

While students may or may not feel the change, Miller feels that it is more of a change for staff.

“Students will still have their chapter closure day and team test day, but teachers will now be able to sit with teams and help them understand the problems,” he said. “The goal for the teacher is that every student in the class understands how to do the problems on the team test by the time the class is over.”

Bailey also thinks that this will help educators better teach their students since they won’t have the restraints of being unable to help their students during a test.

“Teachers can now assist teams during those challenging problems unlike during a team test where teachers feel they shouldn’t help teams if they get stuck,” she said. “In some cases, team tests have become more of a review for the individual test rather than allowing students to try to work on those more difficult, more realistic math problems.”

Math teacher Kenneth Levine sees these changes as extremely beneficial to students,  making it more favorable to study and a more accurate description of a student’s skill level.

“A student’s own effort and attitude toward their learning and preparation will determine their grade,” he said. “If a student puts in the time and effort to earn a good grade, they will obviously benefit from it. If students don’t put the time and effort into their learning, it will become detrimental to their grade.”

Sophomore Quenten Prickett generally likes team tests as he believes they allow class bonding and allow for a better understanding of the unit because of forced conversation. Nevertheless, he welcomes the changes.

“I usually do better on individual tests thanks to the practice from team tests,” he said. “They’re a preface to the actual test, so having them ungraded will definitely help.”

Bailey also feels that it will be extremely beneficial to students and hopes this change will make more students take math seriously like a sport or language and do their homework on time.

“We hope that it will also reinforce the importance of completing homework thoroughly and on-time because learning does take time and effort,” she said. “Practicing math is similar to practicing for a sport or learning another language, one cannot just watch others and expect to get better, one has to practice and practice a variety of problems to become fluent in mathematical content.”

With the new changes, teachers will have to slightly modify their classes as well, and Bailey thinks that the necessary changes will be made.

“Each course will review and modify their team test activities so that they are more meaningful and perhaps more challenging,” she said. “We will try to stretch students beyond their current knowledge levels and apply the math that they already know to new and interesting problems.”

Prickett hasn’t had the best experiences with team tests and still hopes for more changes to be made to the system.

“I feel that sometimes I'm single handedly carrying my team, so that is unfair,” he said. “If there was a system to gauge the level that people are at, we could formulate a way of pairing the same-level kids together.”

Freshmen Anderson Ruth also feels that team tests can be unfair

“Team tests are a nice way to boost your grade if everyone wants to work, but if only one person does the work it's annoying,” he said. “When only one person is leading the team, it defeats the point of having a team test. It’s less a team test and more of a ‘I’m gonna write everything down’ test.”

Despite his disdain for the current system, Ruth doesn’t think that these changes will move students in a positive direction.

“I think it's better not to have team tests than to have them be ungraded because we're going to try even less on them than we already do, so it's going to make everything worse for the team,” he said. “If they reduce the points more than they already did, it would be better; otherwise I think this change is kind of dumb.”

Although some may feel the change will slow the gains made in student collaboration, Miller assures that that is not the case.

“I have talked to other districts that do not give a grade for team tests, and they have not seen a drop in group performance,” he said. “It is all about effort and attitude, the things that individual students can control.”

Bailey is hopeful that next year will go just as well if not better due to these changes.

“Time will tell what the effect of this change will be; however, we have the flexibility to monitor student success and make additional changes if needed in the future,” she said. “If this change doesn’t have a positive impact, then it will be revisited. Our goal is to have students engaging in math and growing to their full potential, and this is just one way we are hoping to facilitate that growth.”

by Fahad Mian

Published April 24, 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue VII