What’s In a Grade?

After almost a month away from the post, I’m back today. I spent the last three weeks in Turkey – specifically Izmir and Istanbul. If you are ever thinking about a place to visit that might not be tops on your list, think Turkey. The food is delicious (“lessetli” in Turkish), the people are wonderful, and the Turkish lifestyle is laid back and comfortable. It was a great visit!

While I was gone, I was still tracking stories from the American educational world. One that caught my attention appeared in EducationWeek in mid-April was titled “What Should Teachers Do When Students – or Parents – Ask for a Better Grade?”

The article begins,

“What’s in a grade?”

“On its surface, a letter or number grade would appear to be a fixed measure of a student’s performance on a given assessment: a test, essay, project, or other tangible piece of work.”

“Ideally, a grade should ‘accurately reflect a student’s current understanding of the course content, free from biases,’ according to Joe Feldman, an educational consultant, former teacher, principal, and author of the book Grading for Equity. But what about when students or parents ask, and are granted requests to change grades?”

“This practice, unflatteringly referred to as ‘grade grubbing,’ has become increasingly common, according to recent data on the topic and anecdotal evidence from educators like Frank Trunk, a former music teacher in the Greater Atlanta area who told Education Week: ‘In the schools I worked, the principals always took the parents’ and the kids’ side. Had to change out many a D and F to a C, which wasn’t fair to my students who always excelled.’”

“Here’s a look at how grades became increasingly open to debate, what happens when teachers feel pressured to change grades, and ways that some schools prevent demands by students or parents to change marks.”

“Just how common is it for students to request a grade change? The practice, as well as who’s making the request, appears to depend on the setting.”

“Results of a 2023 survey by Intelligent. Com of 288 high school teachers and college professors found the practice to be very common. Among respondents, 44 percent said students ‘often’ ask for a grade bump, and 82 percents reported they acquiesce. Perhaps it’s just easier to give in than argue over it: 38 percent of the educators surveyed reported facing harassment from students, and 33 percent from parents, over grades. Just 6 percent of respondents noted that students ‘never’ ask them to improve their grades.”

“Notably, the survey data included several responses from educators at the college level, where grade grubbing and grade inflation are not new phenomena, according to experts. In a 2003 op-ed in the Washington Post, for instance, then-Duke University professor Stuart Rojstaczer referred to a grade of C as an ‘endangered species’ and observed that A’s had replaced B’s as the most popular grade at universities and colleges.”

“Grade grubbing has not hit public K-12 schools as hard, at least according to evidence from a December 2024 nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of 990 K-12 educators, including 759 teachers. Among teachers surveyed, 44 percent said they never changed a grade after a student has seen it, and among those who have, 8 and 6 percent do so because a student or parent requested the grade change, respectively. High school teachers reported that students were more likely than parents to make requests to change grades, while parent requests or administrative pressure stemming from parent complaints drove grade change requests at the elementary level, the survey found.”

…

“While those who indulge in overparenting generally are well-meaning, it has been linked to an increase in anxiety and depression among children, according to a 2022 review of multiple studies on the practice.”

“The practice isn’t healthy for teachers, either. Educators who fall prey to grade grubbing and other behaviors associated with overparenting report feeling uncomfortable, undervalued, and unappreciated, according to results of a 2024 study that surveyed middle school and high school teachers in an independent school in the southeast United States.”

“Further, many teachers don’t feel like their administration supports them when a student or parent requests a grade change.”

“That’s according to an unscientific social media poll by Education Week this March that asked teachers how supported they feel by their principal when a student or parent disagrees with how they graded an assignment.”

“Among 574 respondents, 51 percent reported feeling ‘not at all’ supported or only ‘somewhat’ supported by their principals; 49 percent said they feel ‘very supported.’”

“As the results from the EdWeek survey suggest, there’s no single playbook when it comes to responding to grade-change requests.”

…

“Some schools curb requests to change grades by implementing formal policies that may make students or parents think twice before haphazardly asking for a redo or new grade.”

…

“In Vermont, recent legislation to adopt proficiency-based learning states that schools ‘must provide students with flexible and personalized pathways for progressing through grade levels, and to graduation.’ By design, proficiency-based learning dismantles the traditional grading system, subsequently reducing student or parent demand for grade changes.”

…

I’ve played three roles when it comes to “grade grubbing” – as a teacher, principal, and a parent.

As a teacher, I used a grading system that rewarded brains and sweat, meaning that if a student didn’t do well on their tests, essays, and projects, there was also extra work every kid could do to help improve their grade. Once parents understood that their kid could basically make any grade they wanted, complaints were few and far between.

As a principal, I had experience how the sausage (in this case the grade) is made. Honestly, and we’ve talked about this before in this column, how most teachers arrive at a final grade for a student is random and arbitrary. Few schools expect all teachers within a content area to use similar assessment practices when deciding grades for the school’s chemistry students, for example. So, because I knew our school didn’t really have a leg to stand on when it came to grading (and I worked in a pretty good school), negotiation between students, parents, and teachers was more of the norm than the exception. Also, the teacher’s assessment reputation, meaning how much faith students, parents, and school staff (including me as the principal) believed in their ability to arrive at fair and accurate grades, mattered a lot.

Finally, as a parent, I will close with a story. One of our kids came home from school one day and told me that he had received a “C” in his high school English course. After reviewing the grades they had received over the assessment period, a “C” seemed questionable to me. So, I promptly scheduled an appointment to discuss the grade with my kid’s teacher. I only asked the teacher one question, and this was it:

“Do you think my kid earned a “C” this reporting period?”

And do you know what that teacher said? She said “No, I don’t think your son is a “C” student.”

Well, if a teacher can’t even defend the grade they give a student, and a parent or someone else calls them on it, should that really be considered “grade grubbing”?

I think not.

It’s good to be back. Til tomorrow. SVB