Grading Creates Behavior Disorders

Grading is not necessary for learning

Although grades almost define schooling over the last 75 years or so, grades do not enhance learning. Grading does not produce more educated students. In fact, the reverse is true. This is not new knowledge! Alfie Kohn’s book, Punished by Rewards, laid out the research showing that grades degrade learning over 25 years ago. The latest edition, in 2018, adds even more evidence. It’s a hard read because it’s research, but worth it. Since grading actually decreases learning, schools evidently employ it for other reasons.

Grading is about control

Grading dominates school culture in order to control large groups of students. This has nothing at all to do with learning. Grading teaches either compliance or rebellion. For some students, compliance is not possible. I’m thinking of students with dyslexia, who cannot comply with reading/writing assignments on the expected timetable determined by testing. Students with autism, no matter how intelligent, find the unspoken rules of social compliance beyond them. Students with ADHD, forced to sit still for long periods of time, simply cannot comply with classroom expectations. Regardless of accommodations, neurodiversity affects grades. Bad grades, or padded grades for disability, affect self-concept. Negative self-concepts produce disruptive behavior. Thus, grading creates a clear path from neurodiversity to behavior disorder.

Environment affects behavior

In my practice as an educational consultant and tutor, I often hear from parents that their student helps at home, encourages teammates on the soccer field, and enthusiastically participates on vacations. Nevertheless, the student earns a behavior disorder diagnosis in the classroom. Medications may be employed. Rewards and punishments, including bad grades, are levied. How often have I seen these methods produce an engaged and motivated student? Never. And yet, the same methodology continues. When it doesn’t work, blame lands on the student.

Alternatives to grading

In spite of the evidence, most schools consider grading necessary. However, there are alternatives. Thankfully, mastery learning rather than grades is making a comeback. Sir Ken Robinson’s book, Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education, elegantly lays out a pathway to excellence based on teaching to the gifts of the students rather than to a test. Push-back comes from both school administrators worried about test results, and parents who believe grades are a necessary part of school. Thankfully, increasing numbers of educators find alternatives.

Consider Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School (Hack Learning Series) (Volume 3), by Starr Sackstein. Since grading is a tool for control, isn’t that necessary in order to provide an orderly environment? Absolutely not. Humans love to learn, and when free to work toward mastery of new skills without grade pressure, most students become highly engaged and successful. Examples abound, from unschooling to Sudbury School. It’s time to open our minds to better education. Schools should not feel like prisons for our neurodiverse students.

by Yvonna Graham, M.Ed.

www.dyslexiakit.net

@GrahamYvonna