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to grade people in high school on improvement vs. right or wrong
Would it not be a better idea to recognize improvement vs. intelligence? I know that there would have to be careful attention paid to bias, but It would seem to me that being recognized for how much better I am doing today than yesterday would be much more inspirational and make me think about how to do better. We could change a "C" from meaning average to meaning "the same", a "B" would mean better than before, and an A would mean even more improvement, a "D" would raise eyebrows as to why they are not as good as before.
Is it a problem with the student or the environment? Did I not teach this subject as well as I could have? etc.
Improvement based grading would give us a great barometer for our schools and our teachers, those students who may be ahead of the curve would have reason to excel, those that were perhaps behind would still remain confident in their decisions and learn better by having a more accurate rating of their skills.
We could use technology to create running charts of improvement and see trends over longer periods of time. I'm sure there would be other ways and I'd like to here your thoughts on this idea.
What do you think?
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pat gilbert 50+
There is conduct that is appropriate with the trends E.G. if the graph skyrockets it is imperative to find out what you were doing that caused it to skyrocket and not take it for granted that you are just suddenly a genius the corollary of which is when it plummets don't take it for granted that you are a complete failure. Following the trends is an invaluable life skill that you would do well to teach to your students.
I hear what Erik is saying but there gradations of knowing the material.
Linda Taylor 50+
Would you really want go to the pharmacist that had the lower gradation of knowledge? How could you even tell? I don't know about you, but I would want the best.
The discipline is what establishes minimum standards and that is for our safety.
pat gilbert 50+
What counts is the trends even after you have met the minimum standard, not for the authorities but for yourself.
E.G. Your a salesman and yout average quota is 100 units a week, after a few weeks you start selling more. You analyze your schedule and your attitude and your policy and discover that the weeks that you sold more were weeks you started getting more sleep.
From there you make a point of getting enough sleep and thingd go along and you discover that you start selling even more and do the analysis and discover coincident with the increased sales you were practicing what you learned in a Dale Carnegie course.
Most people will not think to look at it this way but it is really the scientific method at work in the everyday world.
Linda Taylor 50+
pat gilbert 50+