Reimagining our Grading System: An Argument For the Abolition of the A+

“So, is this going to be on the test?” is a question that every teacher has to field when an exam is fast approaching. While it seems like a typical question, there is a worrisome trend hidden behind it.

The traditional grading system used in schools throughout the United States promotes a singular focus on passing the test, forecloses student interest in learning, and teaches risk-averse behavior. As a result, the United States Department of Education should abolish the current quantitative grading system in favor of a more feedback-orientated curriculum.

Students constantly badger teachers to reveal information about an upcoming assessment because they need to know what to study in order to pass the test and keep their grades up. While it is important to establish benchmarks for student progress, the current grading system incentivizes students to memorize information necessary for the test and promptly discard all of their newly obtained knowledge as soon as they hand in their test for grading.

This has a domino effect. Students are no longer interested in learning new, exciting things because they are solely motivated to learn information that will be tested in the future. As a result, students find themselves enjoying the school day less and less while stressing more and more for upcoming exams.

Knowing that high school grades are a major factor in college admissions, students are discouraged from taking academic risks. In particular, students are dissuaded from enrolling in higher-level courses because they fear that they will not be able to earn a satisfactory grade to get them into their desired college.

While it may seem like a utopian fantasy, abolishing the current grading system has already been done in one Kentucky classroom. Ashley Lab-Sinclair, the 2016 Kentucky Educator of the Year and a sophomore English teacher banded together with her colleagues to avoid giving students quantitative grades for 6 weeks. Sinclair told The Atlantic, “Unburdened by the negative effects of grades, my students thrived.”

In addition, skeptics cite the necessity for clear-cut, quantitative feedback when considering reform of the grading system. However, research has shown that qualitative feedback helps students learn better than quantitative results. Students value their teacher’s constructive comments over the letter grade that appears on PowerSchool at the end of the quarter.

So, what can you do? Every successful education movement in history has started with a conversation. Talk with your peers, your students, and your school administration in order to push for change.

A more nuanced, feedback-orientated assessment system will ensure students learn material beyond the test in order for them to start to love learning again.