How do we measure success?

This is a very hot topic in education lately, as it should be.  And one that is being bounced around in many of our heads right now at the end of another school year.  Is every student scoring an A on every assessment success?  Or getting an A as a final grade in every class success?

If so, we have big problems!  If everyone gets an A, then I have to ask...were they challenged?  It is widely known that we learn from our failures, so why push for everyone to have an A?  I am not saying I wan't all failures either, so don't misunderstand what I am saying.  I am just a little concerned with how easily educators become happy with their teaching because their students are all receiving "good grades."  Parents are part of this problem as well.  Many parents only measure success by seeing how many A's are on the report card.  How many of us have had a conference with a parent, or student, and the statement about always having A's in the past is said?  Just because they don't have that A right now does not mean they are not finding success.  Does it?  

Admin is not removed from this equation either.  Usually the measure of a "good teacher" is from the grades of their students.  This gets interpreted many times as all A's = great teacher and no A's = bad teacher.  Where is the logic behind this thinking?  While at the same time, written in the mission statement of these same schools is something about taking risks.  Well, if we want students to take risks then we should expect them to not find success every time.  THIS IS OK.  The success will be measured by how the student reacts to not being successful at their first, second, or maybe even their fifth attempt.  Continuing to work through an issue/problem until they find the solution or answer the question is learning.  Learning = Success.

However, schools make this much more difficult.  Schools want to have grades to show students, parents, board members, universities and in some cases, other schools.  Why?  To show how great of a school they have?  To compare one school to another?  So, the giving of grades is a competition to see which school is the top school putting out the top students?  I hope not.  Many great schools graduate many wonderfully successful students that did not receive a 4.0+ G.P.A.  Does this mean they are not great schools filled with amazing teachers and wildly successful students?  NO!  Not every student that graduates from an Ivy League school does so with a 4.0.  In fact, not every teacher (especially the one writing this blog) had a 4.0 G.P.A. all the way through school.  Are we not successful?

The issue with this question is that there is not a one-size-fits-all answer.  Therein lies the issue.  Schools (and many teachers as well) want to be flexible and diverse when it comes to their students, but not so much when it comes to grades.  Saying that a student has successfully met all of the minimum standards to 'pass' a course is not good enough.  We need to put a letter grade or a numerical value stamp on it for some reason.  Until this idea changes, we will continue to argue with each other about what determines success.

Here is a little something to ponder....if a student comes to you at the beginning of the school year with limited abilities (reading, writing, arithmetic, artistic ability, not being able to throw a ball, not knowing how to play a guitar, shy and never performed on stage, not being able to speak a particular language, etc.) and leave your class in June having not mastered the skill but having progressed significantly, is this not success?

What does really matter?

Being this is my first post on this blog, I am not sure how many will find it, read it, and respond to what I write, but that's ok.  

As we prepare to close out another great school year we rarely stop and think about what really matters.  We busy ourselves with writing that perfect final exam.  We use the phrase "you will see this again next year" or "I am getting you ready for next year" way too often...was what we were doing all year until now not getting our students ready?  We stress the importance of doing well on the exam, or final assessment, or last project of the year because...well...it's the last one of the year.  

We constantly tell ourselves, each other, and our students this is what we HAVE to do at the end of the school year.  Why?  If your only answer is "this is the way it is every year", you may need to rethink some things.  I may need to rethink some things.  As I sit here writing this post, I have realized this is my 31st end of school year process in my life, 18th as a teacher.  In these 31 years I have also realized that I have gone through the same, or at least a very similar, process in each of these 31 years.  Has education not changed in 30+ years?  Are we that set in our ways of "this is how we have always done it" as educators?  Surely we have new ways to measure student progress from September to June.  Right?

I don't have an answer for this right now, but I am definitely thinking twice about the exams I have written, proof read, copied and stored in my file cabinet waiting to be distributed in a week.  Am I really measuring what my students learned in my classes by giving one two hour exam?  And, yes I realize that the exam is only part of their grade, but if that is the case...why put so much emphasis on them?  Why give them at all?  Isn't it better to give a final grade based on how the students have performed progressively throughout the year?

So, what made me think about all of this today?  This article that I found on my feed this afternoon:  Reconsidering End of Year Grading for Student Mastery by Starr Sackstein.  If you are now pondering some things about your end of year, read the article.  It certainly has made me rethink some things I do as an educator.