School grades put to the test: time for a rethink?

Rethinking school grades: measuring learning beyond numbers and letters.

4 MIN READ

TL;DR

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Why do school grades exist at all?

The introduction of grades in the 19th century had a clear goal: to democratise education. Study and training places were to be allocated according to performance, not origin. Grades were considered objective, comparable and transparent – and were intended to enable fair selection. Proponents still argue these points today: School grades make performance visible, allow comparisons to be made and provide a basis for decision-making for transitions and applications. The awarding of grades is regulated by law and relates to oral, written and practical performance. However, many educational researchers and practitioners are in favour of alternative forms of performance assessment that are individual rather than comparative and take greater account of learning development. The closer you look, the clearer it becomes that the current assumptions about school grades do not correspond to reality.

What do school grades really measure?

A grade is more than a number – or is it less? A grade of ‘2’ in German says little about whether a child can write well, read well or is grammatically confident. The overall grade is a sum of partial performances and summarises various sub-areas. This smoothes out individual strengths and weaknesses and thus reduces the informative value of school grades. What’s more, studies show that grades are influenced by many factors that have little to do with performance. Studies by the Universities of Zurich and Bern have shown that gender, origin and body weight have a measurable influence on assessment – regardless of actual performance. A slim girl from an academic household is more likely to get a good grade than, for example, a boy with a higher BMI and an immigrant background. The school grades are therefore by no means as valid, objective or reliable as they seem – criteria that should actually apply to a fair assessment.

The problem with the comparability of grades

School grades are supposed to create comparability – but that often doesn’t work. Why? Because grades are usually based on the respective learning group. Grades do not reflect the objective level of performance, but rather the ranking within a class. This means that, based on the assumption of normal distribution, an average performance in a high-performing class can lead to a ‘4’, but in a lower-performing class to a ‘2’. Grades are also hardly comparable between different teachers, schools or federal states – because different curricula, assessment standards and pedagogical cultures apply. It becomes even more difficult when grades are processed mathematically. Converting scores into grades distorts the meaningfulness of the assessment because grades are not real numerical values – they are grades. The frequently used grade point average is therefore often a ‘fictitious accuracy’ that should actually only be used as a guide.

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