I know we have several people on these forums that are part of the educational world.
I'm interested to hear what they think about this article (linked from Yahoo!, written on Slate) about grading and whether grading lowers self-esteem.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double...ivity_and.html
When I was in grade school (1-8), we had A-F grading.
But my high school (Grades 9-12 + a Grade 13, way back in the Ontario day) had a numerical scoring system.
It was essentially:
90-100: A+
80-90: A (over 80 = honour roll)
70-80: B
60-70: C
50-60: D
<50: Fail
I thought that was pretty good, especially since kids should really have a focused understanding of basic math. (100% = max.)
In university, we had the same grading system.
I also liked the numbers because you'd get an 81 and think "Hey, that's honour roll stuff" (a positive thought).
Or you could get a 78 and think "Hey, I just missed honour roll grade (sort of a positive thought).
Whereas, a B+ is "not quite an A" (negative thought) and a A- suggests there was something flawed in the answers that had to be subtracted from just an "A".
And of course there is the whole perfectionist goal of "Straight As".
If somebody gets an 70-something amongst a bunch of 80s & 90s... it should still be regarded as effin fantastic.
What say you, teaching world?