Jay Mathews addresses the thorny issue of whether teachers should give students credit who struggle, but don't quite get it:
Like most American teachers, Will Crawford includes credit for effort when he fills out the report cards of his government and history students at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County. "Grades from assignments indirectly measure effort," he said. "I tell students that as long as they keep up with projects and homework and make an honest effort on tests and quizzes, they won't fail," he said. Six miles away at West Potomac High School in the same school district, chemistry and physics teacher Stephen Rezendes rejects that approach because he believes it sends the wrong message to students, and is against district policy."Rewarding effort and not achievement is not helping the student," he said. "It's basically assuming they can't achieve."
I admit I'm torn on the issue. On the one hand, I agree with Rezendes that effort without achievement should not be praised. For one thing, when a student struggles mightily, yet doesn't master the material, that suggests the teacher, the student, or both are doing something wrong. that should be a warning sign, not an opportunity for a higher grade. Such effort should be rewarded only with suggestions for focusing one's energies in a more effective way.
On the other hand, I benefitted mightily from the "A for effort" theory when I took gym, although perhaps that class is an exception. (Some folks have athletic ability, and some - like me - really don't.) And when I taught statistics at the college level, I found myself rewarding those who put in the extra effort. Not big rewards, mind you, but rewards nonetheless - fairly easy extra credit homework assignments, points for attendance, and so on.
Then again, I found effort and achievement to be highly correlated. Those students who worked hard did better; the ones who got bad grades from me were almost without exception those who didn't seem to give a damn. I did have one student who turned in every homework, attended every class, came early for extra help, and yet still turfed on all the exams. There was no way for me to soften the blow of flunking him, and flunk him I did (he had the grace to apologize for his poor performance on the final). As a student, he was certainly more enjoyable to have around that those who habitually came late or ignored assignments, but I suppose the fact that I flunked him shows that deep down, I do believe effort in and of itself is not necessarily deserving of reward.
Posted by kswygert at June 15, 2005 09:30 AM