FIAE Chapter 11

The first concern in this chapter is whether to give students a zero or a sixty for incomplete work. The argument for giving a sixty is strong, suggesting that a sixty provides a better understanding of the student’s mastery, while a zero does not. This makes a lot of sense and does not seem as though you are rewarding students for doing nothing, but I think it applies to specific cases only. A student who never does any of the work should not receive a sixty for every assignment just because he or she did not feel like doing it. If it were a once in a while, occasional occurrence, then I certainly see the benefit. But a student who receives only sixties for everything should not be. Students that do not do any of the work should instead receive “Incomplete” for each assignment, that way they are not being given a grade for something they did not do and also not showing any kind of mastery for something they did not do. Another issue that this chapter deals with is whether to grade gifted students differently and how to do so. I really like the idea of teachers providing supplemental information on a student’s progress that gives more detail than just a letter or number grade. It helps to show exactly how a student is making progress and what kind of progress he/she is making. Many parents/guardians do not know what goes on in a classroom, so they see a number or letter grade but do not know what that number or letter means. The idea of taking off a full letter grade for late work is one that I don’t agree with. I think late work should be dealt with on a case by case basis that has a general policy the teacher refers to, but I do not think that a complete letter grade should be dropped for every day that it is late. This causes some students to stress over turning an assignment in on time when it is incredibly difficult for them to do it due to some personal reason, but they do not want to lose a complete letter grade.