What's in a Grade?

​Colleagues,
 
Think back to your years of being a student. What was the worst experience you ever had? Does it still hurt or bother you today?
 
Yesterday I facilitated a grading summit with a wonderful group of school leaders that included representatives from early kindergarten through high school. One of the things that made our work so difficult was that grades serve multiple purposes. To complicate issues more, grades are used by different audience outside of the school for different purposes.
 
In the school grades might be used to:

• Communicate levels of mastery
• Motivate and/or reward students
• Reflect work ethic
• Punish
• Separate into tracks

 
Audiences may use grades for:

• Colleges: admissions and scholarships
• Parents: Feedback on how their children are doing

 
This isn’t just about schools.
 
Sticking with the theme of grading, is the way we evaluate our personnel congruent with our organizational purpose? Does our evaluation system help people better fulfill their roles within the organization?
 
What’s the purpose of your organization? That may or may not be an easy question to answer.
 
What’s the purpose behind other core functions or structures? You won’t know unless you ask the question!
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick