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Case: Unfair Assessment I have been a successful middle school teacher. I know it sounds strange when I call myself successful, but I have received recognitions at the school and county levels for the quality of my teaching. I have a big dilemma this year. I have two students who are not your ordinary students. Selena is a Hispanic student who is an English Language Learner, but her English proficiency is quite high. She fully participates in all class activities, she functions well in group and individual work, and she is always motivated. She is an ideal student. However, she never makes passing grades on tests. Her current grade is an F. Shelly is a White student. She shows no interest in course activities. You cannot even know if she listening or not most of the time. She chooses not to do group work. If I force her, she does not really contribute. She also does not turn in any assignments. What puzzles me is that she usually receives the highest grades in tests. Her current grade in my course is a high B. If she had turned in the assignments, her grade would be an A. The course grade in my class is determined mainly based on what students make on tests, because I feel that tests are the only means for me to know whether students have retained what they learned or not. Lately I have been thinking that my grading is not doing justice to Selena. At the same time, I think Shelly does not deserve a B with the attitude she has displayed. I need to revise my assessment system. Please help me with this. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Selena may just not be a great test taker. It is important to study the areas she performs well in. She sounds extremely motivated so it is important to not give up on her. Maybe she is more of an audio learner. It is best to try different strategies and see which one works best. For the next test, tell her that you are going to try something new and read the test questions out to her. When she hears the question, there is a possibility that she will be able to understand the question better. She is clearly trying hard. As the teacher, you just have to see which testing format benefits her learning style most. As for the other student, Shelly, you should try giving her more difficult assignments. If she is receiving good grades on the tests, it sounds like she already knows the material. Shelly sounds bored in the classroom. Try making her assignments a little more advanced and take note whether she tries harder. You could also match these two students up together and ask Shelly to mentor Selena through class assignments. You could also as them to be study buddies and see whether Selena's test grades improve. If Shelly knows she has a responsible role in the classroom, to mentor Selena, she will be more committed to completing her work and will be more interactive in the classroom. |
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