Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Comparative grades Mr. Gibson sets up his syllabus to give the top flute player a 100, 2nd place a 98, 3rd place a 96, etc... While this percentage of mastery is not a 96%, it is the grade on every playing assessment for the 3rd place flute girl. Is this way of assessing valid? How does this apply to a teacher grading essays and then applying a curve? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) While I somewhat see the logic of the band director in his grading, it definitely is not a fair assessment of the students. Each playing assessment should be graded following a rubric or set grading guideline (i.e. a certain number of notes correctly played or correct handling of the instrument). Grading simply based on the chair they sit in is not an effective assessment. Each student should be given the opportunity to play and earn a better placement based on their performance. If the students understand that a set grade is given based on the chair that they sit, they may become complacent and not attempt to work harder.