Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         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!) What you have here is two very different situations. Selena seems to grasp the knowledge in class, but doesn't do well on the test. My first thought was to try giving her the test orally. I know her English is proficient, but there still may some difficulties or confusion. Another thought I had was that she might have attention issues. She may not be able to fully focus on the test to get through it. With Shelly, I immediately thought she shows signs of giftedness. Maybe she already knows the material which would explain her lack of participation in class. I know you said she doesn't deserve a B, but if she is showing mastery of standards, isn't that exactly the grade she deserves? I think you need to consider not only your assessment system, but also your ideas on what exactly you want to assess. What do you want to assess your students on? One type of assessment, a test, does not work for every child. Think bigger picture for Selena. Portfolio or performance task might be the best route for someone like her. For Shelly, I don't think the assessment is the issue, I think it is the material itself. Give her a challenge.