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!) I am currently dealing with this same situation! Unfortunately, I am not able to change the weight of assignments or assessments. In this situation, I am playing with other options that can benefit students like Selena. First, talk to Selena and see if the language is causing confusion on tests. I believe that this is the most logical explanation to the poor grades on test. Language on test usually differs greatly from the daily vernacular, even within a classroom. The diction could be causing confusion. I would try to develop a test that would be aimed at a lower lexile while testing the same content. A test is used to test the content of the unit, but the way that the test is designed is usually at a higher lexile with more complex grammar, such as, IN WHICH, ALL BUT, EXCEPT, FROM THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE (asking for the student to interpret language). Reducing complex language on a test would be my first step to assist this hard-working student.