Making the (Number) Grade

There are some things in life that should never change. Coffee. Cinnamon apple-filled donuts. The Dollar Store. Ryan Gosling’s amazing abs… and smile… and voice… okay, so just all of Ryan Gosling. The gas pedal being on the right, brake in the middle, clutch on the left in a car. The zodiac signs. (Remember a few years ago they tried to introduce that 13th one? Yeah, that stuck around for like 3 days.) The planets. (Pluto is still a planet, damnit.)

The grading scale in schools: A, B, C, D, F. Well, just like they tried to add that 13th zodiac sign, and took Pluto away from us in the solar system, the grading system that’s been around for decades is now gone. If it hasn’t gotten to your school system yet, it’s on its way, so be prepared.

I’m in Tucson, and they just adopted this nationwide standardized education system, of which this new grading scale is a part. There is no concept of the letter grades of ‘A’ showing complete mastery of a subject, ‘B’ showing above average mastery, ‘C’ is average, ‘D’ is below average and ‘F’ is failing. Now, the school systems are using numbers. I’m not talking 100 is an A+, 50 is an F type of numbers, either. 4 = Showing complete mastery of a subject, even possibly mastery of the subject matter at a higher grade level. 3 = Showing a complete understanding of the subject matter on the student’s own grade level. 2 = Showing understanding of a subject matter, but needs improvement. 1 = Not showing understanding of a subject matter.

Really? This is crazy. If the old system wasn’t broken, why “fix” it? I wasn’t informed of this new grading system until about a week after school started. My kids were bringing home papers with 3s on them, and I had no idea why. When the open house came around, that’s when I was filled in on the newest change to school systems nationwide. Then I was told (you’ll love this): “You probably won’t be seeing your child bring home a lot of 4s as grades. We only use 4 when the student is mastering a subject to the extent of understanding concepts that are a grade level above them. So, seeing 3s is good, but don’t look for too many 4s.”

Riddle me this, Batman. If 4s aren’t going to be used very much, then why have them as part of the grading scale? Is it a unicorn – something we parents hope to see but doesn’t really exist? What about the over-achievers like me?

Growing up, if I knew that the highest grade was a 4 but that I was never going to get that 4, I would have had a meltdown. The question I beg to ask is, “Why?” Why change the standard A-F grading system? What was wrong with it? Did some parent somewhere complain that this huge red ‘F’ on her kid’s paper emotionally damaged her child? Then have your kid study, and they won’t get the huge red ‘F.’

Did the 5 point letter system all of a sudden become too complicated that they needed to change it to a 4 point number system, one of the numbers they really don’t even use, so it could be considered a 3 point number system?

So, what do I do when I have questions? I Google. According to a Wikipedia article on outcome-based education, “This approach is valuable to schools and parents by specifically identifying a student’s strengths and weaknesses.” Um… so did the A, B, C, D, F scale. If my kids brought home a ‘C,’ I knew they only learned the basics of that subject or what they were being tested on. If they brought home an ‘F,’ I knew they didn’t learn a damn thing. No need to change what isn’t broken.

I have had the argument presented to me that this new 1-4 scale is the same thing as the A-F scale, in the way that: 4 = A, 3 = B, 2 = C, and 1 = D. What happened to F? Kids don’t ‘fail’ with this new grading scale? And my kids will only be getting a high of a ‘B’ now? Not cool.

I’ve also had the argument presented to me that high school and college grade point averages are registered on a 4.0 scale, with the letter grades being converted to numbers, so this new scale isn’t far off from that. While this is true, I still didn’t get 4s on my papers in high school – I got A’s. I took pride in my A’s. Maybe kids can be proud of their 3s, or when they get an elusive 4, but somehow I just don’t think it’s the same.

This grading scale is a part of the new standards for education that most (not all) states in the nation are switching to. It’s my understanding that this system is replacing (or modifying) the ‘No Children Left Behind Act’ initiated a few years ago (or what I like to call the ‘Pass the Kids to the Next Grade Even If They Can’t Read’ Act), and is supposed to create a nationwide standard for what the kids are taught in each grade. It’s a great idea, it really is. But just like the ‘Pass the Kids to the Next Grade Ev…’ sorry, I mean the ‘No Children Left Behind Act,’ something is going to go wrong.

Are schools that were teaching kids above and beyond these nationwide standards going to have to pull back the reigns so the rest of America can catch up? Are children that don’t understand the basics of their grade level actually going to get held back a grade now, instead of just being passed on to the next one? Are teachers going to have to give up teaching about dinosaurs and that Pluto is really a planet because it’s not a ‘standard’ piece of information the nation has said my children should know?

My gut is feeling funny with this new program, it really is. Yes, I agree that the education system needed to be changed; there are tons of flaws in it. I don’t think this new standardized learning system or new grading scale is the answer. Pumping more money into the schools for teachers, art programs, upgrading technology and getting new teaching tools and supplies is the answer.

I’ll end with this thought: Not all of the states were required to switch to this new education system. One state that wasn’t forced was Virginia. My kids went to Virginia schools last year, and their school was in the top 5% of the nation. If the nation isn’t making the best schools in the country switch to this new system, then how good is this new system really?

Tatted Mom is a tattoo artist turned stay at home mom who writes about the humor and chaos of motherhood at The Inklings of Life.