Kingswood Oxford should require teachers to regularly post grades on a common online gradebook accessible to students and advisors.
KO’s current grading system varies depending on the teacher that you have. Some teachers use a method called standard-based grading, which is a type of grading that averages out your score on certain standards or skills. Other teachers use points and percentages. Some use applications such as Google Classroom, progress trackers, or Blackbaud to show students their grades, while some do not show students their grades at all. However, none of these grading techniques are consistent. This inconsistency can cause students to feel even more unorganized and creates more inconvenience for the students.
Having grades accessible to students at all times can provide them with less anxiety and more relief. For instance, students who are better aware of how they are doing in a class can become more confident in themselves, knowing what they need to improve upon and having access to plenty of feedback.
After transferring from a public middle school to KO, I’ve noticed a major difference in how students access grades. My previous school used PowerSchool, an online grading app that shows what grades you get for what assignment. On the contrary, KO does not have one organized gradebook. This system needs to be more organized and convenient.
Without this change, it makes school life much more difficult than it needs to be for students, including myself. Instead of simply switching to a tab on my laptop and seeing all my grades laid out in front of me, I might have to calculate my grade, put all my scores into my progress tracker, or wait until after class to ask the teacher. With full access to grades in all classes, students are able to know where they stand at all times and are also able to prepare themselves before grades and comments are sent home. Access to an online gradebook provides the student with a more honest and transparent learning environment.
New generations of students struggle the most with competition for academic achievement than any other generation before, which is why convenience is more important than ever to a student’s day-to-day life at school. What KO is currently doing is scattering grades across multiple different online gradebooks. If students’ grades coalesced in a singular online gradebook like PowerSchool, it would be far more accommodating and convenient to their academic careers.
PowerSchool is an app used by many schools, including colleges, within the U.S. A total of 90% of schools throughout Connecticut use PowerSchool as a tool and source for student grades. After an assignment is graded by a teacher, they import the grades into the app. Then, PowerSchool is able to calculate your overall grade and send a notification to inform the student about their grade. If we were able to simply switch to one well-organized app such as PowerSchool, it would benefit teachers, advisors, and students. PowerSchool states, “We understand that schools and districts require modern digital tools all in one place to truly make an impact.” This means that evolving to modern grading apps and online grading services can create a larger impact on a student’s life.
Furthermore, grades should be posted for only students and their advisors to see. Advisors are there to help students and “advise,” hence the name. By allowing advisors to access a student’s grades easily, students would be able to get feedback and assistance with grades if needed. Meanwhile, parents should not be able to access their children’s grades. There are some parents who micromanage their kids’ grades, and it can make those students feel like their grades and performance at school are being closely watched. By removing parents’ access to students’ grades, students can feel more comfortable and more independent.
In a study performed by the National Library of Medicine, they specifically researched how parental criticism had affected their children and their behavior and performance at school. They found that “Class comparisons showed a consistent pattern of healthier child functioning, including higher school performance, higher self-esteem, and lower psychological symptoms, in association with low to neutral parental achievement emphasis, whereas poorer child functioning was associated with high parental achievement emphasis.” This data reveals that the majority of students with less parental control over grades have better self-esteem and overall confidence in themselves.
It is important for KO to change its outdated, unorganized, and inconvenient grading practices to help benefit students and advisors for the better. As students change and adapt to new tools and ideas, KO needs to change as well, starting with our grading system. This is why KO should adopt a common online grading system easily accessible to students, teachers, and advisors.
