Make grades tell the truth
A grade should tell a student and a parent what the student can do. Keep it about that.
Written with AI — this one isn’t Tammy. The Field Guide covers ground her videos don’t, and keeps to what’s well established. It doesn’t know your students, and nothing here overrides your school’s policy or your state’s law. · 1 min read
What to do
- Learn your school's grading policy before you set anything up — weightings, late work, minimum grades, retakes. Policies vary widely, and you'll be held to yours.
- Keep behavior and achievement separate where you can. A grade lowered for talking or lateness no longer tells anyone what a student has learned.
- Watch what zeros do. On a 100-point scale, a single zero pulls an average down far more than a single perfect score pushes it up.
- Share the rubric — and a strong example — before students start, not after they've finished.
- Feedback students can act on (“add a counterexample to your second paragraph”) does more than a score or a general comment.
Why it works
Grades carry real consequences: placement, eligibility, a family's picture of how their child is doing. Once they mix in compliance and attendance they become hard to interpret and hard to defend at a conference. Clear criteria up front also means fewer arguments afterwards.
Try this tomorrow
For your next assignment, show students one strong example and the rubric before they begin, and have them score the example themselves.
Watch out
Don't improvise a grading system that contradicts school policy, however well reasoned. Raise it with your department instead.
More from the Field Guide
Wait three seconds after you ask
Silence after a question isn't dead air. It's thinking time — and most of us cut it off.
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Make them remember, not re-read
Pulling something out of memory is what makes it stick. Build that into every lesson.
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Show them first: I do, we do, you do
Explicit modeling beats hoping they'll figure it out — especially with anything new.
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