After the End:
Teaching and Learning
Creative Revision
Barry Lane
Chapter 8


Yes! Why should a paper be graded as a C just so the student can abandon the work (that he or she probably never fully invested in) and learn that its fine to give up on something as long as you pass?

The standards for first grade are typically pass or fail concepts. Not very many of the things I grade are incremental in nature. Students can count syllables or they can’t. Students can read CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words or they can’t. If I decide to measure these on a scale then my grading becomes very subjective. I can’t say, “Johhny reads the word CAT correctly most of the time”. He either has the skills or he does not.

And when I evaluate these skills I am not permitted to simply state that the student has a grade of C on reading CVC words. If I discover that Johnny is not able to read CAT then I immediately do some testing to find out what phonemic elements he is weak on. I am held accountable for reaching him at his learning need the best I can.

It’s a little frightening to have this responsibility but comforting too. I know that Johnny will get whatever assistance he needs and that my administration is required to back me up as best they can.

Writing should be a similar process. If Johnny does not write descriptive sentences well in fourth grade then we need to make that our new objective for him. Most of these skills can be learned even more easily (with practice and use of examples) than phonemic awareness.

A system that requires growth requires students to take action. A system that is built around only grades allows a student to determine what level below quality they would like to achieve.