Since the start of the pandemic, standardized testing like the SAT and ACT have lost much of their weight in the college application process, with the UC system and other highly selective schools removing the requirement for test scores. However, James Logan High School has not implemented such practices in its policies. The district-ordered implementation of an 80-20 grading policy at James Logan High School starting this year seems to only regress towards greater stress and demotivation for students.
With 80% of one’s grade riding on summative assignments, the pressure placed on each test, quiz, or even a single question has increased. One low score now costs so much more, and the trek to recovering from it is much more strenuous. With future tests offering little breathing room, walking the tightrope of a stable grade has only become more stressful since a slight slip could negate all previous efforts and overshadow a student’s outlook for the rest of the course. Rather than making grades a more accurate reflection of understanding, the 80-20 policy could leave students struggling more to perform to their full capacity with such high stakes raising nerves and anxiety during testing.
Not to mention, a blanket grading policy for all classes, regardless of their structure and pace, is bound to produce some mismatches. With frequently assigned homework and projects, the weight of the summative category may be more evenly distributed across multiple assessments or projects. For classes with fewer tests or quizzes though, the same crushing impact is concentrated on just a few evaluations, making it much more difficult to maintain a satisfactory grade in such classes. The requirement of giving retakes is not a perfect remedy for this flaw either since the time expended by students to redo the test and teachers to prepare and grade them could have been invested in focusing on new material. If teachers were free to use the grade distribution and policies that best suited their class’s structure, there would be no need to introduce extra steps into the grading process.
On the other side of the policy is the measly 20% that formative assignments are worth. For students, their efforts to complete homework and classwork in a timely manner becomes insignificant compared to the one day when a summative assessment is given. The disproportionate emphasis on performance and lack of recognition for effort is not only discouraging but downright demotivating. When the outcome of consistent studying and a strong work ethic are matched with last-minute cramming, it is not hard to predict which path tempts students more.
Although using a more results-oriented grading system may have come from good intentions to produce more accurate grades, the learning process is as important as the end result, and this cannot be ignored in educational policies. Rather than placing the weight of a course grade almost solely on summative assignments, giving proper recognition for effort and reducing the pressure on working for a grade could encourage students to learn for the sake of learning instead.
