do I have to give grades?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Are colleges going to be too twitchy if I don't do grades?

 

Probably.... (yes I'm talking to myself here).

 

 

[....]

 (yes I'm talking to myself here).

 

No, you're not.  I think homeschool grades are ridiculous, too.  

[creekland]

Most colleges want to see something they can base their judgment off of.  They are comfortable with grades, but often don't trust Mommy grades much, so it's a catch 22.  They will ask what your grading system was.

 

We did grades (from tests or projects only - never homework completion) and we supplemented that with SAT/ACT scores, AP/DE scores/grades, and that sufficed.  My homeschooled lads did very well with the SAT/ACT, so that helped set the mood with college admissions.  If they hadn't, I'm sure more support from somewhere would have been needed.

 

 

[Julie of KY]

I've never graded until high school and then just because my kids need to see some of that before college and colleges expect that.

 

I know some people have transcripts with no grades, but I'd rather not have the hassle of trying to explain what that means. I teach toward mastery and at that point the student should be able to make an A on the test. :) I also have a few outside classes, AP exams, and ACT scores to validate my mommy grades.

 

 

[....]

I know some people have transcripts with no grades, but I'd rather not have the hassle of trying to explain what that means. 

 

Does anyone know what we should put on their transcripts if we don't give grades?

[DebbS]

Often times colleges give their merit scholarships based on grades, so I'm guessing that you would miss out on that.  In discussing my son's transcript with a large public university where he now attends, I was told that usually they don't take mommy grades seriously nor do they give merit scholarships to homeschoolers.  They took them seriously in his case because I gave a few Bs and A-'s so he got the merit scholarship.  His SATs and APs  would have been more in line with a straight A student. I guess they figured since he wasn't, mommy was a tough grader.

 

Edited February 8, 2016 by DebbS

[creekland]

FWIW, schools can definitely differ, but all three of mine (two hs and one ps in high school) received merit aid from every college they were accepted at.  Middle son had one waitlisted school (a lottery school with very low acceptance rate and he was trying for a restricted admission major).  Every other application was an acceptance.  The merit aid they received was significant.  Both hs boys had straight As and had the scores AP/DE to back it up.

 

ETA:  We taught to mastery and I explained that on the GC part.

Edited February 8, 2016 by creekland

[Lilaclady]

There was a lady on the homeschool to high school forum who gave an update that her child's transcript was assigned a C grade for each required class that she made pass or fail or did not give a grade to.

 

This brought her child's gpa down and he was not awarded any aid that he might have had due to that. I am not sure your child stands to gain by your not assigning grades and there might be much to lose.

 

I know people always say mommy grades don't count but there are lots of schools too with over inflation of grades. Some schools generally reduce a student to just looking at the gpa first and if the student did not meet that Gpa, they are rejected without looking at the other attributes the student might have. I intend to give my kids grades and back it up with AP or dual enrollment grades.

 

All the best

[regentrude]

Depending on the college, you may not absolutely have to, but you should.

You want the transcript to be understandable by admissions officials and should make it easy for them to evaluate your student. I do not think they will be very inclined towards wading through a narrative transcript with verbal evaluations - it may get the app tossed out.

Some schools specifically demand grades. Some use GPA for scholarships.

Giving grades is an easy thing to do. And they should be backed up by some outside validation to be considered meaningful.

[JanetC]

Give grades, but don't overthink them.

 

You don't have to give the grading scale, scores on each type of assignment, and how tests versus quizzes were weighted on every class. You don't have to even give tests and quizzes in every class.

 

Lee Binz has a qualitative grading scale for classes where you don't want to try to assign "points" to each thing your child did for a class:

 

A = met my high standards

B = pretty good job

C = disappointing, but learned enough to move on to the next class (say from French I to French II)

D = did enough work to earn a high school credit, did not achieve enough to move on to the next course in this subject

 

Your grades should give the reader a sense of your child's strengths and weaknesses, and should generally correspond to test scores: A 300 in SAT math score and an A+ in Trigonometry don't match, for example.

[Lolly]

Give grades, but don't overthink them.

 

You don't have to give the grading scale, scores on each type of assignment, and how tests versus quizzes were weighted on every class. You don't have to even give tests and quizzes in every class.

 

Lee Binz has a qualitative grading scale for classes where you don't want to try to assign "points" to each thing your child did for a class:

 

A = met my high standards

B = pretty good job

C = disappointing, but learned enough to move on to the next class (say from French I to French II)

D = did enough work to earn a high school credit, did not achieve enough to move on to the next course in this subject

 

Your grades should give the reader a sense of your child's strengths and weaknesses, and should generally correspond to test scores: A 300 in SAT math score and an A+ in Trigonometry don't match, for example.

I like this grading scale...

 

 

Yes, give grades. Don't put a scale on your transcript. If grades do not match transcript for a reason, be prepared to let the school know why (in my dd's case, documented ld with no accommodations despite asking for them). Only one school asked about the discrepancy. The rest didn't seem to notice. She was accepted at all.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Lolly

[dirty ethel rackham]

I had to do grades for scholarships.  Admissions didn't need them so much because we had outside classes and test scores (subject tests and ACT, SAT and AP.)  But, they would not have gotten the (very much needed) academic scholarships without grades.  So, I explained my grading system (mostly mastery ... if it isn't high quality work, it gets redone) in the school profile.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Most colleges want to see something they can base their judgment off of.  They are comfortable with grades, but often don't trust Mommy grades much, so it's a catch 22.  They will ask what your grading system was.

 

We did grades (from tests or projects only - never homework completion) and we supplemented that with SAT/ACT scores, AP/DE scores/grades, and that sufficed.  My homeschooled lads did very well with the SAT/ACT, so that helped set the mood with college admissions.  If they hadn't, I'm sure more support from somewhere would have been needed.

 

See this is what bugs me.  If they won't believe me anyway, why bother?

 

I'll have some outside stuff to add on so that I'm glad about, but grades...I just don't know really how to handle that.  For one thing we do stuff to mastery. 

 

Grading homework seems like a completely ridiculous thing to do.  My math teacher last semester graded the homework.  I see homework as practice.  Why would that be graded?  Granted, it was not worth a ton, but still.  I do not see it as a test or quiz. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Give grades, but don't overthink them.

 

You don't have to give the grading scale, scores on each type of assignment, and how tests versus quizzes were weighted on every class. You don't have to even give tests and quizzes in every class.

 

Lee Binz has a qualitative grading scale for classes where you don't want to try to assign "points" to each thing your child did for a class:

 

A = met my high standards

B = pretty good job

C = disappointing, but learned enough to move on to the next class (say from French I to French II)

D = did enough work to earn a high school credit, did not achieve enough to move on to the next course in this subject

 

Your grades should give the reader a sense of your child's strengths and weaknesses, and should generally correspond to test scores: A 300 in SAT math score and an A+ in Trigonometry don't match, for example.

 

I really like this.  The wording makes sense for our situation. 

 

[Reefgazer]

:ohmy:   :angry:  Is the bolded common?

Often times colleges give their merit scholarships based on grades, so I'm guessing that you would miss out on that.  In discussing my son's transcript with a large public university where he now attends, I was told that usually they don't take mommy grades seriously nor do they give merit scholarships to homeschoolers.  They took them seriously in his case because I gave a few Bs and A-'s so he got the merit scholarship.  His SATs and APs  would have been more in line with a straight A student. I guess they figured since he wasn't, mommy was a tough grader.

 

[8filltheheart]

I have never had a university question our transcripts/grades.  FWIW, it is not unusual for "in house" GPA evaluations to turn Ps into Cs and factoring that into their GPA formulas.

[8filltheheart]

:ohmy:   :angry:  Is the bolded common?

 

Not our experience.  All of my high performing students have been awarded scholarships.  My current college sophomore is attending on full scholarship.  It may be that specific university's policy, but it is not universal.

[Mom22ns]

See this is what bugs me.  If they won't believe me anyway, why bother?

 

I'll have some outside stuff to add on so that I'm glad about, but grades...I just don't know really how to handle that.  For one thing we do stuff to mastery. 

 

Grading homework seems like a completely ridiculous thing to do.  My math teacher last semester graded the homework.  I see homework as practice.  Why would that be graded?  Granted, it was not worth a ton, but still.  I do not see it as a test or quiz. 

 

All the colleges my kids applied to believed my mommy grades (or at least treated us as if they believed them). 

 

If you work to mastery, they get an A.

 

I never graded homework. I graded tests and papers. If papers weren't to my standards, they were redone. My kids had pretty much all A's, but then they had all A's in their dual enrollment and online classes too.

 

If you don't give grades, you can't get scholarships for which GPA is part of the calculation. Don't stress over grades, but give them. Have a plan and give them consistently. It doesn't have to be every little assignment. You decide what receives a grade. I don't actually understand why homeschoolers oppose grades so. It really isn't a big deal unless you make it one.

 

If you want your kids to go to college with the maximum available scholarships, give grades. They can go to college without grades. They can get scholarships without grades. But the truth is if you don't give grades, you are closing doors for them because you consider grades an inconvenience. Grades are on you. Do them. Do them however you want to, but do them. :)

[Mom22ns]

I was told that usually they don't take mommy grades seriously nor do they give merit scholarships to homeschoolers.  

 

If anyone needs to prove to themselves this isn't true, just go to the College Board and look at the list of acceptances. Nearly every one has merit aid and many, many just had mommy grades and ACT/SAT scores to base on.

[SparklyUnicorn]

All the colleges my kids applied to believed my mommy grades (or at least treated us as if they believed them). 

 

If you work to mastery, they get an A.

 

I never graded homework. I graded tests and papers. If papers weren't to my standards, they were redone. My kids had pretty much all A's, but then they had all A's in their dual enrollment and online classes too.

 

If you don't give grades, you can't get scholarships for which GPA is part of the calculation. Don't stress over grades, but give them. Have a plan and give them consistently. It doesn't have to be every little assignment. You decide what receives a grade. I don't actually understand why homeschoolers oppose grades so. It really isn't a big deal unless you make it one.

 

If you want your kids to go to college with the maximum available scholarships, give grades. They can go to college without grades. They can get scholarships without grades. But the truth is if you don't give grades, you are closing doors for them because you consider grades an inconvenience. Grades are on you. Do them. Do them however you want to, but do them. :)

 

Yeah  I plan to do grades.  i was mostly whining.  LOL 

[creekland]

See this is what bugs me.  If they won't believe me anyway, why bother?

 

I'll have some outside stuff to add on so that I'm glad about, but grades...I just don't know really how to handle that.  For one thing we do stuff to mastery. 

 

Grading homework seems like a completely ridiculous thing to do.  My math teacher last semester graded the homework.  I see homework as practice.  Why would that be graded?  Granted, it was not worth a ton, but still.  I do not see it as a test or quiz. 

 

Why bother?  Because there really isn't a better system TBH.  Grades are a system they can easily understand with a quick glance.  NOT seeing them would raise a flag and require more effort on their part.  More effort seldom brings on good vibes.

 

We never graded homework.  Only tests, papers, and projects.  My grades matched their outside support (scores, etc).  If they hadn't, I'd probably have adjusted my grades unless there were testing problems of some sort.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Why bother?  Because there really isn't a better system TBH.  Grades are a system they can easily understand with a quick glance.  NOT seeing them would raise a flag and require more effort on their part.  More effort seldom brings on good vibes.

 

We never graded homework.  Only tests, papers, and projects.  My grades matched their outside support (scores, etc).  If they hadn't, I'd probably have adjusted my grades unless there were testing problems of some sort.

 

Speaking of grades matching outside stuff.  No clue how that will turn out at this point.  We aren't quite there yet.  But it seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly odd if the grades didn't match 100%.  Wouldn't, for example, one expect a college course to possibly be more difficult for a high school (or younger) student verses a high school level course?

 

Not a big deal either way.  It isn't going to be difficult to give grades.

[Mom22ns]

Speaking of grades matching outside stuff.  No clue how that will turn out at this point.  We aren't quite there yet.  But it seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly odd if the grades didn't match 100%.  Wouldn't, for example, one expect a college course to possibly be more difficult for a high school (or younger) student verses a high school level course?

 

Not a big deal either way.  It isn't going to be difficult to give grades.

 

No, I don't think younger students taking college courses get a pass on showing what they can do. If they aren't ready to excel at a college level, don't enroll them. 

 

We have a gifted program in the area which puts 6th graders into a high school, taking high school classes. They are told in the beginning that they are graded as high schoolers and it will effect their high school GPA and college entrances. If they aren't ready, don't do it. I think the same thing goes with homeschoolers taking college classes. They don't have to be perfect, but they should demonstrate that the education they had up to that point had them ready for that class and that class will have them ready for the next one at the University where they want to attend.

 

From my perspective - I would totally have been ok with my kids getting some B's when they were 15 & 16. I would have understood, but I don't think the U's they applied to would have cut them any breaks.

[8filltheheart]

Speaking of grades matching outside stuff.  No clue how that will turn out at this point.  We aren't quite there yet.  But it seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly odd if the grades didn't match 100%.  Wouldn't, for example, one expect a college course to possibly be more difficult for a high school (or younger) student verses a high school level course?

 

Not a big deal either way.  It isn't going to be difficult to give grades.

Agree with mom2Ns.  My kids all maintained 4.0s in their DE classes, even when taking 300 level classes.  They don't enroll in classes they are incapable of completing on the expected level.

[klmama]

The only time I think it's not a huge concern is when gifted students take AP classes at a younger age and the grades are weighted.  I know a NMF who took all APs as a freshman, and she got a C in one of them.  Because of weighting, that didn't negatively affect her GPA the way it would have if it hadn't been a weighted class.  For AP classes at her school, A = 6.0, B = 5.0, C = 4.0.  So her GPA was the same as if she'd taken a regular course and gotten an A.

 

 

 

 

No, I don't think younger students taking college courses get a pass on showing what they can do. If they aren't ready to excel at a college level, don't enroll them. 

 

We have a gifted program in the area which puts 6th graders into a high school, taking high school classes. They are told in the beginning that they are graded as high schoolers and it will effect their high school GPA and college entrances. If they aren't ready, don't do it. I think the same thing goes with homeschoolers taking college classes. They don't have to be perfect, but they should demonstrate that the education they had up to that point had them ready for that class and that class will have them ready for the next one at the University where they want to attend.

 

From my perspective - I would totally have been ok with my kids getting some B's when they were 15 & 16. I would have understood, but I don't think the U's they applied to would have cut them any breaks.

 

[creekland]

Speaking of grades matching outside stuff.  No clue how that will turn out at this point.  We aren't quite there yet.  But it seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly odd if the grades didn't match 100%.  Wouldn't, for example, one expect a college course to possibly be more difficult for a high school (or younger) student verses a high school level course?

 

Not a big deal either way.  It isn't going to be difficult to give grades.

 

The college course should be more difficult, but you can't cut slack with grading.  Just make sure the student is ready for a college course (or do AP and skip the test at the end the first time).  If a student later on applies to med school, any college course will go on that application and be factored into their GPA.  It doesn't matter if they took it in 9th grade or college.

 

When applying to top colleges, a student asked that common question, "Is it better to have a B in an AP course or an A in the regular course?"  The answer?  "We want to see As in the AP course."

 

A few Bs (or C) will not stop a student from getting accepted into college if they look at colleges matching their level, but top colleges sort out their students according to what they want to see.  They want top students and generally have plenty to choose from.  It's similar with merit aid.

[creekland]

The only time I think it's not a huge concern is when gifted students take AP classes at a younger age and the grades are weighted.  I know a NMF who took all APs as a freshman, and she got a C in one of them.  Because of weighting, that didn't negatively affect her GPA the way it would have if it hadn't been a weighted class.  For AP classes at her school, A = 6.0, B = 5.0, C = 4.0.  So her GPA was the same as if she'd taken a regular course and gotten an A.

 

FWIW, many colleges (state schools to top schools) told us they unweigh GPAs - and tend to only look at the 4 main subjects + foreign languages.  They want to see the box checked that the student took all the toughest courses available to them.

 

Since the student you are talking about was a NMF, I seriously doubt they cared about one C freshman year.  They know things happen.  She'd proven herself elsewhere and since.

[DebbS]

Not our experience.  All of my high performing students have been awarded scholarships.  My current college sophomore is attending on full scholarship.  It may be that specific university's policy, but it is not universal.

 

This is correct - it is not universal. I was just sharing an experience that I had with one university. And that university ended up making an exception for him.

 

My daughter had a higher GPA than my son and applied to  a satellite of the same system. They didn't question my mommy grades at all. In fact when it was determined that she didn't have a required economics course on the transcript and that she needed one I was going to include in her senior to meet that requirement. I got to talking to the admissions counselor about the expected content of an economics course and mentioned that she took Financial Peace University - the adult version as an extra-curricular. The admissions counselor said that would fulfill the credit. Then I asked how I should evaluate it for a grade because when my daughter took it, I didn't have any evaluation criteria in mind. The admissions counselor said that my daughter would have gotten an A in it, so just go with an A!  Plus she was offered their highest level merit scholarship.

 

Edited February 8, 2016 by DebbS

[regentrude]

Grading homework seems like a completely ridiculous thing to do.  My math teacher last semester graded the homework.  I see homework as practice.  Why would that be graded?  Granted, it was not worth a ton, but still.  I do not see it as a test or quiz. 

Teachers in school grade homework because students would otherwise not DO the homework. In your homeschool, there is no need to grade HW since you can insist that your student does it.

 

Giving a grade for HW also allows instructors to make exams a bit harder so they can differentiate at the upper end, because the "easy" points for HW buffer the grade.

[regentrude]

Speaking of grades matching outside stuff.  No clue how that will turn out at this point.  We aren't quite there yet.  But it seems to me that it wouldn't be terribly odd if the grades didn't match 100%.  Wouldn't, for example, one expect a college course to possibly be more difficult for a high school (or younger) student verses a high school level course?

 

An occasional B in a college class in a subject with A mommy grades is not going to raise flags. Consistent Cs in college classes contrasting mommy As will.

And large discrepancies with test scores will also cast suspicion.

 

ETA: Students don't get a bonus for taking college courses at a younger age. They will be held to the same standards as all students and are expected to be capable of performing at college level. Otherwise they should not be taking college classes.

 

Edited February 8, 2016 by regentrude

[SparklyUnicorn]

Teachers in school grade homework because students would otherwise not DO the homework. In your homeschool, there is no need to grade HW since you can insist that your student does it.

 

Giving a grade for HW also allows instructors to make exams a bit harder so they can differentiate at the upper end, because the "easy" points for HW buffer the grade.

 

Ah.  My son's instructor doesn't grade homework. 

 

I don't mind exactly, but the instructor I had graded it meaning you didn't get credit just for doing it.  You were graded as if it were an exam.  Now granted it was not worth a whole lot, but still.  I suppose that motivated me to work extra hard on it though.

[SparklyUnicorn]

An occasional B in a college class in a subject with A mommy grades is not going to raise flags. Consistent Cs in college classes contrasting mommy As will.

And large discrepancies with test scores will also cast suspicion.

 

ETA: Students don't get a bonus for taking college courses at a younger age. They will be held to the same standards as all students and are expected to be capable of performing at college level. Otherwise they should not be taking college classes.

 

 

makes sense

[regentrude]

Ah.  My son's instructor doesn't grade homework. 

 

I don't mind exactly, but the instructor I had graded it meaning you didn't get credit just for doing it.  You were graded as if it were an exam.  Now granted it was not worth a whole lot, but still.  I suppose that motivated me to work extra hard on it though.

 

Well, giving credit "just for doing it" makes n sense when it is not evaluated for correctness. Otherwise, what is there to prevent a student to just scribble some random nonsense so HW is "done"?

Any scenario where I know of HW being graded, it is evaluated in detail for correctness. Nobody gets credit for just handing in some random stuff.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Well, giving credit "just for doing it" makes n sense when it is not evaluated for correctness. Otherwise, what is there to prevent a student to just scribble some random nonsense so HW is "done"?

Any scenario where I know of HW being graded, it is evaluated in detail for correctness. Nobody gets credit for just handing in some random stuff.

 

It was multiple choice graded by the computer (math).

 

That guy was lousy.  And he made mistakes constantly.  He even gave me the wrong grade in the end on the transcript.  So I had to spend a couple of weeks getting that fixed. 

 

That's a whole other story though...

[SparklyUnicorn]

No actually some were not multiple choice, but fill in.  Still corrected by a computer.

 

 

[regentrude]

No actually some were not multiple choice, but fill in.  Still corrected by a computer.

 

That is fairly standard in math and science courses, especially with large enrollment.

I have 600 students who work a total  of  4,800 homework problems every week. No school has that much of a budget for TAs.

So, one has to come up with a  way to handle that. Most colleges use automated grading systems and have students put the answers into computers.

At my department, we are the rare holdouts; we do not believe that evaluating a final answer adequately checks whether students have mastered the procedure and concept. So, we have developed a completely different mechanism of evaluation: we collect only six out the total 30 homework sets for each student, at random, but in addition, students are called in recitation to the board at random to reproduce a problem solution without their notes, for a grade. With two recitations per week, 35 students in a section, and eight problems due each week, each student has to do that several times per semester - and the threat of having to do boardwork is a sufficient motivation to complete the homework and not just copy it from a classmate.

But if there are no recitations, an online homework system is now almost unavoidable with the ratio of student per faculty. (I used to hand grade all homework when I had a class of "only" 80 students; I was grading 640 problems every week, which took up an incredible amount of time.

Edited February 8, 2016 by regentrude

[creekland]

Well, giving credit "just for doing it" makes n sense when it is not evaluated for correctness. Otherwise, what is there to prevent a student to just scribble some random nonsense so HW is "done"?

Any scenario where I know of HW being graded, it is evaluated in detail for correctness. Nobody gets credit for just handing in some random stuff.

 

At our school math HW is graded just for being done - not for correctness.  Some kids get away with merely having random stuff written down as it requires a bit more attention to check to see if they tried the actual problems and not all teachers take the time to do that.  Then too, answers can be looked up online and some find it easier to practice their copying skills than their math skills.

 

It's a bit frustrating for me TBH, but it's the system I work under.

[SparklyUnicorn]

That is fairly standard in math and science courses, especially with large enrollment.

I have 600 students who work a total  of  4,800 homework problems every week. No school has that much of a budget for TAs.

So, one has to come up with a  way to handle that. Most colleges use automated grading systems and have students put the answers into computers.

At my department, we are the rare holdouts; we do not believe that evaluating a final answer adequately checks whether students have mastered the procedure and concept. So, we have developed a completely different mechanism of evaluation: we collect only six out the total 30 homework sets for each student, at random, but in addition, students are called in recitation to the board at random to reproduce a problem solution without their notes, for a grade. With two recitations per week, 35 students in a section, and eight problems due each week, each student has to do that several times per semester - and the threat of having to do boardwork is a sufficient motivation to complete the homework and not just copy it from a classmate.

But if there are no recitations, an online homework system is now almost unavoidable with the ratio of student per faculty. (I used to hand grade all homework when I had a class of "only" 80 students; I was grading 640 problems every week, which took up an incredible amount of time.

 

Well actually the class had 25 students.   Class size is limited to 30 I believe. 

 

But absolutely with that many students I could understand! 

[regentrude]

Well actually the class had 25 students.   Class size is limited to 30 I believe.

 

But how many such sections is each instructor required to teach?

Edited February 9, 2016 by regentrude

[Frances]

I did not give grades nor did my son receive them in the many classes he took at a homeschool center. He did have eight letter grades on his transcript from classes taken at the local LAC, one from an online AP course, and one from a high school class at the state medical sciences university. I explained everything in his homeschool documents, and he had letters of recommendation from professors and his primary teachers at the homeschool center, and excellent test scores. He was accepted to every college to which he applied, including several top LACs, and received large merit scholarships at all schools that gave merit aid.

[SparklyUnicorn]

But how many such sections is each instructor required to teach?

 

He taught one course at the school.  It's a CC.  He is a high school math teacher (in a small district).

 

I don't know.  Maybe he was having personal issues or something, but he wasn't very good. 

 

At least the instructor my son has sounds a lot better. 

[Frances]

That is fairly standard in math and science courses, especially with large enrollment.

I have 600 students who work a total of 4,800 homework problems every week. No school has that much of a budget for TAs.

So, one has to come up with a way to handle that. Most colleges use automated grading systems and have students put the answers into computers.

At my department, we are the rare holdouts; we do not believe that evaluating a final answer adequately checks whether students have mastered the procedure and concept. So, we have developed a completely different mechanism of evaluation: we collect only six out the total 30 homework sets for each student, at random, but in addition, students are called in recitation to the board at random to reproduce a problem solution without their notes, for a grade. With two recitations per week, 35 students in a section, and eight problems due each week, each student has to do that several times per semester - and the threat of having to do boardwork is a sufficient motivation to complete the homework and not just copy it from a classmate.

But if there are no recitations, an online homework system is now almost unavoidable with the ratio of student per faculty. (I used to hand grade all homework when I had a class of "only" 80 students; I was grading 640 problems every week, which took up an incredible amount of time.

Being evaluated on a problem done during recitation is a good idea, and one I've not head of before. Interestingly, I was never asked to hand in math HW for a grade or credit in high school or college or my first year of grad school. It was only after transferring to one of the Ivies to finish my grad work that I was graded on my HW and was grading others (although basically just for completing it, unless done very poorly) as a TA.

 

In high school, college, and my first year of grad school, HW was considered a learning tool and grades were based only on exams. Lots of help was available to answer questions about HW, and we were certainly encouraged to do it, but we did not receive credit or grades for doing it. I don't ever recall receiving any feedback on my later graded HW that was especially helpful, although having it count for part of the course grade did relieve some of the exam pressure.

[SparklyUnicorn]

What kills me about the whole thing is despite all that hand holding some people still can't seem to get it together. 

[EKS]

No, you're not.  I think homeschool grades are ridiculous, too.  

 

After dealing with the grading practices of some b&m school teachers, I've come to the conclusion that school school grades are ridiculous as well.

[SparklyUnicorn]

After dealing with the grading practices of some b&m school teachers, I've come to the conclusion that school school grades are ridiculous as well.

 

Well and really are grades standardized across the country?  No, I don't think so.

It's a tool for communicating.  I guess it makes sense for that reason to some extent.  Doesn't really make sense for homeschooling, but I understand universities don't want to sift through narratives.  So I can come up with grades. 

[Mom22ns]

FWIW, many colleges (state schools to top schools) told us they unweigh GPAs - and tend to only look at the 4 main subjects + foreign languages.  They want to see the box checked that the student took all the toughest courses available to them.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking when I heard the "it is ok to get a lower grade because it is weighted and doesn't hurt the GPA". Ds's college uses weighted grades and even told me to weight his grades to be competitive for scholarships. I'm pretty sure all the other schools my kids applied to (4 total, not a huge sample) only used unweighted grades for both admissions and scholarships. Those challenging classes CAN hurt!

[creekland]

After dealing with the grading practices of some b&m school teachers, I've come to the conclusion that school school grades are ridiculous as well.

 

Same here.  Some teachers make sure grades are earned.  Other teachers practically give them out as gifts.  This is within the same school district.  

 

I can fully understand why colleges often have to go with standardized test scores as a leveler even though those don't always show much either.  In general (meaning there are occasionally exceptions, but they are rare) SAT/ACT scores correlate pretty well with a student's foundation and ability.  They don't show work ethic at all, so can be bad predictors, but they're better at showing who has possibility from our school than an A in Alg II without knowing which teacher gave the grade.

 

College admin folks have their work cut out for them when they try to decide who their best candidates are IMO.