My own story as an educator is suddenly unconventional. After ten years of working in high schools and throwing so much of myself into a single school community, I started my own business. Even though the move to educational consulting has been positive, there are parts of my old life that I miss: my kids, my co-workers, the important work.
But there’s one looming category of that conventional school life that I don’t miss. The points. Everything always came back to the points.
In the context of today’s educational jargon, standards-based learning falls somewhere between the wide-sweeping acceptance of differentiation and the divisive label of the Common Core State Standards. Teachers smile at standards-based learning proposals because it seems unlikely that school administrators will radically overhaul their school systems and report cards. Administrators smile at standards-based learning proposals because they know that too many parents love the concrete, competitive nature of a points-based system. And so it goes.
The challenges of transitioning to a standards-based learning model are real. As with any change, there are significant hurdles to overcome that must be addressed strategically. That being said, the part of the standards-based learning discussion that we often overlook is the fact that our students are already asking for it. In fact, they’ve been asking for a different system all along—it’s just been in a way that sounded wrong to us.
Here’s how your students have been calling for change:
1) How many points is this worth?
When students pose this question, they are letting you know that they have figured out “the game” of attending school. They have years of experience and the longitudinal data reveals that the game works like this: complete activities, get points, and receive good grades. Of course, we don’t want to hear an acknowledgement of the game because it sounds like an insult. How much time should I spend on this random assignment?
But the student is just accepting your rules and embracing their own educational history. They have stopped searching for a more substantive learning experience and have offered up their compliance instead. When teachers freak out over this question, students learn a Fight Club-esque lesson. Don’t talk about the points. Pretend the game doesn’t exist.
2) When will grades be updated?
Again, teachers hate this question. It sounds like students are accusing us of lounging around, of not being aware that our grades should be updated. We take this criticism so personally that we tell students the twelve valid reasons why grades won’t be updated until the end of the week and watch as they stare blankly back at us.
If we take a step back and imagine the student perspective, their question becomes even more disturbing. It’s not the careless comment of a self-absorbed teenager, but a genuine request for feedback. I have no idea how much I learned and if it’s enough. When will I find out? They know that your gradebook has artificial guidelines that they aren’t meant to understand. Why is a 92% an A-? What’s the real difference between a 92% and a 93%? And that’s how teenagers decide to just wait for the points to be declared in the gradebook.
3) Is there extra credit?
My confession: This question would always push me to the edge, that exhausting place that teachers can only be rescued from with Diet Coke and ibuprofen. That was a cute unit you planned for us, but I don’t have enough points yet…so can I have a worksheet?
Once again, students are telling us that 1) they have identified the game 2) they want to comply with the game and 3) their relationships with adults improve as they acquire more points. Even though they are offering themselves up as willing participants in our game, the conversation goes badly. We try talking about evidence of learning and skill development while they keep coming back to the points, the grades, the GPA, the honor roll. But really, what do we expect students to say?
All of this makes me wonder what the catalyst for change will be. Are we really waiting for a group of parents to demand standards-based learning? For a government agency to give us new tools and documentation templates? For all the colleges to stop giving grades so the K-12 system can follow? I understand the sentiment behind those arguments, but it just doesn’t sound like the voice of a profession that has devoted itself so tirelessly to placing the needs of children first.
Maybe our reason for standards-based learning isn’t about the research, of which there is plenty. Maybe it’s not about a new district-level or community-level directive. Maybe it’s more obvious than that. Maybe it’s just because our students have been asking us for a better way.