Should a Student Get a 50 or a Zero for a Missing Assignment?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder weighs in on the ongoing debate between assigning zeros and minimum grades for missing assignments.
Key Takeaways
- Both extremes have problems - Zeros can be mathematically devastating while 50s reward non-completion
- The real question is different - Instead of debating the number, schools should focus on requiring students to complete the work
- Don't give points for nothing - Whatever the policy, students should ultimately be expected to do the work to earn credit
Transcript
If a student doesn't turn in an assignment, should they get a zero or should they get a 50?
I'm seeing all kinds of different policies around grades for missing assignments.
And in a lot of districts, it is now the policy to give a 50 as the minimum grade, even if a student doesn't do the assignment at all.
And I have thoughts about this.
I think there are some things that are wrong about our traditional grading scale, where a zero carries way more weight than it should.
It disproportionately harms your grade if you have zero.
And a lot of educators and parents have said to me, that's okay.
Like you should learn the lesson that not having zeros is really important.
And zeros really do cause failure.
And it's okay to kind of dramatize that for kids by artificially penalizing them with a zero.
On the other hand, A lot of districts are giving half credit for work that is not turned in at all.
And I personally feel like there should be a difference between doing a halfway decent job, getting half of the points, and doing nothing at all.
I don't feel like those should be exactly the same.
So let me know what you think about this.
Should we be giving points for not doing work?
Should we give zeros even if they carry an outsized role in students' overall grade?
I feel like there are other things we can do that would make a difference.
Like one thing I've seen a lot of schools do that I like is making kids do their work, right?
Like have a detention if the kids didn't do their work.
Keep them after school.
Make them do their work.
You know, don't let them participate in stuff other than doing their work if they haven't done their work.
I think we can do a lot more to just get kids to turn in their work and i think there are things we can do organizationally to make sure that we're checking that students have actually turned in their work that students are staying organized enough and staying on top of things and they even know what their assignments are so i think there are things we can do to get kids to turn in their work other than simply punish them with bad grades but at the same time i don't think a grade is really a punishment i think a grade is supposed to be a reflection of reality and if you haven't done the work why should you get points for it?
Why should I put a 50 in my grade book if the amount of work you turned in is zero?
That does not make a lot of sense to me, and it doesn't seem like it's really teaching the right lesson.
So I think this is something that we do need to fix.
I do think we need to deal with the disproportionate impact of zeros, but I don't think this is the right way to do it.
Let me know what you think.