Vignette 7

The Mighty Bell Curve!

            Personally for me I believe that has a teacher we are paid to teach the curriculum therefore we should grade based on the students’ knowledge of the curricular outcomes. So for me the POS plays a pretty big role in my determination of students’ grades. I feel that when I was in school I had to learn the outcomes in the POS and that’s what I was graded on and I turned out fine so I think I will do the same in my classroom.

            I have said before that I did not know the students in my IPT enough to sway their marks but in my own classroom, knowing the students and knowing the efforts that each and every one puts in would make a difference in the grades. With that said if I were to choose to use a bell curve to determine the final grades in my classroom I would only use the grades from my grade book to determine where each student would fall. BUT!!!! I will never use the bell curve unless I have no choice in the matter. Even as a university student I think the bell curve is stupid and pointless. I just do not think it is fair when you get all 80’s and 90’s during the year and you are in a class full of high achievers that those grades may fall in the ‘C’ category. For middle school I just do not see the point in using the bell curve in a class of 40 when it should be used in classes of 1000’s.

            I believe that the criterion-referenced grading is a better practice because in the end, like final grades, are not a huge shock to parents and students. I do not believe in exposing middle school children to the bell curve. When they receive 80% on an assignment they should not have to worry about it converting to a lower grade or have the expectation that it may end up being a higher grade. I think from personally experience I do not like the bell curve therefore if I have a choice to use it or not I WILL NOT. Also, if the government can change the cut off to determine a pass or fail on PAT exams then what is really the big deal for teachers to use the bell curve?

            To make sure my assessments are reliable and valid will come from reading ways to check for errors and to read and re-read assessment tools to ensure it is touching the bases I want it to and is testing what the students have learned. I think being a first year teacher there will be a lot of trial and error and until then I will not actually know a proper answer to this questions. I feel like I will have to find out what works for me and what works for the students and this may vary from year to year. So I guess not until I get into a school and have a class full of student will I know if my assessments are reliable and valid and have no room for error. With that said I do not believe there is any teacher out there who has assessment down pat!