Week 3

Mrs. Vandekamp - What are you thinking???


"The literature indicates that norm-referenced grading makes learning highly competitive." I think a little competition in learning is healthy, but the bell curve should never be used (specifically in K-12) as a means of motivation for students. I also don't think there is anything wrong with comparing students to each other for informational purposes, but it should be done after the marks have been determined.
The bell curve, in my eyes, is the resulting distribution after a whole big pile of marks have been determined. The marks just naturally fall into that curve pattern. What I am not understanding is how this has shifted to an expectation of what mark distribution ought to be within one classroom. Can't Mrs. Vandekamp be content to know, if she marks each paper objectively, that the grades will nestle beautifully into the bell curve of the grades of students across the entire school, district, province or country?

The vignette does not provide a lot of context but I don't believe that any student before college or university is subject to a marking scheme like this. Mrs. V should have set her criteria from the beginning and mark in accordance with her clearly communicated expectations - other class members' work should not be a factor in Dakota's grade.
In the event that the school or district is in fact asking teachers to grade on a bell curve, a set of criteria along with the student work which meets and exceeds said criteria should be enough for any teacher to justify her 'unevenly distributed' grades.

Brent's frequent updates to us about his struggles with the higher-uppers at U of A has clearly and immensely factored into my thinking on this matter. PRE-DETERMINED bell curves are so stupid...