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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I attended graduate school in education, I handed in my first essay with some trepidation, and lots of excitement.<\/p>\n
Like my classmates, I had worked hard to wrestle with the topic: how best to critique a study’s methodology<\/em>. Like my classmates, I wanted to know how I could do better.<\/p>\n When we got those essays back, our TAs had written a number at the end. There were, quite literally, no other marks on the paper — much less helpful comments. (I’m an English teacher, so when I say “literally” I mean “literally.”)<\/p>\n We then sat through a slide show in which the head TA explained the most common errors, and what percentage of us had made each one.<\/p>\n Here’s the kicker. The head TA then said:<\/p>\n “Your TAs are very busy, and we couldn’t possibly meet with all of you. So, to be fair, we won’t discuss these essays individually with any of you.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, in a SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, I got exactly NO individual feedback on my essay. I have little idea what I did right or wrong. And, I have no idea whatsoever how I could have done better.<\/p>\n How’s that for teaching excellence?<\/p>\n My point with this story is: for me, the experience of getting a grade without feedback was a) demotivating, b) infuriating, and c) useless.<\/p>\n If you’d like to rethink your school’s grading strategy, my own experience would point you in a particular direction.<\/p>\n However: you’re not reading this blog to get\u00a0anecdotes<\/em>. If you’re in Learning and the Brain world, you’re interested in science. What does research<\/em> tell us about grades and motivation?<\/p>\n A recent study on “The Impact of Grades on Student Motivation<\/a>” has been getting some Twitter love.<\/p>\n The researchers surveyed students at a college that has grades only, a different college that offers narrative feedback only, and two colleges that use both. They also interviewed students at one of the “hybrid” colleges.<\/p>\n What did they find?<\/p>\n They didn’t pull any punches:<\/p>\n “Grades did not enhance academic motivation.”<\/p>\n “Grades promoted anxiety, a sense of hopelessness, social comparison, as well as a fear of failure.”<\/p>\n “In contrast, narrative evaluations supported basic psychological needs and enhanced motivation.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Briefly: grades demotivate, while narrative feedback helpfully focuses students on useful strategies for improvement.<\/p>\n Certainly these conclusions align with my own grad-school experience.<\/p>\n Despite these emphatic conclusions, and despite the Twitter love, teachers who want to do away with grades should not, in my view, rely too heavily on this study.<\/p>\n Here’s why:<\/p>\n First<\/strong>: unless you teach in a college or university, research with these students might not apply to your students. Motivation for 2nd and 3rd graders might work quite differently than motivation for 23-year-olds.<\/p>\n Second:<\/strong>\u00a0most college and university students, unlike most K-12 students, have some choices<\/em> about the schools the attend and the classes they take.<\/p>\n In other words: students with higher degrees of academic motivation might be choosing colleges and courses with narrative feedback instead of grades.<\/p>\n It’s not clear if their level of motivation results from\u00a0or causes<\/em> their choice of college. Or, perhaps, both.<\/p>\n (To be clear, the researchers acknowledge this concern.)<\/p>\n Third<\/strong>: in my experience, most K-12 teachers combine letter or number grades with specific feedback. Unlike my TAs, who gave me a number without guidance, teachers often provide both a number and specific guidance.<\/p>\n Fourth<\/strong>: the study includes a number of troubling quirks.<\/p>\n The interview portion of the study includes thirteen<\/em> students. It is, ahem, unusual to draw strong conclusions from interviews with 13 people.<\/p>\n The interviewer was a student who already knew some of the interviewees<\/em>. Their prior relationship might well influence their answers to the interview questions.<\/p>\n More than any study I’ve read, this one includes an overtly political and economic perspective. Research like this typically eschews a strong political stance, and its presence here is at odds with research norms. (To be clear: researchers have political opinions. It’s just very strange to see them in print.)<\/p>\n Given these concerns — big and small — we should look elsewhere for research on grades and motivation to guide our schools and our own practice.<\/p>\n We have, of course, often written about grades and motivation here on the blog. For example:<\/p>\nGrades and Motivation: Today’s Research<\/h2>\n
Not So Fast<\/h2>\n
Earlier Thoughts<\/h2>\n