Something interesting about grades, the Crescendo Education Group, the main consulting group that pushes for and trains teachers on equitable grading, claims that one of the signs that equitable grading is more fair is that it correlates more strongly to testing scores. (See https://crescendoedgroup.org/results/) It seems they're doing something weird to get these correlations, but I thought it was interesting.
I have always been opposed to standardized tests because they are particularly difficult for those with any type of learning difference. Especially those with dyslexia (which is approximately 1/5 the population regardless of language or culture). Wealthy LD children have a significant advantage because their disabilities are often caught early and they are given appropriate tools for learning.
Something to motivate any of your students who might be struggling with standardized tests: your cousin (who is a professor of Mathematics at an ivy league school) scored in the low 500s on his math SAT!!!
It is interesting Hattie included a study in his #1 influence, "Self Report Grades" in Visible Learning (VL). However, the study was on the reliability of students honestly reporting their grade to College Admissions. The study found a high correlation, but that students overstated their result (who would have guessed?). The high correlation when converted to an effect size yielded one of the largest ES in VL of 3.1. Hattie strangely interpreted this as students self reporting has one of the highest influences on that students achievement. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240723602_The_Validity_of_Self-Reported_Grade_Point_Averages_Class_Ranks_and_Test_Scores_A_Meta-Analysis_and_Review_of_the_Literature
I've long been aware of the correlation between grades in high school and grades in college. But I don't have the same takeaway.
Kids who care about grades are markedly different from kids who don't. Kids in each group range from not too bright to brilliant. When they go off the college, the kids who care about grades will still care about grades. If they can't get good grades in one subject, they will change majors until they do. Kids who don't care about grades will not make these choices. It doesn't surprise me that kids who don't care about grades might be more likely to quit school.
What this research *doesn't* prove, I think, is that kids with low SAT scores and high grades are smarter than kids with high SAT scores and low grades.
I've never argued that SATs are fairer than grades. What they are, within broad categories, is more accurate about the tester's intelligence. And what we really should want to know about our poorer students is which ones are bright.
You can choose where you take the SAT (so a place with A/C), as well as retake it to make up for a bad day. Also, the things that make HSGPA subjective also make college GPA subjective, which explains why the former is so predictive of the latter and this affirms Bryan Caplan's education-as-signalling thesis. Education needs to be decoupled from employment and there needs to be greater liquidity in labor markets if social mobility is a concern.
Something interesting about grades, the Crescendo Education Group, the main consulting group that pushes for and trains teachers on equitable grading, claims that one of the signs that equitable grading is more fair is that it correlates more strongly to testing scores. (See https://crescendoedgroup.org/results/) It seems they're doing something weird to get these correlations, but I thought it was interesting.
I have always been opposed to standardized tests because they are particularly difficult for those with any type of learning difference. Especially those with dyslexia (which is approximately 1/5 the population regardless of language or culture). Wealthy LD children have a significant advantage because their disabilities are often caught early and they are given appropriate tools for learning.
Something to motivate any of your students who might be struggling with standardized tests: your cousin (who is a professor of Mathematics at an ivy league school) scored in the low 500s on his math SAT!!!
It is interesting Hattie included a study in his #1 influence, "Self Report Grades" in Visible Learning (VL). However, the study was on the reliability of students honestly reporting their grade to College Admissions. The study found a high correlation, but that students overstated their result (who would have guessed?). The high correlation when converted to an effect size yielded one of the largest ES in VL of 3.1. Hattie strangely interpreted this as students self reporting has one of the highest influences on that students achievement. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240723602_The_Validity_of_Self-Reported_Grade_Point_Averages_Class_Ranks_and_Test_Scores_A_Meta-Analysis_and_Review_of_the_Literature
I've long been aware of the correlation between grades in high school and grades in college. But I don't have the same takeaway.
Kids who care about grades are markedly different from kids who don't. Kids in each group range from not too bright to brilliant. When they go off the college, the kids who care about grades will still care about grades. If they can't get good grades in one subject, they will change majors until they do. Kids who don't care about grades will not make these choices. It doesn't surprise me that kids who don't care about grades might be more likely to quit school.
What this research *doesn't* prove, I think, is that kids with low SAT scores and high grades are smarter than kids with high SAT scores and low grades.
I've never argued that SATs are fairer than grades. What they are, within broad categories, is more accurate about the tester's intelligence. And what we really should want to know about our poorer students is which ones are bright.
You can choose where you take the SAT (so a place with A/C), as well as retake it to make up for a bad day. Also, the things that make HSGPA subjective also make college GPA subjective, which explains why the former is so predictive of the latter and this affirms Bryan Caplan's education-as-signalling thesis. Education needs to be decoupled from employment and there needs to be greater liquidity in labor markets if social mobility is a concern.