بعيدا عن الدرجات

by Jack Schneider, Ethan L. Hutt, إيمان معروف (Translator)

تقفُ الدرجات والتقييمات والتصنيفات، اليومَ، عقبةً في طريق تعلُّم الطالب، رغم أنَّ هذا لم يكن القصد منها ابتداءً، لأنَّها وُضِعَت أساسًا لحلِّ مشاكل حقيقية وملحَّة يعاني منها المعلمون ومسؤولو المدرسة. أصبحتِ الدرجات والتقييمات والتصنيفات، اليومَ، تطغى على الغرض الأساسي من التعليم المدرسي: التَّعلم، بل وتقوِّضه.
بدلًا من توجيه وتحفيز تنمية معارف الطُّلاب ومهاراتهم، أصبحت تلك الأدوات غاياتٍ في حدِّ ذاتها. باتَ هذا صحيحًا منذ أمدٍ طويل لدرجة أن الكثيرين منَّا لا يرون فيه مشكلةً.

***
في هذا الكتاب يُسلِّط كلٌّ من )جاك شنايدر( و)إيثان هوت( الضوءَ على الأسباب التي أوصلتنا إلى هذا الوضع المتأزِّم، ويدرسان مبرِّراتِ تمسُّكنا بأشكال التقييم القديمة هذه، كما يقترحانِ خطواتٍ عمليةً وبديلةً يُمكن اتِّخاذها لتصحيح المسار.
إنَّ الغاية من هذا الكتاب، الواضح لغويًّا وفكريًّا، أن يكون دليلًا عمليًّا لكلِّ من يريد ضمان الهدف الأساسي للتعليم، وهو مساعدة الطلاب على التَّعلم والمعرفة؛ لا تحصيل الدرجات كغايةٍ ومقياسٍ للنجاح.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2024

Reviews

[Aaron Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fantastic book because it spoke to me as a reader coming from multiple entry points. Whether you are a concerned parent, someone interested in schools from a policy perspective, or an educator, I highly recommend this book.

First, as the parent of two children in public schools, I found this book to be informative and level-headed in its critique of grades, tests, and transcripts. The authors persuasively point out the problems with our current approach to each of these issues, but they also recognize that grades, test, and transcripts do serve some valid and important purposes, such as providing information to parents. After reading the book, I felt as though I could be more clear-eyed in conveying to teachers and school officials the specific things that might be problematic, without having to rail against the entire system we've got. The book was also, in a way, reassuring: true, things can seem awfully broken from the perspective of a student who feels like they're drowning in tests. But the rest of the world hasn't figured out a magical solution, either -- which means we are hardly alone in searching for advances.

As someone who works somewhat in the education policy space (chiefly in the realm of education law), what I enjoyed most about this book was its measured tone and approach. Hutt and Schneider recognize that they do not have a magic, silver bullet solution to a problem that this is nuanced and omnipresent. At the same time, they do provide meaningful, concrete suggestions to dial down the stakes of assessment while also retaining the valuable communicative functions that grades and tests, for better or worse, do serve.

Finally, as a former middle school teacher in St. Louis, MO who taught during the rise of the standards and accountability movement, I found this book thoughtful in its recognition of who, at the end of the day, will need to buy-in before any kind of reform will be meaningfully implemented: teachers. Throughout the book, Hutt and Schneider treat teachers as important stakeholders whose voices are essential to shaping reform discussions, while also recognizing that change can sometimes be hard (and that doesn't make it bad or no longer worth pursuing).

All in all, this book is well-written, accessible, and important. Highly recommended!

[Alan Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Off the Mark is an excellent critique of how our century-old grading systems oppose the educational goals stated in all school mission statements. The authors also provide a summary of alternative grading systems that have been developed, but, as the authors point out, most of these grading systems have failed to gain traction in school systems designed to achieve institutional goals--certification, ranking, standardization---rather than performance-based assessments. The book's weakness is offering strategies for school administrators to develop in their schools performance-based grading systems. As a former Principal, I can personally attest to the difficulties of inserting performance-based systems into an institutional grading system. That is not to say I had pockets of teachers and departments in the building that experimented and developed alternative assessment regimes, but the true effectiveness of these systems was blocked by institutional goals and practices, and to be honest, on how parents defined "real school"--- meaning grades, ranks, and tests.

[Janet Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read with good examples, but definitely felt like Ivory Tower territory. I wish I’d had 5 classes of 20 students, though public school reality for traditional classrooms also means over 30 students at the secondary level. I would love to see some of their offerings put into practice, but it is hard to envision without major funding and policy change first. Within my own classroom, as well as my children’s experiences as students, I see a lot of truth in their writing. Good teachers have always incorporated many of the ideas, but in recent years, the testing frenzy and parent over involvement has squeezed out teacher ability to vary much from the school script.

[John Magee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, despite their clear-eyed analysis of the driving forces behind our current systems of assessment, I feel that Schneider and Hutt miss the greatest force of all: capitalist/free-market society. As long as the value of our time is measured in the dollars we earn, we will focus on the exchange value of our education. They suggest some interesting changes, but parents and administrators won't have the political will to make them.

[Korey Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nailed it.