Creating A Gradebook System In Education
When teaching a class, one develops a system to base all of their grading off of. Before the semester began, I created a system that consisted of the entire semester works. In order to compile a complete grade for the semester, (every assignment is out of 100 points) one must assign weights to each category of the class. There was three projects worth 10%, 14 homework assignments all worth 10%, ten quizzes worth 10%, exam 1 and exam 2 equally each worth 20%, the final exam being worth 25%, and then finally the review quizzes being worth 5%, all adding up to 100%.
A table was then created so that these scores could be individually scored with an average in each category. I then, multiplied those averages by the weight of each category and developed the weighted category average. Once that process was complete, I was then able to determine the final course score. With the homework being weighed at 10%, it can be wildly affect your grade if most of that work is not completed. Like if she did nothing, the best her grade could be would be a 90% if they did everything perfectly.
So when I met individually with a student regarding her score for the year, I helped analyze the data in order to help her understand how her grade is the way it is and how she can improve it. Understanding the weighted averages is important because it helps you prioritize what you need to well on, and what you can be looser with. Areas like projects, homework and quizzes are all worth 10%, but as long as you are completing these assignments while attending class, it should not be difficult to excel in these areas. Overall, she needs to do a better job of not tanking assignments like one of her quizzes and 3 of her homework assignments she failed, along with her first two projects. But the one that really hurt her was exam number one getting a 55% on a 20% weighted average category. So her final grade turned out to be a C.
If she were to simply get a 73% on her first exam, she would of improved her overall score in the class to a 80%. That could be the first way she could improve her grade. There are several ways she can improve her score, but along with improving her first exam, if she got 80% on both of the exams, it would bring her grade to a B, 83%.
The student also asked me about how the projects were scored. She received scores of 32/50, 49. 5/75, and 96/100 on the projects. But scoring the labs out of the points rather than the percentages would not affect the weighted average. This is because the initial scores were turned into percentages and the category average is calculated by adding them together all of these values and divide them by 3. Resulting in the same answer for the category average.
Creating a new weight system, takes away a category away which almost leaves less room for error. The more assignments you have that have equal weighted averages, the better it is if you struggle with a task because it won’t affect your grade that much. But with exams being weighed so heavily, it is imperative you do well when that time comes. While working on this assignment, it has shown me how important it is to do well on all assignments. Because in the long run of things, it will affect your grade. I sometimes struggle with testing so I know I have to get all the points I can earn that isn’t testing. Excel has a great way of showing you how to achieve a grade when you are just short of earning it.
