Grading a Group

A group grade depends on a finished presentation or project, according to the established objectives. Teacher Gretchen Lee develops individual grades, which receive the greatest emphasis in scoring, from confidential "brag" sheets that she gives out at the end of a project. Each student explains his or her role in the activity and the individual strengths he or she displayed. The students rate their work on a scale of 1 to 10 and explain what they did to merit the grade. The students also rate the others in the group on the same scale and write similar explanations.

"I find that students are incredibly honest in both the self-evaluations and the evaluations of their peers," Lee said. "In the three years I've been using this method only one student abused it in an effort to get another in trouble. Because I had brag sheets from the entire group, it was easy to see what was going on and to adjust for it."

Lee's grading method reassures hardworking students that their efforts will be rewarded, even if the group grade isn't what they might hope for. The less-motivated students also learn quickly that they need to contribute if they want a desirable grade. Before the implementation of this grading system, some of Lee's students treated group work as a holiday, suggesting that one of the motivated kids would do their job to make sure that the group got the A.

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09/14/2010