Grading both effort and achievement - what are your thoughts?

[loveyouradvice]

I heard about this from my sis, whose son at private secondary now gets marks for both effort and achievement - really useful and illuminating, especially as they spotted he was only scoring Bs on effort in his less popular subjects. I raised this with Habs Girls when I went round (DD now y5 state primary) and they said they couldnt see any point in doing this at a girls school as girls would always score top marks for effort.... What are your thoughts and experiences? Personally, thought would be great for my daughter who can tend to cruise at times.....

I had that at school. Was great for showing my parents I was trying, just was not good at various subjects. Think it is great and shocked it isn't common.

Prizegiving at end of term also were given on effort, highest grades and most improved. And rule was no one person could get more than one prize per subject.

How bizarre! Are all girls always totally motivated by their schoolwork then? I must have missed that while I was looking out the window in the boring subjects.....

Yes of course they should get marks for effort. I always found that one of the more useful parts of DSs school reports, as you could see whether your DC is trying hard but not getting a subject, or is doing well but coasting, or whatever.

My son is at a secondary state grammar and all his marks are separated for effort and achievement. As he is a bright boy with a tendency to coast, it's an opportunity for both teachers and parents to politely point out any discrepancies between the two columns. So I am in favour of it and it works well for him, because he doesn't like seeing Bs on the grade card either.

We had that at my secondary school. It was an all girls state grammar.

At my DS independent school we get a grade that is meant to cover both. For example a 1 is excellent effort and excellent achievement, 3 is good effort and satisfactory achievement. down to 7 poor effort poor achievement. At his prep achievement and effort were separate grades. I'm not sure which is the best.

They do this at my dd's state school. A-D for achievement and A-D for effort. Useful to show that a child is trying very hard even if they don't get high marks for achievement. Equally useful if q child scores very high for achievement, but not so high for effort!

I don't know how you can measure achievement. Prehaps what would be interesting on a report would be to show the grade that was predicted by Fisher Family Trust Software say 2 years ago, along side actual achievement.

If a child is above target then they have clearly worked hard. Ie. an SEN child who score level 4a in year 9 SATs deserves praise, if they were predicted a level 4c two years ago. A gifted and talented child who score level 7c in year 9 SAT maybe doesn't deserve praise if they have seriously under performed. (Even if the particular child is top of the class!)

"q child scores very high for achievement, but not so high for effort!"

That is the sort of situation that many British parents would be proud of. The problem comes is that one day child "q" needs to work. If they had a report card for child Q.

Expected level: 8a
Actual level: 7a

Then maybe parents would would be less proud. It does not help a child to know they are top of the class. The important thing is that each child is reaching their full potential.

My DCs have Behaviour for Learning scores - 1 is Outstanding, 2 is good etc. We get these 3 times a year alongside their current levels.

""q child scores very high for achievement, but not so high for effort!"

That is the sort of situation that many British parents would be proud of"

Would they? I wouldn't - and neither would dd's school!

Not all teachers are good at judging effort. My very academic son was always getting high effort grades despite not studying. His brother gets lower effort (and achievement) grades though he has to work much harder.

We had this in state primary. Think there's evidence that rewarding effort is motivating and can also help improve performance.

The problem was that there were often disagreements about marks for effort, as it's quite subjective, eg a child may be inattentive in class and get a low mark for effort but work hard at home. Presumably teachers can anyway comment on effort.

We had this at school (independant) . My brother usually scored A for achievement and E for effort. Much to my parents amusement.

ds' last report was mainly 3s (room for improvement) with a couple of 2s (good) and one S (outstanding) for PE for effort ... and all 1s and a couple of Ss for achievement ...

he thinks he's the dog's bollocks ....

he's now on report for effort ... when he can be arsed to hand his report card in

My boys have always had effort grades, and this is always the basis on which we have "judged" the report. The effort grades for school (5 categories) are clearly defined and cover attitude/behaviour in class, completion of homework, etc. It's very hard/unusual to get the top grade.

They also have a progress grade where they are measured against their target.

Duh, I've just realised DS has this. He has his grade, (ie 5b) and his engagement level (5 being the highest, 1 the lowest). The school then work out his average engagement level.

What an odd attitude by 'Habs'!

We get, on interim reports (as opposed to end of term ones which have comments as well) - KS4 Target Grade (FFT based)/Predicted Grade by teacher/Current Grade/Target Level (on/above/below) and Effort out of 5.

Think it's a good idea and have had this right through primary too.

Dc,s report are huge spreadsheets with marks for effort, attainment, homework, attendance and preparation and behaviour for each subject.
It also gives current level,Target level and predicted level. Then once a year we also get written comments.

Reading some of the comments reminded my of when my DS2 was at his prep he scored 99% in his maths exam and 100% in his class work but was awarded a 3 for effort; working hard. He asked the teacher what he would have to have done to get the top score for effort; a 4. She said stop whistling in class!?

odd advice

my dd is at a great girls grammar and just got a 3 for effort - not unusual at all
just because theyre bright does not mrean they try

i care a lot more about effort than attainment

Ds1 is at a state grammar. He gets 6 monitoring reports a year, with current levels, end of ks3 levels, and scores for attitude to learning and homework with 1 being excellent and 4 poor. I'm only really interested in score for attitude to learning and homework which I think is invaluable.I think 6 times a year might be slight overkill, but we'll see.
I think the Habs head who believes girls always put in effort, is totally deluded. I seem to remember both myself and my friends spending a large chunk of time, doing as little as we could get away with,and that was at a high performing all girls grammar too.

My DD is at an independent girl's prep school and they are always graded for both effort and attainment, right from the start.

Very odd for a school to believe that every one of their pupils always apply 100% effort to every subject all the time!

At DD's school to get a top effort grade you don't have to be just trying hard. You have to be doing way over the expected, effort wise. 100% won't get you an A for effort there.

DD is at a private secondary and she gets graded on both counts. I went to state secondary back in the 80s and I got graded on both. I thought it was standard.

My DS is graded on attainment and behaviour and effort it works for him.

My son with 100% in maths wanted at the time to know how he could prove that he was putting in put more effort?
Any thoughts?
(Obviously stopping whistling in class would have helped but when asked why he was whistling he said he was bored so as he was only 7 at the time surely the teacher has a responsibility to provide more demanding work).