What Do Grades Really Represent?

In less than a week, we will leave this school for the summer, and for the nearly-400 members of the class of 2026, it is likely forever. We will leave behind four years of routines, expectations, and grades that have shaped crucial moments of our adolescence. But what do those grades actually mean?
Many students build their schedules around Senior Studies, “nice” teachers, and classes that aren’t too challenging. This, coupled with the idea that teachers need to be friendly and endlessly accommodating, has created the expectation from many that every class should be an “easy A” for meeting basic expectations. Teachers who hold students accountable for their work or pursue AI cheating most intensely are dubbed “strict graders,” and sometimes students tell friends to avoid these classes.
Every day, we are expected to be on time, pursue creative efforts, make connections with our peers and teachers, participate actively in class, and above all, excel in our academics. But should all of these things be included in your grade? Should your final grade show the effort you pour into drafts of essays for CIS Intro to Literature, the formulas memorized for a CIS College Algebra test, and your daily behaviors during a music class? Or should your grade only reflect products and performance on assessments?
Administration often cites the student survey results that show the strong relationships at BHS between teachers and students. This consistently positive response is something special about BHS; however, it can lead to difficulties enforcing consistent standards. Staff members are forced to walk the constant tightrope between creating personal connections and maintaining their professional responsibilities for holding students accountable for learning. This raises the question of what the role of a teacher is. Is it to educate content knowledge and skills, or to raise expectations of behaviors during class? This delicate balance of personal and professional relationships disproportionately impacts teachers whose schedules are primarily filled with electives, because when students don’t sign up for these classes because they are “too hard” or “not worth the time” these classes get cut, and the depth of high-level classes at BHS is diminished. This can hurt the most engaged students when they run out of options or face classes with lowered expectations.
As Bison Online enrollment has skyrocketed in just two years, upper-level language classes have disappeared, and some of the most challenging technical and CIS classes have suffered drops in enrollment. Students choosing to be out of the classroom and in a fully digital curriculum puts excess emphasis on the product, not the process that goes into learning, which is where the most substantial academic and personal growth occurs. Some students have called for teachers to hold them to higher standards through increased focus on the process of learning and class behaviors instead of only the products they produce. However, an increased focus on process can create strain between student and teacher relationships, due to the unintentional bias that can be brought into the grading process.
According to the Grading for Learning system, which was originally shared with staff and families in 2021, BHS and BCMS staff are expected to follow a three-pillared system intended to maintain objectivity in grading policies. This system was used to guide a five-year implementation of new grading standards. It outlined that grades must be accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational. The system, used by BHS and BCMS, further describes how grades must be measurable, easy to understand, and exclude participation, extra credit, and effort. It states, “grades should be based on valid evidence of a student’s content knowledge, not based on evidence that can be skewed by a teacher’s implicit bias”. The Motivation pillar of the Grading for Learning system states, “the way we grade should be transparent, understandable, and serve to motivate students to achieve academic success, support a growth mindset, and give students opportunities for redemption”. Key grading practices from the Grading for Learning include alternative (non-grade) consequences for cheating, grades based on student work, not the timing of the work, and standards-based gradebooks. It also advocated for clear rubrics shared with students ahead of grading.
At BHS, performance-based classes in departments like Tech Ed, English, Music, and Art have been able to stretch guidelines for grading set by the Grading for Learning pillars due to the performance-based nature of each class. Without grades based on performance, participation, and engagement, the foundational principles of these departments would crumble. CIS Critical Reading and Writing was asked by the University of Minnesota to factor process above product, although it goes against many of the guidelines of Grading for Learning. These are departments whose excellence and reputation are constructed through connection, and at times, nuanced metrics that are not transferable to other departments. Students in music ensembles are graded on metrics like technique and intonation during playing tests, but these could not be applied to other departments, such as Math or English. Similarly, many students who partake in high-level elective courses, especially in the Music Department, are high-achieving and driven to maintain academic excellence, leading some to feel targeted when points are removed for poor punctuality, distracted behaviors, or improper playing techniques, all vital parts of maintaining a successful ensemble, especially at the Concert and CIS levels.
These practices raise the question of how strict teachers should be with their students and where the line is drawn between objective and subjective grading standards across every department. Should your grade in math or creative writing include participation, daily behavior, ability to focus beyond a screen, or are all of these things already reflected through the tests, papers, and homework?
As the topic of ethical and fair grading continues to loom, students and staff throughout BHS have begun to question what a grade is and how it should be executed in every department. Should grades be purely transactional, reflect mutual respect, behavioral issues, academic mastery, or something completely different?
The unique standards held from department to department, which build the scaffolding for students to succeed, demand a more dynamic framework from a district perspective that would allow teachers to teach without the added weight of retaliation or loss of enrollment for holding students accountable for their learning, and students to learn for the sake of expanding their knowledge, not just to check a box on a to-do list.