“What you can do matters more than what grade you got in school.” I’m sure many of us can resonate with this statement, regardless of how our school days went. Traditionally, the grading system focuses on measuring students based on exams or assignments that yield numerical or letter grades. However, the effectiveness of this approach is increasingly being questioned, as it often overlooks crucial elements of a person’s learning and development, such as their ability to apply what they’ve learned. What if we redefined our approach to grading to align more closely with the realities of life and work in the 21st century?
Learning through Experience – The Key to True Knowledge
Take a moment to reflect on your own learning journey. How much of what you’ve acquired in terms of knowledge, skills, or understanding came from sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher? Now compare that with how much you’ve learned from experiences: maybe it’s a hobby you’ve pursued, a job you’ve held, a conversation you’ve had, or a problem you’ve had to solve on your own. If you’re like most people, the balance is likely tilted heavily towards experiential learning.
The reality is, learning is an ongoing, self-driven process that transcends the boundaries of a classroom. It’s a continuous exploration propelled by curiosity, passion, and necessity. It is a journey shaped by experiences, interactions, failures, and successes, rather than confined within the pages of textbooks.
From Grades to Mastery
How then do we encapsulate this complex, multifaceted process of learning within a letter or number grade? The answer is simple – we can’t. This is where a transformation in our thinking becomes necessary. In recent years, the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a collective of several hundred schools, has made a revolutionary move. They have decided to replace traditional transcripts, with their focus on numbers and grades, with a mastery-based approach that better represents what a student can do and what they have learned.
But, you might wonder, how does this work? This approach does not measure learning through arbitrary points or grades. Instead, it values the understanding and application of skills and knowledge. It shifts the question from “How can I score more points?” to “How can I understand this better?”
Grading Reformation as a Catalyst for Change
If we succeed in transforming our grading system, it could trigger a wave of innovation in education. When the stress of chasing grades disappears, the real learning can begin. Classrooms will transform from exam factories into spaces where students explore, inquire, and apply knowledge in ways that matter to them.
The resistance to this change is not surprising. It’s not easy to let go of familiar structures and expectations. However, the collective efforts of educators and institutions across levels can bring about this change.
Why Application Matters More Than Grades
At the end of the day, the only learning that truly matters is the one that you can apply. Have you ever studied something just to forget it after the exam? We’ve all been there. But if students can apply their learning in ways that are meaningful and relevant, that’s a far more effective assessment than a numerical score.
Imagine if we could assess students based on what they could do – the problems they could solve, the tasks they could accomplish, the ideas they could generate – rather than what they could remember for an exam. Wouldn’t that be a much more realistic and rewarding measure of their abilities?
Building a Future-Ready Education System
What we need now is a shift from traditional to innovative, from confined to experiential, from grades to mastery. As we prepare our children for a future filled with uncertainties, let’s equip them with the ability to learn and adapt.
Instead of asking “What grade did you get?”, let’s start asking “What did you learn?”. The time to change our narrative about learning and grades is now. Let’s move towards an education system that values the application of knowledge over the mere accumulation of it. After all, what we can do matters much more than the grades we once got.
