Why I use categories

An example

- Teacher A has one category called Total Points
- The student earns 850 out of 1000 points and earns a B
- Teacher A can’t look at this and definitively say why the student earned a B rather than an A or C. Did he turn in all of his work? Did he do well on homework but not tests? Are his writing skills poor?

- Teacher B has multiple categories:
Johnny scores:
Written Work
(in class, on exams, on projects)
(25% of total grade)

Johnny earns 123 / 150 (82%) B- (Johnny needs to improve
his writing skills)

Objective HW Checks
(multiple choice or true / false ?s
answered using HW notes)
(15% of total grade)

Johnny earns 81 / 90 (90%) A- (Johnny understands his
nightly reading)

Objective Unit Exams
(35% of total grade)

Johnny earns 182 / 200 (91%) A- (Johnny translates
understanding to exams)

Final Exam
(objective ?s)
(20% of total grade)

Johnny earns 90 / 95 (95%) A (Johnny translates
understanding to exams)

Responsibility
(student starts semester w/60 points
& loses points for unexcused absences
& tardies & big assignments turned
in late)
(5% of total grade)

Johnny earns 0 / 60 (0%) F (Johnny is irresponsible)

Johnny’s total grade = 85% B
Why does the teacher like this?
It shows some of Johnny’s strengths and weaknesses.
It requires less math because the teacher doesn’t have to figure out how many points to make the final worth, for example, in order to make it worth 20% of the class grade. It could be worth 20 points or 200 points and it would still be in a category worth 20%.
It requires the assigning AND GRADING!!! of fewer, but more important, assignments. A teacher doesn’t have to collect a certain number of points of HW before a test in order to “mitigate” the effects of the test.
A teacher can help a student and his or her parents set skill-based goals based on data.
It shows whether a student is being dragged down because s/he is irresponsible, or it s/he is only passing a class because s/he is very responsible but barely understands anything.