The value of grades

An interesting discussion of different ways to scale grades using algorithms over at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.  The comments are at least as interesting as the post.  In the comments, the value of grades emerges as a central concern.

Grades have two main uses:

1. Social
2. Pedagogical

Both are important, but it's very clear that the main social use of grades--as a socially visible and efficacious mark which sets apart the "smart" kids from the not-so-smart ones--is predicated upon the sound functioning of the main pedagogical use--as a form of critical feedback that lets a student know relatively how s/he's performing. Grade inflation is driven by the democratization of the university and the concomitant rise of the social importance of grades. Since a university-level education is now regarded as a sine qua non for a decent job, and since universities use high-school grades as an admissions test (i.e., to make invidious distinctions between students), it's no surprise that enormous pressure is placed on teachers to give higher marks. Similarly, since university students now presume (rather unimaginatively, in my opinion) that a graduate degree is the key to social success, and since graduate schools look at university grades as an admissions test, university students correctly deduce that good grades are key to their social success. And since grades are presented with little context, enormous pressure can be brought to bear on teachers, since it hardly matters how a student gets good grades. The succesful wheedler can expect a level of social success (status and salary) equivalent to that of the class genius.

Students believe that this equation represents the world perfectly.  They are not entirely wrong.

With that in mind, the crucial context that makes it possible to put grades to any use is the relative expectations that presumably animate the teacher's instruction. I always think of this context as having three layers:

1. The student's performance vis-à-vis his/her peers in this particular course (during this semester, with these students)
2. The student's performance vis-à-vis other cohorts taking more of less the same course (i.e., compared to all students who've taken this course with me)
3. The student's performance vis-à-vis the universe of students who have ever taken, are now taking, or will take a course more or less equivalent to this one, in any institution and with any instructor.

Comparing students only among their immediate peers can give a false impression of their performance, since cohorts and classes can and do differ in relative strength. Some groups should skew higher or lower, because the groups are stronger or weaker than other groups. I find this kind of contextualizing to be very difficult, and while algorithms can be helpful as a method, they are no substitute for the judgment that decides which of them to use or whether to use them at all.

There are several universities in the US at which students are given feedback but no grades. Hampshire College, for example, provides no grades: at the end of each course, the teacher and the student both draft a 300-400 word narrative discussing the student's performance. These narratives form the body of the student's "transcript." These transcripts are made available to the entire student body as well as to other institutions at the student's request.  I took two courses at Hampshire, and I found the students to be engaged, engaging, and highly motivated. (Since I attended a different school, which did give grades, my teachers gave me a grade, but I can tell you that the narratives they wrote are far more precious to me. I still have them.)

Even though they still publish evaluations of each student's performance, such institutions obviously have a strong position on the social value of grades. An interesting thought experiment that really pushes the distinction between social and pedagogical uses to its limit is to imagine a university that gives grades, but does not publish them. Students are told what grades they have received, but the records are then destroyed, so that no one can "prove" anything. The students' transcripts are simply the lists of the courses they've taken. Anyone could say he'd gotten an A, but only he and his teacher know for sure, and no on can prove anything. Wouldn't teachers and students then simply regard the grades are a rather autistic and reductive form of feedback? Would giving grades be worth the trouble? Would teaching per se be easier or harder? Relative performance would still need to be graded, in the strict sense of the word, but since the social value of the grade has been eliminated, the only value left is its pedagogical value. So what IS the pedagogical value of a grade?

Sector four

A riddle: If you're not for-profit, and you're not non-profit, what are you?

"Ah..." says the clever reader. "You're the government."

"But my lawyers tell me that I really am the government."

But let's just say that you're not the government either. (You listening, George?) You're still a private organization, you don't live off charitable donations, and you're not just in it for the money. Is there a fourth option?

There is. Although not fully formed, the emergent fourth sector comprises organizations not interested in playing by the old rules. Goodbye Marx, Spencer, Jacobs, and even Keynes. Hello KaosPilots. Increasingly referred to as "for-benefit," 4th Sector organizations have the following features:

• Privately owned and controlled (not government)
• Sustains its operations based on income generated by their activities (not a charity)
• Returns some of their surplus to their equity owners in the form of profits (not a non-profit)
• Leaves some of the value it generates in the community where it can continue to accrue (not merely a profit machine)

While for-benefit organizations often represent the fruit of social entrepreneurship, they're not one and the same. Social entrepreneurship (which has very official support here in Canada and elsewhere) means using the tools, techniques, and attitude of for-profit entrepreneurship to tackle social issues. For-benefits are one possible outcome of social entrepreneurship, but so are innovative charities, non-profits, political organizations, one-off events... even for-profits can be conscripted sometimes.

While no one knows exactly what the 4th Sector is going to look like, it's increasingly obvious that it's coming. (Even the last-to-every-party NYT has caught the shift in the wind.) And it won't be just companies--it's a whole new ecosystem. They're even growing their own venture capital firms. Watch out, old order.

"4th Sector rabble resists Ancien Régime forces?" No way.
"4th Sector overruns final barricade manned by scruffy Ancien Régime holdouts." Oh, yeah.