Chapter 7 -

Grading and Reporting

Topic 11 - Functions,
Type and Development of a
Grading and Reporting System and
Norm or Criterion-Referenced
Grading
INTRODUCTION
One of the more frustrating aspects of teaching is that of grading and reporting
student progress since there are so many factors to consider, and so many decisions to
be made. This module attempts to simplify this task and to minimize some of the
complexities by describing the various types of grading and reporting systems and
providing guidelines for their effective use.
Measurement and assessment of learning are the first two steps in educational
evaluation. Grading and reporting are the two terminal stages in the process.
Measurements are simply numerical aids which guide our decisions in the educative
process. It is, therefore, very important that we also pay attention to the process of
giving grades and reporting these to students, parents and other stakeholders in the
system.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the lesson the students are expected to:
1. identify the different function of grading and reporting;
2. discuss the different reasons why grading is a difficult task for teachers;
3. differentiate the different types of comparing grades;
 4. give the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of reporting grades;
5. differentiate norm-referenced grading and criterion-referenced grading

LEARNING CONTENT

Functions of Grading and Reporting Systems

Grading is one of the many activities of a classroom teacher to professionally
judge the achievements of the students. This involves the collection and evaluation of
proofs regarding the performance of the learners within a specified period.
Grading is the process of judging the quality of the performance of a student.
Grade is a symbol used to represent the achievement or progress of a student.
https://depedlps.club/the-all-new-deped-policy-on-assessment-and-grading-system-for-sy-2020-
2021/

Grading and reporting systems have some very important functions in the
educative process. Some of these important functions are:
1. Enhancing students' learning through: clarifying instructional objectives for them,
showing students' strengths and weaknesses, providing information on personal-
social development, enhancing students' motivation (e.g... short-term goals) and
indicating where teaching might be modified. These can be achieved through
day-to-day tests and feedback and integrated periodic tests.

2. Reports to parents/guardians Grading and reporting systems also inform parents

and guardians of students on the progress of their wards. Likewise, grades and
reports communicate objectives to parents, so they can help promote learning
and likewise, communicate how well objectives were met, so parents can better
plan.
3. Administrative and guidance uses. The administrative and guidance purpose of
grading and reporting consist in helping to decide promotion, graduation, honors,
athletic eligibility, reporting achievement to other schools or to employers,
providing input for realistic educational, vocational, and personal counseling.
These three main purposes of grading and reporting by no means exhaust
all possible uses of the activity. The main point, however, is that grades and
report cards should promote and enhance learning rather than frustrate and
discourage students. In many schools, report cards are given to students and
then parents are asked to sign these report cards. Such a practice is not
encouraged in the Philippine educational system. Instead, it may be a good
practice to call for parent-teacher conferences at this time in order that the report
cards will effectively function as motivation for further learning.

Purposes of Grading and Reporting Systems

Grading and reporting systems serve many purposes, but no single method
serves all the purposes well. They are used to communicate the achievement of the
students, provide students information to improve their self-evaluation, or evaluate the
effectiveness of the program.

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Types of Grading and Reporting Systems
There is no single way of reporting the level of achievement of the students.
Different colleges and universities utilize different symbols to describe and report the
level of performance or achievement of their students. This will depend on the grading
policies of the said institution.
In practice, we find a number of ways in which grades are made and reported.
Normally, the type of grading used depends on the extent to which more descriptive and
informative summaries are required by school authorities or by the stakeholders in
general. Thus, the major types of grading and marking found in practice include:
a. Traditional letter-grade system.
In the traditional letter grade system, students' performance are summarized by
means of letters. Thus, A stands for excellent, C stands for average, D stands for
needing improvement and an F as a failure. The traditional letter grade system is easy
to understand but it is of limited value when used as the sole report because they end
up being a combination of achievement, effort, work habits, behavior. As such, they
become difficult to interpret and they do not indicate patterns of strengths and
weaknesses.
b. Pass-fail.
The pass or fail system utilizes a dichotomous grade system. Either a student
has complied and reached certain standards, in which case he passes or he failed to do
so and he gets a failing mark. This is popular in some courses in college (but not very
much practice in basic education). In fact, the pass-fail system should be kept to a
minimum because it does not provide much information, students tend to work to the
minimum (just to pass). and in mastery learning courses, no grades are reflected until
"masteryTM threshold is reached.
c. Checklists of objectives.
In this system, the objectives of the course are enumerated. After each objective,
the students' level of achievement is indicated: Outstanding. Very Good, Good, Fair or
Poor. This is a very detailed reporting system and tends to be more informative for the
parents and pupils at the same time. It is, however, also very time consuming to
prepare. There is also the potential problem of keeping the list manageable and
understandable.
d. Letters to parents/guardians.
Letters to parents and guardians are useful supplement to grades. However, they
have limited value as sole report because they are very time consuming to prepare, the
accounts of weaknesses are often misinterpreted by parents and guardians, and they
are not characterized as systematic nor cumulative.
e. Portfolios.
As already explained, a portfolio is a set of purposefully selected work, with
commentary by student and teacher. Portfolios are useful for showing students'
strengths and weaknesses, illustrating range of students' work, showing progress over
time or stages of a project, teaching students about objectives standards they are to

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meet.
f. Parent-teacher conferences.
Parent-teacher conferences are mainly used in elementary schools. This requires
that parents of pupils come for a conference with the teacher to discuss the pupils’
progress. Portfolios, when available, are useful basis for discussion. Such conferences
are useful for a two-way flow of information and getting more information and
cooperation from the parents. They are, however, of limited value as a report because
most of the parents do not come for such conferences.

In case of Basic Education, the grading system being used is based on DepEd
Order Number 33, series 2004, replacing the DECS Order No. 70, series 1998. The
new grading system of DepEd is about giving grades that are mainly based on the
students' performance.
The features of the new grading system are the following:
1. The lowest grade for the students in public elementary and secondary schools is
set at 75%. The lowest failing grade that may appear in the report card is 65%.
2. The same standard shall apply to students in the Bridge Program.
3. The construction of test items consists of basic terms 60%, moderately difficult or
more advanced questions 30%, and higher order thinking skills 10%. Questions
in each category should have different weights.
4. Grading system by subject shall follow the guidelines in Enclosure 1 and
Enclosure 2 of DepEd Order 33, series 2004.
5. Transmutation tables shall not be used in the computation of grades. Test scores
shall be recorded as raw scores, totaled at the end of each grading period, and
computed as percentage (Table of Equivalence).
6. The final grade shall be determined by averaging the marks for the four
quarters.
7. Promotion at the secondary level shall be by subject. A student shall be retained

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 in the year level if he/she incurs failures of three units or more during the regular
school year and is unable to make up for the failed subjects during the summer
sessions.
But in today's K to 12 program, the Department of Education (DepEd) has
already provided the basic education (both elementary and secondary levels) with the
grading system. Read: https://www.teacherph.com/deped-grading-system/

Development of a Grading and Reporting System

Grading and reporting systems are guided by the functions served by such in the
educative process. The stem will most probably be a compromise because of the hosts
of factors to be considered in the preparation of such. The important thing to note,
however, is that we should always keep achievement reports separate from effort
expended.
Ideally, grading and reporting systems should be developed cooperatively
(parents, students, school personnel) in order to ensure development of a more
adequate system, and a system that is understandable to all. They should thus be:
● Based on clear statement of learning objectives. The grading and reporting
system needs to be based on the same set of learning objectives that the
parents, teachers and students agreed at the beginning.

● Consistent with school standards. The system must support the school
standards rather than oppose the school standards already set.

● Based on adequate assessment. The grading and reporting system should be

easily verifiable through adequate system of testing, measurement and
assessment methods.

● Based on the right level of detail. The system must be detailed enough to be
diagnostic but compact enough to be practical; not too time consuming to
prepare and use, understandable to users and easily summarized for school
record purposes.

● Providing for parent-teacher conferences as needed

Assigning Letter Grades and Computing Grades
Grades assigned to students must include only achievement. It is very important
to avoid the temptation to include effort for less able students because it is difficult to
assess effort or potential and it is difficult to distinguish ability from achievement.
Furthermore, if achievement and effort are combined in some way, grades would mean
different things for different individuals.
Grades reflected on report cards are numbers or numerical quantities arrived at
after several data on the students’ performance are combined. The following guidelines
may be considered in combining such data:
● Properly weight each component to create a composite. The weights used are
normally agreed upon by the school officials, e.g. how many percent goes for
quizzes, unit tests, periodic tests etc. The more scientific approach is to use a
principal component analysis which is hardly practiced in schools because of the
difficulty involved.

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 ● Put all components on same scale to weight properly:
a. Equate ranges of scores
b. Or concert all to T-scores or other standard scores.

Norm or Criterion Referenced Grading

In using a Norm-referenced grading system, student performance is evaluated
relative to the performance of other students of the group. This system is also known as
“grading on the curve.”
Grades may reflect relative performance i.e. score compared to other students
(where you rank). This is more commonly called a norm-referenced grading system in
such a system:
a. grade (like a class rank) depends on what group you are in, not just your
own performance.
b. typical grade may be shifted up or down, depending on group’s ability
c. widely used because much classroom testing is norm referenced
Norm-Referenced Grading System

Advantages Disadvantages

Easy to use Individual performance is determined by group

performance

Works well for courses with strict retention Promotes competition

policies

Useful if the focus is individual achievement Cannot be used for class sizes less than 40

Appropriate to a large group Not all students can pass the course

Does not encourage cooperation

Criteria are easily identified

Grades may also reflect absolute performance i.e. score compared to specified
performance standards (what you can do). This is more commonly called a criterion-
referenced grading. In such a system:
a. grade does NOT depend on what group you are in but only on your own
performance compared to a set of performance standards.

b. grading is a complex task, because grades must:

i. clearly define the domain.
ii. clearly define and justify the performance standards.
iii. be based on criterion-referenced assessment
c. conditions are hard to meet even in complete mastery learning settings.
In a criterion-referenced grading system, the student performance is evaluated
against a certain criteria or standard. The student must get a grade higher than or equal

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to a given standard to pass a certain test.

Criterion-Referenced Grading System

Advantages Disadvantages

The performance of the students will not It is difficult to set a reasonable standard
be affected by the performance of the if it is not stated in the grading policies of
whole class. the institution.

It promotes cooperation among students. All students may not pass the subject or
course when they do not meet the
standard set by teacher or the institution.
All students may pass the course when
they meet the standard set by the
teacher.

Finally, grades may also reflect learning abilities or improvement performance i.e.
score compared to learning “potential” or past performance. In such a system:
a. grades are inconsistent with a standard-based system because now, each child
is his/her own standard
b. reliably estimating learning ability (separate from achievement) is very difficult.
c. one cannot reliably measure change with classroom measures,
d. therefore, should only be used as a supplement.

Distribution of Grades and Guidelines for Effective Grading

How should grades be distributed? The norm-referenced and criterion-referenced
distribution of grades have been several years now. The norm-reference of the
students) distribution is a big issue because of the following considerations:
a. normal curve is defensible only when we have unselected group
b. when "grading on the curve”, school staff should set fair ranges of grades for
different groups and courses
c. when "grading on the curve”, any pass-fail decision should be based on an
absolute standard (i.e., failed the minimum essentials)
d. standards and ranges should be understood and followed by all teachers.

On the other hand, the criterion-referenced or absolute (have assessed absolute

levels of knowledge) grading system is not an issue because:
a. it seldom uses letter grades alone
b. it often includes checklists of what has been mastered
c. the distribution of grades is not predetermined

Guidelines for Effective Grading

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 The following guidelines for effective grading and reporting are recommended for
use in Philippine schools:
1. Describe grading procedures to students at the beginning of instruction.
2. Clarify that course grade will be based on achievement only.
3. Explain how other factors (effort, work habits, etc.) will be reported.
4. Relate grading procedures to intended learning outcomes.
5. Obtain valid evidence (tests, etc.) for assigning grades.
6. Try to prevent cheating.
7. Return and review all test results as soon as possible.
8. Properly weight the various types of achievements included in the grade.
9. Do not lower an achievement grade for tardiness, weak effort, or misbehavior.
10. Be fair. Avoid bias. When in doubt, review the evidence. If still in doubt, give the
higher grade.

Conducting Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences become productive when they are carefully planned
and the teacher is skilled in handling such conferences. Skills in conducting parent-
teacher conferences can be developed. Here are some hints on conducting good
conferences:
Guidelines for a good conference
1. Make plans
● Review your goals.
● Organize the information to present.
● Make a list of points to cover and questions to ask.
● If you bring portfolios, select and review carefully.
2. Start positive and maintain a positive focus.
● Present student's strong points first.
● Be helpful to have an example of work to show strengths and needs.
3. Compare early vs. later work to show improvement.
4. Encourage parents to participate and share information.
● Be willing to listen.
● Be willing to answer questions.
5. Plan actions cooperatively.
● What steps you can each take?
● Summarize at the end.
6. End with positive comment.
● Should not be a vague generality.
● Should be true.
7. Use good human relations skills

LEARNING TASK
(Answer in the Google Form)

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LEARNING REFERENCES/RESOURCES
Gabuyo, Yonardo A.,(2012). Assessment of Learning 2: Textbook and Reviewer. Rex
Book Store

Navarro, Rosita L. and Santos, Rosita D.,(2013). Authentic Assessment of Student

Learning Outcomes. 2nd Edition. Lorimar publishing, Inc.
https://www.teacherph.com/deped-grading-system/

Useful Quote:

If we did all the things

we are capable of, we
would be amazed
(Thomas Edison)
Visualizing the “ideal self” is a good way to motivate yourself, so
it’s worth remembering this.