Evaluation is a continual process beginning with the first day of class and ending when the final grades are given. During this period, both subjective, informal judgments and prepared tests are utilized in order to obtain a complete picture of instruction and student achievement. Both forms of evaluation are equally important, but they are utilized in different ways. Subjective evaluation by the teacher of student performance in the classroom serves primarily as feedback to the teacher, and the students, of how things are going. This immediate feedback enables the teacher to make adjustments that will improve weaknesses in her teaching procedures. Classwork also provides the students with immediate feedback relating to their progress in the class.
For the purposes of assigning a letter grade in the course, more objective types of measurement are generally used. Test results provide black-and-white statistics upon which to base grades. Often students are reluctant to accept grades based on subjective estimates of achievement, but they are able to understand and accept test scores. Test results also impress upon students
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their strengths and weaknesses in language much more strongly and more clearly than do success or failure during class recitation. In this sense, tests are more for the students, and for the parents, than for the teacher. Nor should the teacher allow herself to be misled by groans of complaint at the mention of examinations. In spite of the fact that most students dislike having to take tests, most in moments of seriousness will admit their value. Certainly, a good grade on a test is a positive reinforcement for a job well done and an incentive for those who scored lower than their capability to work harder next time.
The teacher should always have all students' grades legibly recorded in the grade book. The grades should be arranged in an orderly fashion with the final grade based on a fair and impartial system. Any student or parent should have the right to see these grades and to check to determine whether an error was made in calculation. In fact, the teacher should encourage those students who do not understand their grades to come in after school, so that she can show them how the grades were determined.
There are various systems for recording grades. Some teachers record letter grades, others use a ten-point scale, and others use a percentage scale of one hundred points. The specific system chosen depends, of course, on the teacher's preference, but after she has decided, she should always: (1) convert any and all test and quiz scores to that system in order to facilitate adding all the scores at the end of the grading period, and (2) carefully explain the system (and in the case of numbers, how they are converted to letter grades) to the students at the beginning of the year and encourage them to keep track of their grades. No alert student should be surprised by the grade he receives. Although less manipulation of figures is required using letter grades and a ten-point scale, the scale of one hundred points spreads the students' scores out in a broader range and makes it much easier to distinguish between letter grades. At times, the teacher using the other systems may become involved with fractions that may make fine distinctions confusing.