Written by: Li 

Edited by: Alexis

Have you ever put so much effort into an assignment or test, only to find that you still do not get the grade you were working towards? At the same time, it feels like everyone around you is boasting their high scores and how little they studied to get them. Regardless, there is no doubt that everyone knows how it feels to put your all into something and not have it show in your results. This begs the question: why is effort not taken into account when it comes to grading? 

One of the biggest issues when it comes to the idea of “considering effort when assessing a student’s performance” is the fact that “effort is difficult to define and measure, and is not always correlated with the overall quality of a student’s performance.” (University of Kansas) As said by Michael Covington, a professor at the University of Georgia, “[o]bserving classwork is one thing, but knowing whether students worked hard outside of the classroom is impossible, ” and “[g]rades measure results, not effort.” (Covington, 2004). But, who decided that? Admittedly, there are a few caveats to effort focused grading, but what Covington fails to see is that there is more to a student’s work than the number it is deemed to deserve. 

Peter Elbow, a language professor at the University of Massachusetts recognized this, and came up with a solution: ‘a contract for B’ (which roughly translates to an ISM 5). This system is based on an agreement between teachers and students that guarantees a student will receive at least a B as their final grade for the course, as long as they meet the requirements (essentially, if they put in the effort). He wrote “To students in my first year writing course… [we will] have classes or workshops or lessons, but there would be no official grading. Of course I’d give you evaluative feedback now and then, pointing out where you’ve done well and where I could suggest an improvement. But I wouldn’t put grades on your individual paintings or omelets or give you an official grade for the course.” This shifts the focus of the students off of the final grade, and puts it onto the actual process of learning from the course- which is often overshadowed in spaces where conventional grading is used, as it “leads students to think more about grades than about [learning],” (Peter Elbow) as it assumes that their work has no “intrinsic worth” but is a “mere receptacle for immediate grading.” (Gary R. Hafer)

The contract states that the professor will provide consistent feedback on student work, but will not equate it to a number grade. For the final course grade, however, the students are guaranteed a B if they meet conditions including:

(1) Attendance: not missing more than one week’s worth of classes, and completing assignments regardless of attendance.

(2) Tardiness: not being “habitually late.” (Peter Elbow)

(3) Late assignments: no more than “one late major assignment and one late smaller assignment.” (Peter Elbow)

(4) Cooperative work: willingness to share work, listen to others work, and provide meaningful feedback

(5) Requirements for major assessments, or ‘summatives,’ such as: evidence of process, well done revisions and editing that shows improvement and “perplexity” which he defines as the complexity and thoughtfulness of one’s work. 

Through contract for B, Elbow makes effort a requirement, avoiding the subjectivity of deciding whether or not a student has put in a certain amount of effort into their work. Instead, he provides all of his students with a roadmap to both success and an incentive to follow it, as the habits they will build in order to meet the guarantee that their hard work will be recognized regardless of performance, increases the likelihood that they will produce quality work anyway. In other words, it allows for students to be rewarded for their hard work no matter the final result and provides students with a “strong and immediate incentive to adopt the behaviors and habits that are most likely to bring academic success.” (Swinton, D., 2004)

 ISM culture focuses very heavily on grades- being they are put on a pedestal as the ‘only measure of success;’ but this puts so much unnecessary pressure on the student body (in addition to the already rigorous programs and classes we find ourselves taking). If we could change that, if we had a ‘contract for B,’ maybe we would be more excited to learn from and experience our classes, rather than worrying about what number we amount to.

“When effort and habit occupy a space in your grading, such as in the Contract for B, they construct a framework for unexpected learning.” (Gary R. Hafer) 

Works Cited

“15.4: Should Students Be Graded on Effort?” Social Sci LibreTexts, 5 Mar. 2021, socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Education_and_Professional_Development/Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment_(Kidd_et_al.)/15%3A_Instructional_Assessment-Grading/15.04%3A_Should_students_be_graded_on_effort.

“Basing Part of Grade on Student’s Effort.” Specialconnections.ku.edu, specialconnections.ku.edu/assessment/grading/teacher_tools/basing_part_of_grade_on_students_effort.

Elbow, Peter. A CONTRACT for a FINAL GRADE of B in FIRST YEAR WRITING Peter Elbow [a Version I Often Used and Invited UMass Instructors to Use or Imitate or Adjust.].PhD, Gary R. Hafer. “Unexpected Benefits of Grading Effort and Habit.” Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, 7 Mar. 2016, http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/course-design-ideas/unexpected-benefits-of-grading-effort-and-habit/. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.