Assessment - A For Effort?

Effort grades, which can be loosely defined as how hard someone is perceived as working on a task, are another controversial topic in assessment. Whether effort is represented in an overall grade or in extra credit/bonus point form, it stands as a division between teachers in many schools (Dunn et al., 2020). The 2020 study from Dunn et al. showed that students judged the amount of effort they were willing to put in based on the amount of points they would receive. This parallels my experience with effort grades.

I traditionally do not reward effort with extra points or grades. Students are expected to put forth the amount of effort necessary to complete assignments to the best of their ability. Having a differentiated curriculum ensures equity in effort, where a more advanced student’s efforts result in completing a challenging task, while a student who needs accommodations receives them and is putting forth a comparable amount of effort to achieve the modified assignment.

Encouraging students to be more engaged with the instruction and content is essential to motivating them to put forth the appropriate amount of effort to succeed in their learning journeys.

Reference

Dunn, B. L., Fontanier, C., Luo, Q., & Goad, C. (2020). Student perceptions of bonus points in terms of offering, effort, grades, and learning. NACTA Journal, 65, 169–173.

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