The use of grades contributes to the environment in which a student chooses to submerse him or herself. Grades are used as a means of self-evaluation, something they would not get if they assumed they had mastered the information presented in class. Furthermore, with these absolute marks, numerical and letter scores, schools are able to differentiate between the students that need more of a challenge in the curriculum and those that need assistance (Larsen 15). Quite obviously, if a student is receiving high marks, those scores are reflective of their ability to master information and advanced training and thus, they should be put amongst other students with the same capabilities in order to further their learning. Additionally, these grades are used to communicate the progress of the student to both their teachers and parents.
Though a letter grade may not fully embody the extent to which a student has learned the information, some argue that it is a good symbol of how capable the student is when being taught more difficult material at a faster pace. Knowing that these grades will be shown to their parents give students the incentive to learn as each of them inherently does not want to disappoint their parents. While separating students into these different educational paths may not always be effective, it is a good way to ensure that the learning process accommodates each type of learner. Therefore, it is important to give students this feedback, as anxiety-provoking as it may be, in an effort to ensure they excel. Moreover, they create a community of learners similar to them that promote their exploration of intelligence as this separation rids each class level of the judgments from others. Grades serve as a vehicle to determine how much effort students are willing to put in on their own, although ideally all educators would prefer their motivation to be intrinsic (Larsen 16). This contributes to the argument in support of the separation of students by levels because these differences put students in an environment where the motivation to learn is already there and can be fostered, or assists them in gaining the necessary tools to become a motivated student.
However, when students are divided into various course rigor levels, it is difficult to conclude that putting students in an environment with others that have the same motivation levels would promote the most effective learning environment. Arguably, if schools put advanced students among other advanced students in classes, they are working off of the intrinsic motivation that these students already posses. Yet, when schools put unmotivated students among other unmotivated students in a low rigor course level, then the likelihood that motivation would be created seems a little too idealistic; if all students in low rigor classes are complacent with their academic standing, putting them all together will only promote this behavior and make teaching these students more frustrating. In a study by Betts and Grogger, they looked at how student achievement was effected when standards were manipulated to be high or low. When standards were too high, advanced students were able to motivate themselves and perform accordingly, however this was at the expense of weaker students. Weaker students tended to give up because their goal seemed too out of reach (11). This emphasizes the point that the separation of course levels only truly caters to students with advanced training and inherent motivation and not students that have no interest in academics. While the study by Betts and Grogger showed that, in terms of this case, it would not be beneficial to have weak students and advanced students in the same learning environment, it also showed that the expectations and standards of teachers also impact how well students perform. Therefore, if those standards vary, then the environment in which you put students in will not matter and will be no more effective than learning amongst all types of learners. Subsequently, this negatively influences self-evaluation by promoting its inaccuracy.
The Impact of Grades 