Grading is often a source of stress for students, especially in high school and college, because it can have a big impact on their lives. If students do not perform well, they might have to retake a class or attend summer school. On the other hand, high grades can help students get into competitive colleges and qualify for scholarships. Employers also look at academic records when hiring, which can affect future job opportunities and salaries.
For teachers, the actual process of grading and the grades themselves can impact them in ways that many students are oblivious to. Grading can go past the school day and take up their time at home with their family or friends. Receiving late work from a student gives them an unexpected task that they have to add to their pile of work.
Since different classes have different kinds of assignments such as essays, written responses, a collection of multiple choice questions or a packet of math equations, not all teachers have the same workload as the teachers in another department. Math teacher Mr. Cahill spends around 5 hours per week grading, which only involves quizzes and tests. When asked what element of grading takes the longest, he claimed that “looking for ways to get points” is what takes the longest for him to grade.
English teacher Mrs. Verbickas, however, spends about 12 hours per week grading papers and mentioned how one of the biggest reasons for teacher burn out was grading because “it never ends it’s like, every day, it’s homework every night” and with every piece of homework that a teacher hands out, that’s a pile of homework that will have to be graded by the teacher.
For Mr. Anderson, a newer teacher who does both PE and health classes while coaching, explained that there’s a certain pressure that comes from students for him to grade assignments quicker. Mrs. Verbickas also talked about how teachers are expected to give out at a speed that’s hard to keep up with.
All teachers had emphasized that if a student respectfully talked to them about their grade if they disagreed with it, they’d be more than willing to have a conversation and consider the student’s reasons for believing their score should be higher.
“I think if students continuously tried to put their best foot forward with their work, it ultimately would make grading for all teachers a little bit easier”, Mr. Anderson replied when asked what kind of support students could give to teachers to make the process of grading easier.
Overall, grades don’t only affect students and we all can only hope for improvements to be made to make it less stressful for everyone.