Grading to promote accountability in an elective class

Teacher Alan Weintraut addressed the ASNE ASU fellows Friday on the subject of grading in a newspaper production class.  Although high school students should be held accountable for the end product, in some cases the process is just as important.

Many students come into Journalism with the attitude that if they exert the slightest amount of effort, they should receive an "A" in the course because "it is an elective."  If this were the case though, students may never actually get to publish a newspaper, nor would they have a realistic concept of what producing a newspaper entails.  Sometimes stories are bad.  Sometimes layouts are ugly.  If a student has missed a deadline, the staff doesn't have anything to work with.  "Trying" isn't always good enough.

Weintraut said "this is an elective, you elect to be here, and I can elect for you not to be here."  

In an age where everyone receives a trophy on the tee ball team, and no one gets cut from the school play, working with students and giving them honest feedback on their work can be difficult.  In the end, honesty prepares them better than spared feelings and an automatic "A" though.  

Ashley Barnes

Bel Air High School

Bel Air, Md.