Written reports, coupled with parent-teacher conferences, have, for centuries, been the main way that teachers communicated with parents about student successes and strengths and also about areas of concern requiring attention.
However, the relatively recent introduction of digital open gradebooks has reduced the importance that schools put on these written reports, leading to their degradation to become documents of little advisory or explanatory value. Without written/verbal context and nuance, the focus shifts away from the actual learning process and emphasises the end result. The question becomes ‘what did you get?’, rather than, ‘what did you learn?’
International schools around the world have adopted different variations on comprehensive, whole-school, learning platforms. These platforms offer administration, teachers, students and parents an organised and systematic way to monitor everything from attendance, upcoming assignments, tests and lessons, the school calendar, behavioural issues, school policies, curriculum scope and sequence, reports and grades through the use of an open gradebook. What students, parents, admin and teachers can see will depend on individual schools’ policies regarding transparency and confidentiality. They can also be a site for extracurricular sign-up, and a notice board for lunch menus.
Systems such as Managebac, Schoology or PowerSchool allow for an ease of transfer of academic achievement, progress and reports of students. Depending on the school, many of these systems also offer support for different curricula. For example, a school that offers the IB Programme, can customise their reports for the PYP, MYP or DP. They also offer spaces for reporting CAS, the Extended Essay and ToK that can easily be transferred to other schools in the event of a family relocating.
When activated, open gradebooks can give immediate grade notifications to parents and students as they are uploaded to the system. The argument for open gradebooks is to bring transparency to the process of grading. It allows students and parents to see where they are in their learning achievements in almost ‘real-time’ as opposed to waiting for bi-annual reports. This can give rise to conversations between teachers, students and parents about setting targets and goals early on, rather than after a final grade is given in a semester report. It can be a preventative tool for students and helps avoid surprises when reports are received.
As mentioned in the last RS-Ed Newsletter 15.12.2024, a school in the Netherlands recently experimented with closing down their open grade books after a teacher noticed a higher rate of anxiety amongst those students whose parents regularly checked their grades. Stress relief for students? Dutch school blocks grade updates for parents; check details. Open gradebooks can also become the focus of comparison between students, heightening a sense of anxiety and a need for ‘perfectionism’. Open Gradebook: The Pros and Cons – International Dateline
Immediate notifications of teacher-posted grades are sent directly to a parents inbox/app, sometimes even before the student knows the grade themselves. The constant reporting received by parents has led to increased anxiety and stress levels at home, which is then brought into school.
At our former school in Sudan-the Khartoum International Community School (KICS), we initiated the use of open gradebooks through Managebac. The same logic was given regarding transparency and accountability for both teachers and students in their learning. After several years we detected a trend that students focused solely on the grade. Instead of focusing on what they needed to learn to meet their goals, they often asked teachers why they didn’t get the same points as other classmates. The notion that each student is different was almost forgotten and a culture of comparison grew. We saw students anxious, panicked and even resorting to academic dishonesty at times in order to ‘get the grade’.
We also observed that most parents didn’t benefit from the use of Managebac in terms of better understanding their children’s learning. Parent workshops introducing Managebac were very poorly attended, with less than 10% of parents and only 17% regularly checked it. Written reports became less personal and Parent-Teacher conferences became optional as the argument was made that they could follow closely on Managebac. This was detrimental to the teacher-parent bond.
According to a former parent at KICS, ‘…it was good to keep all of the teachers, students and parents in the loop, but it really stressed me out. I was very reluctant to open it as nearly every day there was a new complaint about my son’s work. So useful, but stressful.”
Another parent reflected that “When used effectively, MB (Managebac) can be a great tool for transparency, helping parents, students and teachers stay informed. However, posting grades without comments or feedback can sometimes create confusion, anxiety and frustration for both students and parents.For students that struggle to achieve their desired grades, MB notifications can be a source of significant stress-something that could be avoided with a simple conversation and feedback from the teacher.”
While the use of learning platforms can have very positive benefits to all stakeholders, they should not replace the importance and need for personalised, quality written reports, within the learning context. Student anxiety due to the belief that ‘grades are everything’, has a detrimental impact on their well-being. The same can be true for parents as well.
As educators, we believe our job is to focus on the whole-student, that includes helping to create healthy relationships with the learning process and those involved in delivering it. Digitalisation can offer effective, transparent and time-sensitive information, but it cannot and should not replace the need and importance of personal and contextual understanding and learning, and wherever possible, conversations between real human beings!
The Open Gradebook Debate – The Catalyst.
Stress relief for students? Dutch school blocks grade updates for parents; check details.
