| The great debate of whether or not to round a | | | | the student gave them an easier time during class, |
| student's score rages on. In your first year of teaching | | | | they deserve a better grade for it. If the student gave |
| you will no doubt come up with your first 89.5 and | | | | them struggle and strife, this is their small chance at |
| have to decide if it's an 89 or a 90. It can mean the | | | | justice. |
| difference between one grade or another so it can | | | | The Right Way - The best and fairest way to decide |
| mean the difference of whether you'll have that | | | | whether to round or not is to be fair and consistent. If |
| student approach you about why they got the lower | | | | you choose to round up you should decide beforehand |
| grade. There are a few different practices that | | | | what numbers you will round up and which ones you |
| teachers use. | | | | won't. Then you'll need to stick to your rule no matter |
| The Stickler - This teacher says an 89.5 is just that | | | | how much you like a student or not. If a student that |
| and won't round at all. The student gets the lower | | | | you really like only got an 89.4 and your rule is to round |
| grade because it doesn't qualify as a 90. The same | | | | up anything.5 or higher then you'll have to leave it alone. |
| teacher will view an 89.99 the same way. They just | | | | To be consistent, if a student you don't like gets an |
| won't budge. this method seems a little silly, because | | | | 89.5 you have to round them up, with no exceptions. |
| an 89.5 is very nearly a 90 and assumes that every | | | | Take your emotions and feelings out of the grading |
| single mark the teacher made that term was accurate. | | | | equation. |
| It doesn't allow for any sort of human error and | | | | If you follow the right way to do rounding you'll avoid |
| doesn't give the student any benefit of the doubt. | | | | having to explain to students, as well as parents, why |
| The Behaviorist - This teacher is the one that will | | | | you bumped the grade or not. If you have a method |
| consider how a student behaved during the school | | | | that is grounded in fairness and doesn't reward |
| term in order to decide whether they should round or | | | | subjective things like classroom behavior you can't go |
| not. If they have an overall good impression of the | | | | wrong. With the other two methods you are only |
| student, they'll happily round it up. If they have a bad | | | | inviting headaches and without proper documentation |
| taste in their mouth from a student, then they'll let the | | | | of why you bumped the grade you might get caught |
| grade sit where it is. The way these teachers see it, if | | | | playing favorites. |