Making the Grade

by Maya Katalan '11, Germantown Friends School

Ideologically, a GFS education is not governed by grade point average, test scores, and academic rankings. Instead, the GFS brand of learning is more holistic: “we regard education not as training for a particular way of life, but as part of a lifelong process” reads the statement of philosophy on the school’s website. And it is true that a GFS education is not limited to the confines of the class room; from community service days, to your junior project, and even in the weekly silence of the meeting house, personal and intellectual growth is encouraged in a variety of settings.


Yet at the end of senior year lies the real world, a place that can seem stratified and standardized after years at GFS. And as a result, students are self-aware and often competitive, and despite their appreciation for the well-rounded education afforded to them at GFS, sometimes it really does come down to the grade on the end-of-year report card. In such an academically charged environment, complaints of unfair grading and inconsistent curricula are unfortunate, but real. Though the students and the faculty at GFS are generally in sync, the presence of numerous teaching styles and grading methods among teachers often leaves students wondering if their experience in a class is the same as that of their peers.

The resounding answer to this question is no. It is impossible and, further more, absurd to ensure an identical academic experience to each student when most classes are split into sections taught by two or three different teachers. While the students can often be mystified and frustrated by the fact that they got the “hard teacher” and it’s so unfair because so-and-so “never gives A’s,” teachers are quick to object to this sort of attitude.

“The school has a tradition of hiring teachers they trust,” says Jeremy Ross, head of the history department, and while department heads meet regularly to keep the curriculum coherent and reasonably consistent, this trust in the teacher’s capabilities means that there is no need for a strictly mapped curriculum. Ross says that while “ninety to ninety-five percent of the curriculum is the same, teachers have their specialties.” If a teacher is particularly knowledgeable in one facet of the already determined curriculum, for them not to teach students to the extent of their ability would be wrong—“I would be depriving you,” says Ross.

Some departments have a more rigid curriculum defined for their teachers. Gen Nelson, former head of the science department, says that there is a conscious “focus on delivering a comparable curriculum” in the sciences. Ways in which this goal is met include weekly meetings to plan curricula and assignments and swap tests, and the use of the same PowerPoints, labs, and final exams.

Even so, Nelson says, “three different people can make chocolate chip cookies using the same exact recipe and the same exact ingredients, and no matter what they do, at the end of the day, the three batches of cookies won’t taste the same.” This analogy is apparent in the different academic departments school-wide, regardless of the level of accord among the curricula of different teachers; in the words of Nelson, “personality differences can’t be solved.”

As far as grading goes, all teachers are committed to maintaining a fair and transparent system to ensure that students know where their grades are coming from. In the English and history departments, students are given the official rubric that teachers use when grading papers.

Anne Gerbner, head of the English department, says that English teachers of the same course practice grading the same paper and revealed that they are never “more than half a letter grade off.” Teachers are determined to make grading as clear and cohesive a system as possible. It’s accepted, almost inevitable, however, that students will not always agree or be satisfied with their grade and in dealing with this issue, teachers of different departments suggest that students self-advocate. “[GFS students] are consumers of educational services,” Jeremy Ross says, “and as a result [they] should articulate any complaints; managing people in authority is a life-long skill, so speak up.”

As much as teachers try to streamline grades and course curricula, it is widely acknowledged that monotony is not conducive to the intellectually stimulating community GFS hopes to be. Dave Mraz, long-time upper school math teacher, says he embraces the diversity of experiences a GFS student will have as yet another catalyst for personal growth provided by the school.

“By the time you graduate GFS you will have experienced different teaching styles,” Mraz says, “and ultimately, it’s not all about what you learn, but what you learn about yourself through adapting to different situations and a variety of experiences, just like you will in the real world.”