Teachers Cannot Grade Effort, But They Can Teach Reflection

Assessing a student's effort put forth on an assignment seems justifiable.  Teachers want to ensure their students are working to their fullest potential.  But, is it actually justifiable?  How does a teacher measure one's effort?  Is it even possible?  The answer is no.  A teacher simply cannot objectively measure effort; it is much too subjective.  Rick Wormeli writes that "[w]e don't have a commonly acceptable, legally justifiable, nonsubjective method for measuring how hard or sincerely someone is working.  We can provide anecdotal evidence and list the amount of time and resources students spend on a task, but identifying personal effort levels objectively eludes us" (Fair Isn't Always Equal 108).  

For example, let's consider a classroom scenario: Students are given a journal prompt to complete by the end of class, and their response must be a full page.  Just because one student is only able to write just a couple of sentences while another student is able to write a full page response, does not necessarily mean the student who wrote significantly less exerted less effort.  That student could have taken a while to fully understand the writing prompt, brainstorm, or map out a response.  Or maybe that student chose to daydream about what they were going to be doing after school.  It's impossible to step inside our students' brains and really know what's going on in their head; thus, there is no way to tell just how much effort our students put forth.  Likewise, just because the student who wrote a full page response in a class period does not mean they used their best effort.  Instead, their writing could be superficial, unorganized, unfocused, or underdeveloped, to name a few errors.  Or, maybe despite those errors, that student did put their best effort forth.  Say that student normally writes with ease and does so well, but bombs this journal response because of an aforementioned error, does that mean they didn't exert much effort?  Maybe or maybe not.  Perhaps that student couldn't relate to the prompt or there is something upsetting going on currently in their life.  So, to that student, that was their best effort at the time.  Phew - that's a lot of what ifs!  As you can see, it is impossible for a teacher to really know just how much effort a student exerts when they complete an assignment; there are just too many variables to consider, variables that will never directly tell us an honest answer.

Since effort cannot be objectively graded, how does a teacher hold their students accountable for the effort they put into completing assignments?  Effort is undeniably important. Students should always work hard and try their best, and parents and teachers try their very best to teach those positive behaviors. The answer is to simply teach your students to reflect, a suggestion that Wormeli makes in his book Fair Isn't Always Equal.  Teachers need to help students "reflect on their use of time and the resultant quality of their work" (110).  You can teach your students to reflect through writing or student-teacher conferences, or both.  After an assignment, I think there is much worth in asking students to reflect on the methods they used to complete the assignment; what they can do next time to be more successful; what their strengths and weaknesses were; and set time management goals (or any goals for that matter) or methods they can use to better complete assignments.  Some students just don't realize how little effort they really do put into completely assignments, until they step back and recount the ways in which they completed the assignment.  In having little to write about, some students may realize that they aren't using much effort.  In times when you don't have your students write a reflection of their effort and performance, you can conference with them one on one instead.  Students should be able to hold their head up high and proudly describe their effort to their teacher; it should be their chance to brag.  However, in writing and speaking, there may not be truth to your students' words.  Remember that assessing effort is subjective, even if it isn't worth points.  The whole point of having students reflect is because (a) reflection is a good practice that everyone should do and (b) it helps students to truly realize what they are doing to complete assignments and what they can do to do an even better job - it can help students to keep reaching for better.  And a way to push your students' effort is through discussion, modeling, and constant, helpful feedback.  While grading effort isn't actually justifiable, it can still be taught!