Professor here. Tough grading means different things to different people.

Some people interpret it as applying high standards: an A is top of the top, given relatively sparingly, earned with hard work AND superior results. Others think As are the standard and if you don't get one you failed or did something terribly wrong or the teacher is too harsh.

Feel free to look at my inbox the day I post grades to see many examples of the later. That's a toxic mindset, in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this thread carries no weight. There is no data to support this notion. It's just the wish of one poster who probably also dreams of a past that never was...

+1000 just another unproven pet theory

The very first article in the thread consisted of links to two papers demonstrating support for the thread title, one of which purely involved a randomized controlled trial. Please do read them.

It's like asserting that corporal punishment makes kids behave better.

There isn't evidence for that, but there is evidence for the thread title.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this thread carries no weight. There is no data to support this notion. It's just the wish of one poster who probably also dreams of a past that never was...

+1000 just another unproven pet theory

The very first article in the thread consisted of links to two papers demonstrating support for the thread title, one of which purely involved a randomized controlled trial. Please do read them.

Those articles weren't credible. It's like asserting that corporal punishment makes kids behave better. Sure, some people may buy into this but there are better ways to achieve that end.

The second paper involved students randomly assigned to different teachers at -- IIRC -- the US Air Force Academy The ones assigned to tougher graders learned more, as measured by tests taken by the entire student cohort, and did better in subsequent classes. What was not credible about the study design? What study design should have been used to show that students do better when guaranteed an A?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this thread carries no weight. There is no data to support this notion. It's just the wish of one poster who probably also dreams of a past that never was...

+1000 just another unproven pet theory

The very first article in the thread consisted of links to two papers demonstrating support for the thread title, one of which purely involved a randomized controlled trial. Please do read them.

Those articles weren't credible. It's like asserting that corporal punishment makes kids behave better. Sure, some people may buy into this but there are better ways to achieve that end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise of this thread carries no weight. There is no data to support this notion. It's just the wish of one poster who probably also dreams of a past that never was...

+1000 just another unproven pet theory

The very first article in the thread consisted of links to two papers demonstrating support for the thread title, one of which purely involved a randomized controlled trial. Please do read them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how there can be “easy” or “tough” grading in math. Isn’t there only one right answer? Grading writing can be much more subjective, I know that, even with rubrics. But what is a “tough” grader in math doing differently?

Easier: Partial credit when a child does some steps of a multi-step algorithm correctly.

Tougher: No re-takes, no extra credit, no partial credit. Particular rules about how work must be shown or how answers are displayed (boxing answers, including units where appropriate).

Yes. My son is a freshman at a Big 3. The teachers are tougher overall (we came from public, so yes, I know for sure) but I will give some examples in math and English. Both classes: no late work accepted. No redos, retakes, etc.

Math: homework is as described above. The kids have to show their work, the teacher checks for completeness, showing work, and honest effort. They don't have to get every problem right, but they have to show how they arrived at their answer. Neatness counts. Following directions counts.

English: They have to annotate as they read. They have to do their essays in class. The grading is TOUGH. They lose points for improper citation, unclear thoughts, repeition, everything.

He's becoming a better student.