Should student grades be affected by behavior in class?

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   susanholland10posted 10 years ago

   Should student grades be affected by behavior in class?
   
   If there is a student who does well on academic work, should bad behavior that disrupts other students be held against the student?  If not, how would you handle it?

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   dashingscorpioposted 10 years ago

   No I don't think a student should have his/her GPA or test scores marked down for their behavior. I also wouldn't give a failing student a passing grade simply because they were "well behaved" either!
   Teachers and school officials should address a student's bad behavior  with his or her parents. If nothing is done to correct the behavior than expel the student. Disruptions are not fair to the other students. In my day you got swatted by the teacher or coach!

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      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      A+++++++++!

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      DaisysJourneyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Amen.  But, expulsions require TONS of paperwork: functional behavior assessments, interventions, behavior plans, and the behavior has to be dangerous to reach expulsion status.  Being annoying or simply disruptive doesn't cut it!  Sadly.

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   Lybrahposted 10 years ago

   I think behavior is evident in grades already.  Disruptive students usually don't do the work.  I've given F's before to people who just wanted to talk in my classes.  They end up failing anyway.

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   Penny Gposted 10 years ago

   Absolutely NOT! THis happened to my straight A student, who sadly when I adopted him head fetal alcohol effects. I fought with The school and and the Department of education and involved our wonderful public Offical. It was determined after a huge battle that my son would receive the grade he earned for work. He would also receive a separate grade for behavior . Fair enough . This really is only needed to determine the course of action in behavior modification attempts. I nearly took this to court. The senator  fought for my sons rights as they were being violated. Start looking into this if it is affecting your child. CHILDREN HAVE RIGHTS TOO!

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      DaisysJourneyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It's unethical to grade someone on behavior.   Too subjective.  We have comment codes on report cards to let parents know their kid is disruptive, but work completed should earn a score unhindered by a child's proclivity to disrupt.

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      Penny Gposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Tell that to our school system.

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      DaisysJourneyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Oh Penny, they don't listen to the little people like teachers!!!!!

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   DaisysJourneyposted 10 years ago

   No.  Bad behavior should not be a penalty to a child's grades!  Bad behavior should be addressed through conferencing with the student, his/her parents and his/her other teachers.  A student who behaves badly should have natural consequences - loss of privilege, detention, no computer time, no recess, etc.
   
   Behavior ties into grade outcomes when disruptive students are unable to complete their own work; however, they already are penalized when they don't complete their work.  A student who does well academically can still be disruptive, but ask yourself WHY is he or she disruptive?  Is he being challenged academically?  Is she bored?  Is the work too easy? 
   
   Behavior is too subjective, just like "participation" is too subjective.  How can I really say a student is NOT participating just because he/she won't talk?  He/she can still be absorbing information and processing what has been said.
   
   What is your definition of the bad behavior?  What kind of disruptions?  I have given my disruptive students who NEED more challenging work enrichment work and computer privileges.  "You're finished already?  Great! Why don't you design me a power point showing your understanding of the characters' relationship to the plot."
   
   And if worse comes to worse, the envelope trick.  "You're done, oh great, I need someone to run this errand!  Take this envelope to Ms. X." This allows the student to work off a little energy.  For some of my more active students, I give them a wall.  When you're finished, you can walk around and do specific anchor activities, help others, or go online and do Moby Max.
   
   If energy consumption is not the issue, sometimes attention-getting is.  Start giving praise when the behavior is not disruptive (privately for older kids else you'll ruin their street cred!)
   
   I look at the reasons the student is disrupting.  Grades don't come into it as a way to punish behavior.  If he does the work, he gets the grade he earns.  If he doesn't do the work, he gets the grade he earned.  Bad behavior has a reason, though -- the need to move.  The need for attention.  Immaturity.  ADHD.  Bored and needing a challenge.  And when the student doesn't understand and is embarrassed, he/she might disrupt the class, but if the child is doing well academically, start analyzing their behavior.  When do they disrupt?  How do they disrupt?  What does the day look like when they don't disrupt?
   
   Hope this helps a bit!

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      susanholland10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You should turn this into a hub!  Excellent information!  Thanks for sharing!

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