The use of percentages to grade students is mathematically flawed and unfair to students

The use of percentages to grade students is mathematically flawed and unfair to students. If you ask someone the temperature today, do you want him to give you the actual temperature or an average of the temperatures of the last 10 days? Which is more accurate? In a worker’s paycheck, would he want to see his actual week’s pay, or an average weekly pay which includes weeks before a pay raise?

It is unfair to students to include grades from their attempts to learn averaged in with the grade that shows their true final learning. Example: In teaching the learning target “writing informational text,” parents have the right to know how well their students can actually perform the skill without averaging in grades from their initial drafts. That’s an unfair practice.

Standards Based Grading resolves this issue.  Students are assessed on what they know and can do.