Grading Scenario

10
th
Grade Language Arts

Omar and Mohamed are both in your 10
th
grade English class. Mohamed arrived
in the United States 1 year ago, but he has already been moved out of the ESL
class and into your mainstream English class. Omar comes from a bilingual home
where he grew up speaking English and Arabic.

Omar comes to class every day, but he is often disruptive and talking to his
classmates. He also wants to regularly use the bathroom pass to leave class. Omar
does a great job on his tests and quizzes though, and even though he leaves class
he still manages to turn in his classwork (although it is not always his best work).
Omar turns in most of his homework, and since the homework is usually a
completetion grade , he gets almost a 100% each time. Omar does okay on tests /
quizzes because he remembers information well that he reads. Projects are not
Omars strong suit though because he often makes comment about how he has
too much work in his other classes to focus on English; this semester you had
them do the entire project in school so they could use the computers in the
library. Omar was often off task, or would try to hurry through his assignment so
he could try and do work for other classes. He turned in a project, but it did not
reflect much effort or knowledge about the topic he researched.

Mohamed comes to class on time every day. He usually does not complete his
warm-up and he never turns in his homework. He does not like taking tests and
when you give him a test on a novel, he usually just matches items without
reading the questions. However, he does well when you have him work in a small
group of three or with a partner. When he works with groups he is talking with his
classmates and seems to contribute to the discussion; he also does a pretty good
job of completing his in class group assignments that are written when done with
the group. Mohamed was really engaged in the final research project this
semester and worked hard in the library each day to get it completed.

Directions: Look at the different weights of each assignment category below.
Figure out how the weighting of assignments impacts the overall grade for both
Omar and Mohamed. After looking at each set of scores, use the information to
consider the effect weighting assignments has on the overall academic outcome
by reviewing the questions below.
Omar Mohamed
Tests / Quizzes 20% 90 60
Classwork 20% 80 80
Participation 20% 80 80
Homework 20% 100 10
Final Project 20% 60 90



Omar Mohamed
Tests / Quizzes 10% 90 60
Classwork 30% 80 80
Participation 30% 80 80
Homework 10% 100 10
Final Project 20% 60 90


Omar Mohamed
Tests / Quizzes 25% 90 60
Classwork 25% 80 80
Participation 20% 80 80
Homework 25% 100 10
Final Project 5% 60 90


Omar Mohamed
Tests / Quizzes 10% 90 60
Classwork 25% 80 80
Participation 20% 80 80
Homework 10% 100 10
Final Project 35% 60 90


Do you agree with the grade that would be
given to each student?
Do you agree with the way the assignments
are weighted?
What learning does it show has taken place
(based on the selected weights)? Is this a
true reflection of each students knowledge?