EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Title

GRADE ANALYSIS AND THE GRADING SYSTEM OF HOLY CROSS OF

DAVAO COLLEGE (HCDC) EDUCATION PROGRAM

Researchers: Pablo F. Busquit and Danilo L. Mejica

Literature

Teachers and students should be familiar with the grading system of the
school. They should understand that the grading system is an important part of
the school’s instructional management and should not be a cause for undue
anxiety. On the other hand, there is no perfect grading system. Put another way,
no grading system is without its share of flaws. The most a grading system can
do is to approximate the year level of student achievement vis-a-vis the course
objectives. One of the marks of a good school and good teaching is a well
thought-of examination and grading system. In a credential-oriented society like
ours, students’ futures and careers are largely dependent on grades and it is
incumbent on the school and teachers to expand all efforts to develop and
maintain an evaluation system that is efficient, just and humane.
In analyzing grades of students, the ultimate purpose is to promote
educational development of the student. It serves as a basis for promotion or
retention, not demotion or as a means of discouraging students to discontinue
schooling. School heads use grading analyses as major criterion for determining
academic honors, notably in choosing honor students or in awarding
scholarships to deserving students (Cangleon, 2002).
Evaluation of students’ academic performance particularly their
competencies is a complicated but necessary process. It involves more than just
prescribing criteria to rate the students’ academic performance or knowledge of
subject matter. Such factors as personal-social adjustment, the extent to which
students make use of or apply their abilities, the quality of their responses to the
learning situation – all these should be taken into account (Ebel, 2000).
A grading system, according to Gronland (2002), is ultimately hooked up
to the scholastic standard set by the school. This standard represents the
school’s level of expectations of its students. Standards vary from school to
school since they have varying curricular requirements.
Rowlands (2001) wrote that many teachers object to the term ‘drop-out’
being applied to all students who fail to complete. They argue that students can
leave academic programs for positive as well as negative reasons: because they
have achieved their learning goals, because they have been offered employment
or because they wish to transfer to a more suitable course or institution.

Rationale

This research aimed to find out the relevance of the grading system of the
Education Program through analyses of the grades given to students. Since the
students are the center of all educational system, it cannot be denied, however,
that students’ learning performance are always mirrored on the kind of grading
marks they receive at the end of the school year. Wherever they go in the
teaching profession, the kind and quality of grades reflected in their transcript of
records is a mirror of their academic performance. However, their final grades are
not the actual reflection of their performance in the field. There are other criteria
to consider.
This research study purports to analyze the grades of the students to
examine the continuing relevance of the college grading system as a tool for
identifying the scholastic performance of the students. The study serves as
springboard in finding out how and why students pass, fail, or drop the course as
reflected in the grading sheet submitted by the college faculty every end of the
semester. This will help subject area coordinators, teachers, and Program Heads
formulate appropriate means to improve teaching strategies towards quality
education to all.
The study limits itself to grades submitted by teachers under the
Education Program of the school. The researchers hope that this study will give
deeper insights into the relevance and uses of the grading system.

Methodology

This study used the descriptive-analytical method. The variables require

such method to determine the grading system and grading analyses of Education
Program of Holy Cross of Davao College.
The respondents of the study were the faculty of the Education Program:
23 full-time and 23 part-time. Grading sheets of these faculty members were
secured from the Registrar’s Office and the Office of the Education Program of
Holy Cross of Davao College. The researcher adapted the purposive sampling in
determining the respondents of the study.
The study made use of the grading sheets of 23 full time and 23 part time
teachers for school year 2006-2007. The study inquired into the factors or causes
of students’ failing and dropping of academic courses. Dropping forms and
corresponding remarks in the grading sheets were examined and tabulated in
line with this. The research instrument used consisted of documents (grading
sheets and reports of Registrar’s office) which were analyzed using frequency,
ranking and percentage to interpret the data.
 Percentage and mean were used in analyzing the data. Frequency was
applied to condense large sets of data and display them in an “easy to digest”
graphical form.
The data was interpreted using the following grading scale:

Grading Scale Grade Interval Descriptions

Very high in all aspects of academic work; alert;
takes active part in discussions; consistently
High (3) 89-100
highest or among highest in test, projects, and
other assignments.
Very satisfactory performance in two or more
aspects of academic work; quite alert; takes quite
Average (2) 83-88 an active part in discussions; sometime among the
highest in tests projects, and other assignments.

Satisfactory performance in most aspects of

academic work; seldom participates in discussions;
Low (1) 75-82 performance in tests, projects and other
assignments acceptable but does not indicate
quality

Major Findings

Of the grades tabulated, 26.19 percent or 1,500 clustered in the high

grade range (89 to 100). There were 1,335 grades given by the faculty in the
average grade range (83 to 88%) comprising 23.29 percent. Low grades form the
largest percentage (39.70%) of grades obtained by students. There were 200
failing grades handed out (3.49%) while 420 were marked as dropped in the
grading sheets (7.33%). There was a high number of passing grades given
(86.18%) although more than one-third of the students have low grades.
The data point out that those who were given low grades (75% to 82%)
are experiencing varied academic difficulties such as low performance in class,
inadequate requirements, financial difficulties, health problems and even family
disturbances. These factors may then lead to such undesirable behaviors as
academic complacency, cheating and over studying. This results to failing marks
because of student’s unsatisfactory academic performance or eventually
dropping the course for any number of varied reasons.
The large percentage of students with low grades may also have been the
result of the school’s system of not classifying students according to their level of
intelligence, thus in a way, the system did not afford better learning interactions of
low to average intelligent students. The HCDC instructional system at the college
level has not clearly designed a program to increase academic performance of
students who persistently obtained low to average grades. The data imply that
these students need academic counseling periodically, re-orientation of academic
work, and adjustment to school environment.
 The data also imply that students possibly conform to the standards of the
teacher in order to get high marks at the sacrifice of their creativity and
imagination. At worse, they might even refrain from differing with the teacher for
fear they might be given low marks.
Finally, grades are valuable to students in that they have a chance to see
how they are appraised by the teacher and the corresponding level of their
academic performance based on their manifested capabilities in the classroom.
They need this kind of information because very often it points out possible
directions in their choice of careers of areas of specialization with flying colors.
Financial problems are the foremost reasons causing students to fail in
class and oftentimes, dropped entirely from school. These financial problems
vary but almost always concerns with no money to pay tuition fee, books and
other requirements, and rental for boarding houses. School and teacher-related
problems are ranked second and consist of the following: students cannot relate
to the way the teacher handles instruction (“walay lami motudlo ang teacher”);
the teacher is not understanding (“dili understanding ang teachers”); no uniform
and/or ID; the teacher is always angry, irritable or moody; and no desire to study
(“walay gana mo-study”). Ranked third among students’ reasons for failing and
dropping out are health-related problems. These include students being sickly
most of the time, hospitalized for a long period of time or no money for
hospitalization and medicine, and the need to have time for recuperation after a
long sickness.
There were 20 full-time teachers out of a total of 23 who were punctual in
submitting their grading sheets within the prescribed time (since this
responsibility is required as articulated in the HCDC Faculty Manual. On the
other hand, only 3 (13.04%) were not able to meet the deadline in submitting the
grades. Out of 23 part-time teachers, there were 18 who were prompt as
compared with five (5) teachers who were late in submitting their grades
(21.74%).

Conclusions

Although there is a high percentage of passing marks given by teachers to

Education students, these passing marks are clustered in the low range, thus
students pass the subject but majority have low grades.
There are only a small percentage of students who have failing grades or
have dropped out of the class.
Teachers reasonably follow the policy on punctual submission of grades.
Whether full-time or part-time, most teachers are punctual in the submission of
grades. Only a small percentage of teachers have difficulty in conforming to this
policy.
 Though constantly monitored through the various programs of the schools
and given counseling, students still encounter problems which affects their
studies and cause their failure or dropping out of the subject.
Financial problems such as no money for tuition fee, house or board
rental, and for other needs are the dominant cause of students’ failures and
dropping out of school. School and teacher related problems along with health
problems affect students’ performance in school.

Recommendations

The data on low grades given to students which comprised 39.70%

(2,275) of the total sampled population should be brought to the attention of the
Program Head. Measures or programs should be initiated to help these students
improve their academic performance;
Review the existing remedial measures (if there are any) of the Education
Program with the aim in view of improving and strengthening these to afford
students better chance of improving their academic performance;
Upgrade and improve process of admission tests for incoming Education
students to provide better classification of students by level of intelligence;
Departmental grade analysis should also be undertaken by other
programs to determine academic performance of students;
Strengthen monitoring mechanism in identifying students with specific
problems. These could be a coordinated effort between faculty members and the
college guidance center;
Intensive counseling of students with problems should be pursued.
Teachers can assist the College Guidance Center if given the right training;
Smooth Interpersonal Relationship (SIR), sensitivity to students’ feelings
and needs – these are areas which teachers need to develop through constant
interaction with students and fellow teachers. These are also psychological
elements that would help minimize teacher-related problems of students;
The school administration should continue to remind teachers in the
punctual submission of grades; and maintain high percentage of punctual
submissions through recognition of punctual teachers; and
Further researches on grade analysis focusing on students’ performance
on specific areas or discipline (mathematics, science, language, etc.) should be
conducted – this might reveal underlying factors affecting scholastic performance
of students.
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