29 Dec 1995 Talk of power redistribution in the classroom has been popular for the past few years. But it is just talk if the teacher still retains the final evaluative say, which in the classsroom is the single most powerful tool.
Grades are a vortex around which all classroom activity whirls, pulled inexorably toward.
They create a vacuum around which power and classroom politics cling, mooshed to that empty center by centripetal force. And at the same time, learning flies centrifugally to the furthest edges of the classroom environment. I know lots of teachers are working their tails off to mitigate the effects of the grade. I think, though, that as long as the teacher retains the final say each effort to get past the grading barrier is going to be crippled to some extent. As long as teachers reserve that right, contracts and any other attempts to reconfigure authority can be undercut and even be disingenuous.