I think this scenario with Ryan happens all too often. Students initially struggle, but work hard and eventually improve significantly, but are ultimately defeated by a policy.
In Ryan's case, the average of his marks over the term, as a final grade, did not accurately depict his learning and achievement improvements over the term. The entire point of a child's education is to mark improvement and ensure learning is occurring, through assessment of that child's understanding and application of curriculum outcomes. When you look at Ryan's performance over the year, it's clear he improved substantially and was understanding the content. It's frustrating that his hard work is balled up into one final mark, which in no way reflects his learning and growth.
I can't imagine how Ryan feels. He knew heading into class that he struggled in LA. It would have taken a lot on his part (and the teacher) to work hard as something that didn't come easily, and to ultimately improve. He would have been so thrilled to see his own success, so it frustrates me to know his confidence would have been torn back down when he saw his final mark. He probably wont apply himself in his next LA class, because he has been burned in the past by putting himself out there and working hard to grasp the content.
A more accurate depiction of Ryan's learning and improvement would have been to weight the earlier grades lighter than the more recent work, instead of it all being averaged. This way, all of Ryan's grades would have been included in his final grade, but would still show how he grew over the term, as his improved grades would make up most of his final grade.
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