#113 Rewarding improvement

One of the best decisions I've made as a teacher is to reward improvement instead of achievement. The pros are numerous and obvious:

1. Every child has an equal playing field; they are compared only to their past achievements.
2. Even if the child underperforms at any time, the child can redouble his efforts at any time and still improve.
3. It encourages every child to keep putting in their best effort and keep trying; even the best-scoring pupil can't rest on his laurels.

Of course, you'd need a formula to measure improvement. The simplest way is to see the net difference from the child's entry score. However, it'd be helpful to compare to the entry score only for the first few tests; thereafter, to provide a more accurate and relevant measure, you need a 'moving average', comprising the last two test scores and the last average. By so doing, late bloomers are forced to continue to improve instead of relying on just being better than their underachievement last year.

Empirically, it also enables me to identify who's really trying, or just plain better, though it does not exclude external factors such as tuition or learning difficulties.