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Eff on Effort Grading on Effort Grading students on effort has long been a way of rewarding them for how hard they try rather than how well they understand the material. It’s a way of compensating kids who may be behind on developing a certain skill or body of knowledge. Even if they aren’t the most capable student, they can still get a good grade and validation of their worth as a student. It also ostensibly gives them an incentive to try their best. But how can we really know if a student is trying? Answer: We can’t. While the intention behind giving a grade for effort is to hold students accountable and reward their desire to do well, “effort” in and of itself is a complex concept that cannot be divorced from the child’s perception of what is important, from their developmental skills, or from their emotional and physiological state. What Effort Grades Miss Consider a bright middle school student named Jordan who seems to be underachieving. She walks into class toward the end of a long day, where she is given a writing assignment and told her grade will be based on effort. She just has to work on it for twenty minutes to get a perfect grade; she doesn’t have to complete it. Jordan, who has severe processing and executive functioning issues, cannot get started. The teacher says kindly, “Do you need some help?” The child may not be able to process the question, or she may not be able to accept help. “No,” she says. The teacher says, “Okay, you get started and I’ll come back to check on you.” Jordan does not even attempt to start. The teacher comes back to check on her, and she has nothing to show. “Can I help you?” she asks again. “How about if you just write down one sentence?” “No!” Jordan shouts and puts her head down. She is intractable. What can the teacher do except not give her full credit for effort? She has to be consistent. Maybe if she keeps doing so she’ll come around. Unfortunately, this is probably not the case. Some might be tempted to diagnose Jordan with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or pathological demand avoidance (PDA) or simply call her lazy or defiant. Inevitably, someone at a meeting about her will ask, “Is she autistic?” But all of these are just descriptors if we don’t understand her behavior in context. To move toward helping Jordan be accountable for her behavior and thus gain agency, we need to understand her struggle. As teachers, educators, and therapists, we often assume that giving a consistent reward for the performance of a specified task will allow a child to learn. However, three things are missing for Jordan:and the consequence (1) skill development, (2) the ability to make a connection between her behavior and the grade, and (3) the ability to regulate her emotions in the moment. Skill Development Jordan's executive functioning skills are not developed to the point that she can consistently activate them. The task of the writing assignment requires several different executive functioning skills, including initiation and emotional control. The existence of a reward does not teach a skill; it only teaches compliance. Compliance is not always a bad thing. We can’t work with others if we never comply, but she won’t be able to make a decision about whether or not to comply without the skill. Her perception is that she cannot complete the task. Even if everyone else thinks she can and has seen her do so before, Jordan does not see it that way. As a result, the offer or denial of a reward, including positive verbal feedback, will not reinforce the skill. Rather, it will reinforce a sense of helplessness and make the unwanted behaviors more likely to recur. If her prefrontal cortex is overwhelmed, there is no amount of reward or punishment; coaxing or cajoling; kindness or persuasion; that will make that skill manifest. Behaviors and Consequences In addition to skill, Jordan needs to connect the behavior (doing or not the work) with the consequence (the grade) if the effort grade is to be an incentive. Not only does she need to place a value on getting a good grade, she also needs to be able to cognitively understand that the behavior will lead to a positive feeling, i.e., a sense of validation as a result of that grade. A confluence of thoughts, behaviors, and feelings is required if the effort grade is to serve its intended purpose of rewarding her for effort. A child with ADHD has what Russel Barkley calls a very short “time horizon.” In this instance Jordan is living in the now and therefore cannot place value on a reward or punishment that is abstract and in the future. She may be able to explain why it might be important to get a good grade, but the grade does not matter enough in the moment for her to make the connection. Emotion In addition to making a cognitive connection, she needs to also be aware of her emotional reaction. She is not yet able to regulate her emotions in this situation. She is frustrated, and one of the best things we as parents, educators, or other professionals can do in a situation like that is validate the emotional reaction. Often we are tempted to try to alleviate a child’s frustration by trying to convince them that it is not warranted. “I’ve seen you do this before. You’re good at it.” “All you have to do is try.” This is a well-meaning reaction that comes from a desire to help the child and protect them from pain. However, in doing so we deny them the right to their frustration. If we are to help them learn to manage and regulate their emotions, we need to validate their frustration by naming it and accepting it. It is easy to let their frustration with themselves become our frustration with ourselves as teachers, educators, or parents. When we do so, we inadvertently reinforce their negative view of themselves and perpetuate a cycle of failure. We also miss out on an opportunity to connect with the child around our own vulnerabilities. Accountability If I had a nickel for every time someone responded to the above description by suggesting that a child exhibiting these behaviors needs to be held accountable, I’m pretty sure I would have at least five dollars. And I completely agree. The point is we need to think, “What are they accountable for?” Are they accountable for simply complying or do we want to hold them accountable for learning the skills and learning to regulate themselves? One common mistake is to assume that if we help a child with something that we want them to do independently, they will learn that they don’t have to do the task. This often comes up around the ability of a child to hand in homework. It seems so simple. Can’t they do it? Well, if you’re working with a gifted child, the complex is simple and the simple is complex. And they cannot get to the complex stuff if they cannot have help with the simple. Helping them with a skill they have ot learned yet will not reinforce dependence. The opposite is true. Giving a consequence for something they cannot do yet will reinforce helplessness. It won’t make them learn the skill. But can’t they just hand in their @$&*-ing homework? Maybe or maybe not. That needs to be evaluated. But in any case it’s not about giving them less accountability, it is making them accountable more frequently for smaller parts of the skill, and, in cases where that is not practical, we need to scaffold that skill. That is, we may need to find alternatives to trying to force them to remember to turn in their homework. Someone Else Is Frustrated; Someone Else is Vulnerable; Someone Else Needs Some TLC In addition to addressing the frustration and vulnerability of a learner, we also have to come to terms with our own frustration and vulnerability. When I used to teach and a student was not getting something, I would absorb their frustration and question my own teaching skills. At some level, I thought I must be doing something wrong, and I would translate that into frustration with the students. In addition to modeling things like respect, healthy life choices, and appropriate language, it is important that we model validating our own emotions. Unconsciously, the learners will pick up on our emotional state, which is a direct result of our self-awareness around our own vulnerabilities as learners, parents, and teachers. We can also show them that when we engage in a process, even if it does not look like we are putting in effort, we are in fact holding ourselves accountable. This is true even when we fail. We need to start to see our own sense of failure as a signal that we care and take care of our own vulnerability. So go ahead and give yourself an Eff for Effort and try to enjoy the journey. By Kristin Cotts, MA, LPC References Barkley, Russell. (10 Aug., 2023). ADHD & Time Blindness. Keavney, Noah. (Oct., 2024). Photo credit: Squeak Wants to Be Happy.

The debate around “best practice” and “evidence based practice” has always perplexed me. I remember a discussion question in graduate school for my counseling degree asking if we thought “evidence based practice” had merit...