Well basically my question is if a teacher out there has ever given a student an A or B simple because they like the student or are teachers usually unbiased and correct every on the same?? How about the teacher in this forum you guys usually pretty fair when grading work???

I as a teacher have found that my peers at times base their grading upon the student's " interaction and their production". Myself personally speaking, I judge the student's exact knowledge and their true sense of dedication. In my profession, you need expertise and the individuation process to assess your subject. There are no maybe's, but then again, one mistake by my student can cost a patient's life!!!

Quintos,

I don't think anybody can give an A or a B based on personal affinity with a student, but I guess there are all sorts of people involved in education.

WHen I recently began to teach I started with the idea that I wanted to be fair and not to have favorite students. Well, that is never posible. As human beings, we like some students more than we like others, just like when you meet somebody and you instantly like or dislike him or her, for really no reason. When it comes to grading assingments, that is a different story. People get their grades according to their knowledge, not my personal impression of them. Actually the person that scores higher in my class is not my favorite student at all, I would say the contrary. And one of the students I like the most, failed, so I am fair and grade on the knowledge they convey on the paper.

I would say though that we professors realize who is following our class and who is going to do well, even with my limited experience I can tell. SO when going through and assignment, if I find a silly mistake I tend to mentally count it as a mistake if the student is average or not very good and not give it much thought and if the student is outstanding I think he was probably not paying attention to make such a silly mistake. But, again, the penalty for the mistake is the same!

As I said it is difficult not to have favorite students based on our personal perceptions, but that should not affect the grades if one is a serious educator.

Jonsoniana

I made a vow when I picked up my first piece of chalk that I would never do anything to a student that I would not want done to me or to my own children. So no, I do not grade higher because I like a student. If the liking you mention means the student participates in class, is not disruptive, tries hard,hands in all his/her work but doesn't test well or has had something awful happen (prolonged illness, death in the family, etc.) and the average is 78.5 and 80 is a B, I MIGHT consider giving the kid a B this one time. I tell students that like Santa, I only give these gifts once a year and they only come for very special situations.
I teach middle school though, and grades are not quite as important as they are in high school.
My job is to teach the best I can and to be as fair as I can be. Sometimes being fair means keeping the total person in mind.

Many of my family members are/were teachers/instructors, I have experenced both sides. I have seen all kinds of teachers. Many factors are involved in a teacher being bias. Some of the factors are attitude, personality, experiance and how close the teacher is to retirement.

Regarding this issue of accountability, I use a scientific method of grading. Even on essays, I have a little math formula so that I factor in how much each person has written and how appropriate each sentence is to the given topic.

To answer your question, I believe that I grade based on the average.

I try never to pad a failing grade. That only makes my job more difficult down the road. If the student has not mastered the material, it is pointless to push him/her to the next level.

PS: I like the comment above about "Santa coming once a year". I can relate to giving "charity", but not very much.

I grade on percentage, and do not round up or down from a tenth of a percentage (hence, 79.9% is a C+, nothing more, etc.). What I do include for those students who display extra-concerted efforts, and what is allowed as per my district grading rubric, is the area of "diligence".

This additional area includes simple things like attendance, preparedness with materials for class, extra help sought (not extra credit...which is for most students a cop-out from the real work), and "other considerations". This allows those students who work their tails off but still come short of a particular goal, to achieve a reasonable grade based on achievement and effort, not just achievement.