RAD Ballet - exam results for graded exams

[sarahw]

Youngatheart - I'm not a snowflake parent I promise - in fact I'm thought to be bordering on harsh by some!!

 

 

[taxi4ballet]

In my experience, the students tend to compare results in the changing room anyway.

 

Going back to the original question... no it's not at all common for a dance school to have a large number of distinctions, particularly when some of the students are consistently in the 90's. It would be more usual for the majority to be in the 60-80 range, so mostly med/high merits & low distinctions - maybe with the occasional one or two in the higher 80's/low 90's. A non-selective school whose students are consistently achieving high marks in the 90's would be a very good school indeed.

[sarahw]

I agree the results do get shared in changing room etc but that is very different to reading them out.

[Wigglybunny]

My DD also attends a school where distinction is expected. Sadly, she was the only one to get a (very good!) merit out of the whole primary class when she took her exam aged 6 a few years ago. Everyone else got distinction. She hasn’t been allowed to take an exam since (she is now 8 and studying grade 3) but her teacher hasn’t ever mentioned it...she just hasn’t entered her. Luckily she’s not that bothered and has gained distinctions  in non-dancing exams such as LAMDA and ABRSM, but having had an older DS who got very good RAD distinctions, it’s difficult seeing both sides of the coin, so to speak.

[Canary]

On 02/05/2018 at 11:48, Vonrothbart said:

 

If you look on the website you will see the number of points your GDD will get with UCAS. The new Adv 2 RAD is very demanding and she should be very proud of herself, if she gets a Distinction she will be eligible for the Genee International competition. My DD puts it on her CV

Edited May 6, 2018 by Canary

[Emilie]

Wigglybunny-she must be a strong dancer if she’s is already on G3 aged 8. Sad that she’s not entered for the exam especially as she was doing well to get a high merit. At least you’ve saved a few ££ on exam fees. The performance element of LAMDA will help the performance element of the RAD exam so in the fullness of time I’m sure she will get the Distinction. DD’s school posts the results on the board and over the past year or so have ranged from 58 to 100.

[hfbrew]

2 hours ago, Wigglybunny said:

My DD also attends a school where distinction is expected. Sadly, she was the only one to get a (very good!) merit out of the whole primary class when she took her exam aged 6 a few years ago. Everyone else got distinction. She hasn’t been allowed to take an exam since (she is now 8 and studying grade 3) but her teacher hasn’t ever mentioned it...she just hasn’t entered her. Luckily she’s not that bothered and has gained distinctions  in non-dancing exams such as LAMDA and ABRSM, but having had an older DS who got very good RAD distinctions, it’s difficult seeing both sides of the coin, so to speak.

This makes me very cross. A teacher who is just cherry picking the best students so that her record only shows distinctions is discriminating against less able students.

Being trained to get Distinctions in Ballet exams is not the same as good Ballet training. 

I had written more but managed to lose it all!

[Harwel]

8 hours ago, Wigglybunny said:

My DD also attends a school where distinction is expected. Sadly, she was the only one to get a (very good!) merit out of the whole primary class when she took her exam aged 6 a few years ago. Everyone else got distinction. She hasn’t been allowed to take an exam since (she is now 8 and studying grade 3) but her teacher hasn’t ever mentioned it...she just hasn’t entered her. 

 I am appalled by this! I would not entertain that dance school for one more second.  That is a very bad message that your daughter is receiving.  Shame on such dance teachers! 

[youngatheart]

I totally agree with Harwel & hfbew (having once had the misfortune to attend such a school myself) - it is totally unfair and discriminatory to deprive any student of a pass (let alone a merit!) that they could otherwise have obtained.

 

Going back to my earlier post, I think I may have been misunderstood slightly by some - I was most certainly not advocating "humiliation" of anyone - rather, I was disagreeing with the whole concept that children should be allowed to believe coming lower down the lists is in any way humiliating! On the contrary - a child who has previously been warned that he or she would probably only get a pass, because they don't have much turnout and stiff feet (or whatever) should be perfectly happy to get that pass and not feel humiliated, because they ALREADY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND how much harder they had to work for it than the "naturals". (And the latter group should be taught that because they already have "perfect ballet bodies" the expectations for them are much higher, so there is no room for slacking).

 

The whole point of having access to other childrens' detailed mark breakdowns is to be able to learn from them - e.g. "X got a high performance mark but I didn't - so I will watch her in class to see what she is doing that I am not, and then try to copy it". You can't do that if you don't know who is getting the high marks for what!

 

The main problem with the idea of "competing against yourself" is the inconsistency of the marking. So you may be just as good in this exam as you were in the last one, but get a much lower mark and think that you are getting worse or have reached your natural limit, become disheartened and quit ballet. Whereas if you see all the marks, you can also see that EVERYONE's marks were lower this time, and that you have actually maintained (or even improved) your relative position.

[taxi4ballet]

1 hour ago, youngatheart said:

The whole point of having access to other childrens' detailed mark breakdowns is to be able to learn from them - e.g. "X got a high performance mark but I didn't - so I will watch her in class to see what she is doing that I am not, and then try to copy it". You can't do that if you don't know who is getting the high marks for what!

The majority of students will already be (sometimes embarassingly) aware of where they stand in the class pecking order, and who does certain things better than others. When they have tried their hardest to improve, they don't really need to have their shortcomings spelled out in black and white and publicised to everyone else.

 

The marks given by any examiner on any given day are subjective and will reflect their own preferences to a greater or lesser degree. This isn't something younger students would be able to fully appreciate or comprehend.

 

Only older teenagers (and even then, only some) would have the maturity and self-awareness to be able to interpret data regarding the marks of others and to act on that information, and use it to improve. It should be down to the teacher to be aware of which specific area each individual student needs to work on, and to use that information to good effect. 

[Pups_mum]

2 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

The majority of students will already be (sometimes embarassingly) aware of where they stand in the class pecking order, and who does certain things better than others. When they have tried their hardest to improve, they don't really need to have their shortcomings spelled out in black and white and publicised to everyone else.

 

The marks given by any examiner on any given day are subjective and will reflect their own preferences to a greater or lesser degree. This isn't something younger students would be able to fully appreciate or comprehend.

 

Only older teenagers (and even then, only some) would have the maturity and self-awareness to be able to interpret data regarding the marks of others and to act on that information, and use it to improve. It should be down to the teacher to be aware of which specific area each individual student needs to work on, and to use that information to good effect. 

Well said.

The impact of any action is more important than the intention. Any teacher who hopes to motivate and encourage the majority of  his or her  pupils by publicly sharing their exam results is likely to be disappointed.

Personally, I don't have an issue with competitions. DD danced in festivals, my older son competes in music festivals, the youngest plays competitive sport. In those circumstances of course they know who got most marks, crossed the line first etc and are subject to a critique in public. There are valuable life lessons to be learned from competitions and plenty of children enjoy them.

But exams are not competitions, particularly in the context of recreational dance classes, and very few students will benefit from having access to the whole class's results. It's the teacher's job to share the individual's results and help with the interpretation and learning. 

 

[Nicola H]

3 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

The majority of students will already be (sometimes embarassingly) aware of where they stand in the class pecking order, and who does certain things better than others. When they have tried their hardest to improve, they don't really need to have their shortcomings spelled out in black and white and publicised to everyone else.

 

The marks given by any examiner on any given day are subjective and will reflect their own preferences to a greater or lesser degree. This isn't something younger students would be able to fully appreciate or comprehend.

 

Only older teenagers (and even then, only some) would have the maturity and self-awareness to be able to interpret data regarding the marks of others and to act on that information, and use it to improve. It should be down to the teacher to be aware of which specific area each individual student needs to work on, and to use that information to good effect. 

I agree  with the  above ... 

 while not related to dance, my current workplace  has some  interesting times ahead with  someone   who is mid way  through his probation,  and maturity and self awarenss are going to be his downfall , he;s a nice lad,  he could do the job  well if he hung   his attitude and ego up with the coats on the pegs but  that's the problem  - he can't/ won't apply stuff and despite the subtle and not so subtle prods  from  peers,  trainers and  supervision  he's looking at  missing  the  mark  across all the areas of the scorecard   we use  determine whether/ when  people  get off probation  and /or  are retained  beyond the probationary period  

[taxi4ballet]

Hopefully the penny will drop and he'll pull his socks up in time Nicola. Having said that, some people never do!

[ParentTaxi]

Interesting read.

 

At DD's (good, non-vocational, ISTD for all disciplines) school, large enough to be its own exam centre, overall exam, results are put up on the board (Pass [vanishingly rare - i can remember 2 in the 10 years we have been there], Merit, Distinction [most common]) but individual marks are not.

 

DD's distinctions have varied between 80 and 96, with no particularly strong correlation to her actual performance / ability at that specific grade, but more to do with the variation between examiners. Progress through grades is pretty brisk - DD is working towards Adv 1 / Adv 2 in all three main genres at 15 - and up to a certain point, pretty uniform across an age cohort who start together, though they do space out a bit once they reach Grade 6 / vocational exams. There is a HUGE range of physical facility / body type across each cohort, but the training is rigorous so basic technique is pretty strong.

[youngatheart]

21 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

The majority of students will already be (sometimes embarassingly) aware of where they stand in the class pecking order, and who does certain things better than others. When they have tried their hardest to improve, they don't really need to have their shortcomings spelled out in black and white and publicised to everyone else.

 

The marks given by any examiner on any given day are subjective and will reflect their own preferences to a greater or lesser degree. This isn't something younger students would be able to fully appreciate or comprehend.

 

Only older teenagers (and even then, only some) would have the maturity and self-awareness to be able to interpret data regarding the marks of others and to act on that information, and use it to improve. It should be down to the teacher to be aware of which specific area each individual student needs to work on, and to use that information to good effect. 

Because they are not being taught to do so from a very young age through being misguidedly "protected" from this kind of information! My point is that they need to be enabled to develop these skills much earlier in childhood. It is the adults insisting on acting on the assumption that this will damage them that is the problem.

 

(BTW I am saying all  this from the perspective of someone who did not find out until adulthood that I was not the superior being I was brought up to believe that I was -  a very hard lesson that did indeed damage me - it would have been much better for me if I had "always" known this and therefore had realistic career expectations!)

 

 

[balletbean]

My best wishes to all those who have received their results. My DD and two other friends who took their exam a while back have just discovered that the examining board have ‘lost’ their results!! 

[Bluebird22]

Balletbean, that is one of the most frustrating things to happen! We had exam centre where we received the results but the report sheets vanished so while the girls knew their overall mark they had no idea of the examiners feedback or where they lost or gained marks

[balletbean]

9 minutes ago, Bluebird22 said:

Balletbean, that is one of the most frustrating things to happen! We had exam centre where we received the results but the report sheets vanished so while the girls knew their overall mark they had no idea of the examiners feedback or where they lost or gained marks

I feel for you. The three girls involved don’t even know if they were awarded a Pass/Merit or Distinction let alone marks. So frustrating but nothing they can do. Just sit and wait. And wait. And wait. 😏

[Bluebird22]

Especially when the exam fees are hardly cheap! 

[Vonrothbart]

On 06/05/2018 at 22:20, Canary said:

If you look on the website you will see the number of points your GDD will get with UCAS. The new Adv 2 RAD is very demanding and she should be very proud of herself, if she gets a Distinction she will be eligible for the Genee International competition. My DD puts it on her CV

Yes Canary, that might well be an option she possibly could have. The problem is fitting the exam in at the minute, what with GCE exams coming up, holidays, and then starting vocational school in September. What an incredible journey this dance world is eh? One thing for sure whatever happens in the future, we like a lot of other people will certainly have something to look back on, but for now we'll keep looking forward.

[Canary]

We know a few RAD dancers that have taken Adv 2 through their old schools once at Vocational sixth form. If your GDD wants to do Solo Seal then you may find few Vocational schools actually allow for this in the timetable. 

 

 

[Viv]

On 08/05/2018 at 19:54, youngatheart said:

Going back to my earlier post, I think I may have been misunderstood slightly by some - I was most certainly not advocating "humiliation" of anyone - rather, I was disagreeing with the whole concept that children should be allowed to believe coming lower down the lists is in any way humiliating! On the contrary - a child who has previously been warned that he or she would probably only get a pass, because they don't have much turnout and stiff feet (or whatever) should be perfectly happy to get that pass and not feel humiliated, because they ALREADY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND how much harder they had to work for it than the "naturals". (And the latter group should be taught that because they already have "perfect ballet bodies" the expectations for them are much higher, so there is no room for slacking).

 

I don't necessarily disagree with your position entirely Youngatheart. I believe that there are times when ranking can be beneficial to children and I do not agree with a world where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up, or football goals aren't counted because 'everyone is a winner'. However, I disagree that ballet exam results are one of those things that should be shared publicly, because so much comes down to initial ability or facility and because exam results, as we've often seen, have very little to do with which students will make it as professional dancers (if this is even what the students want!). By sharing their marks, what exactly are we preparing them for? I also think it's somewhat unrealistic to think that students will be happy with coming last on a list because they were less able to start with. All they can see is a big pile of people who are better than them. If you choose to share your marks, because you are happy or disappointed or neutral, that should be entirely your choice, and no one else should be expected to share theirs. There are a whole host of reasons why someone might be happy or sad with their results, regardless of whether they are objectively good or bad.

 

For example, I used to have a friend at my studio, the only other crazy old lady dancing with children, who had far from the perfect ballet body, could not get a straight line across the top of the ankle and had relatively no external rotation. While she worked very hard and achieved merits all the way up to Intermediate, she was told by my teacher it would be very unlikely that she would pass advanced foundation. This student decided to attempt it anyway and started taking intermediate classes again to work on the basics, scheduled extra private lessons, did conditioning outside of class to be more prepared. When results came out, this student called me in tears because she had 'only' achieved 49 marks in the exam. I was thrilled for her, because to go from not being considered able to pass, to passing by a good 9 marks, is in my opinion quite an achievement. However, objectively it is not a good mark. No matter how prepared this student was for the marks she received, she was devastated that after pouring so much work into something, she didn't even get 50%. This was a mature woman of 23 who cried for days after getting her marks. I don't believe that a 13 year old would be any better equipped to deal with such a blow.

 

As another example, there are three girls in my class, two with a perfect ballet body and one with a different physique. All three have shared their results with me and not with each other. Girl A has natural facility and achieves great marks without trying. She puts in enough work to stay at the top, but otherwise has a tendency to be lazy because it comes easily to her. Girl B has little turnout, short muscular legs and only okay feet. She works incredibly hard and consistently scores in the 90s for ballet exams. Girl C has the best facility of all of them, is an associate with the Australian Ballet, yet 'only' achieves in the 70s and low 80s for ballet exams. She is very small for her age, physically immature and things haven't quite clicked yet. She was very pleased with her marks last year, until someone told her that Girls A and B both got in the 90s. Girl C now wants to quit ballet next year, despite loving it, because she thinks she is no good. She already compares herself to Girls A & B and their seemingly effortless achievement and now believes that only bad dancers get in the 70s. I have tried to cure her of this by telling her that only 30% or something get a distinction in ballet exams, so in this way comparisons can be beneficial. But ranking these girls, to my mind, serves no purpose. Girl A doesn't care about her marks for her own sake, only that she beats other people, and to demonstrate to her that she can continue to do this without working hard is not to her benefit. Girl B may think that, because she achieves highly, she has a higher chance of a classical ballet career, which is most likely not possible because of her physique. Girl C thinks that she has no shot of a career, which she desperately wants, because she's a 'bad dancer' who should give up now. Luckily, our teacher gets to spend 364 days a year future proofing these students, telling Girl A that she needs to work harder, Girl B that she needs to work smarter to use what facility she does have, and building up Girl C's confidence because when it does all click, she'll be amazing. But to these students, exam day is the only one that matters. Having their exam results, a snapshot of how they looked to one person on one day, shared with everyone and therefore, in my opinion, given more importance than they're rightly due, greatly undermines the work of the teacher to pull out of each student the best that they can achieve. In my opinion, exam results are a poor indicator of success or of hard work, but these kids place so much importance on them, even with a teacher who is trying to put everything in perspective. To have the whole studio, who doesn't get to see how hard you work or how much you've improved, know where you fall on a list is demoralising and, to my mind, serves no purpose that could not be better served in another manner.

 

Lastly, it is also true that sharing marks within a studio only tells you how you compare to other students at that studio, not to other students that you will eventually be competing with for places at vocational school or for classical careers. Being a big fish in a small pond isn't going to prepare any student for when they're suddenly thrown into the ocean, in fact it may falsely inflate their expectations. Even if every ballet school around the world publicly announced their students results, I'm sure there would still be some rude awakenings when it came time for auditions.

[Viv]

Yikes, sorry for the essay! I have the flu so please forgive rambling, nonsensical tirades...

[hfbrew]

3 hours ago, Viv said:

Yikes, sorry for the essay! I have the flu so please forgive rambling, nonsensical tirades...

Don't apologise, I thought that it was an excellent post. And the lady getting 49% should have been delighted,it's very respectable mark for that level.

In truth I originally wrote an essay only to press the wrong button and lose it all!!

Hope that you recover from the flu soon.

[Pups_mum]

From a different perspective, what implication does GDPR have for this practice? Surely exam results are personally identifiable data, and could even be considered "sensitive". Do teachers even have the right to share this info with other people??

[MumToTu]

I would of thought sharing of exam results with names without permission was in breach of GDPR rules.  But, I am no legal expect.  

 

I personally hate emphasis on scores and I would prefer to reward personnal progression.

 

At my dds Grammer school, the students assessment scores each term are ranked, and read out.  As incentive for students to work hard all throughout the year and creates a very progressive environment.  She enjoys this, but it would certainly not suit everyone for example her brother would hate this kind of environment and I know it would make him totally miserable, rather than enjoying the strive for improvement and looking up to all the outstanding successes.

 

So, I don’t think personally think it’s necessary for a recreational dance school to be displaying scores, unless to applaud an outstanding success.  But, I expect everyone has a very different perspective on this. 

 

But, I also wouldn’t be offended if my dds scores were displayed anywhere, but would understand totally why some people dislike the practice so much!  😊

 

 

[Picturesinthefirelight]

There isn't any significanty change from what I can see (except I suspect many organisations wern't doing it).  Exam results are indeed personal data but they are not sensitive data. Schools and organisations have a responsibility to inform pupils/parents (depending on age) if exam results are to be pulished.  This should be done on a regular basis.  From what I have gathered so far, though it is a bit subject to interpretation, students and parents then have the right to request their data is not used in this way.

[youngatheart]

Viv I thought your post very well argued actually. I too am surprised the lady was so disappointed with 49 - in those circumstances I would have been ecstatic to get 41! Curious as to how she is able to do pointe work with feet like you describe though....?

 

What I don't understand is why so many teachers think it is OK not to let their weaker students enter at all, rather than for them to enter & get passes - IMO it is far more damaging to be told that you are not good enough (which of course everyone WILL know about, because they will know who is entering and who is not!) than to pass but with a lower mark (not an issue if lots of people only get passes, but I agree it could be if everyone else in the class got merits and distinctions. Sadly this is generally what seems to happen in too many schools.)

 

Re the three girls - is girl C likely to be losing her marks on the performance side? Alternatively, it sounds like she may be being entered for exams too early before she is fully ready, because otherwise it is surprising that she is being outranked by girl B in the context of a vocational exam (though not so surprising for a grade if performance was the issue).

 

 

 

[Mummy twinkle toes]

On 09/05/2018 at 13:19, balletbean said:

My best wishes to all those who have received their results. My DD and two other friends who took their exam a while back have just discovered that the examining board have ‘lost’ their results!! 

This has also happened to us. Dd1 knows she has passed but RAD have lost the results. 

[taxi4ballet]

3 hours ago, youngatheart said:

Re the three girls - is girl C likely to be losing her marks on the performance side? Alternatively, it sounds like she may be being entered for exams too early before she is fully ready, because otherwise it is surprising that she is being outranked by girl B in the context of a vocational exam (though not so surprising for a grade if performance was the issue).

 

A lack of confidence in your own ability and/or low self-esteem will affect your marks in an exam - artistry and performance especially. A student with huge potential and ability but who isn't as successful in an exam as they should have been would most definitely NOT benefit from having their results compared unfavourably with other students. It would be another nail in the coffin, and detrimental to their mental health.

 

It certainly wouldn't improve morale and encourage them to become more positive and confident in the future.

 

The ballet world is tough (some night say brutal) and ruthless determination and an unshakeable faith in your own ability despite all the setbacks is vital. We should be doing everything we can to support students, not taking every opportunity to demoralise them even further.

Edited May 15, 2018 by taxi4ballet

[Viv]

@youngatheart I like the way my teacher approaches the issue of whether to enter students or not. A couple of weeks before it is time to enter students for the exam, she pulls aside the students (or the parents for the littlies) and lets them know that she does not believe they are ready to sit the exam, or likely to pass the exam as they are now. It is then up to the students whether they want to go ahead with it anyway, or do a class award for grade exams. If the student still wants to do the exam, knowing they may not pass, they are entered and treated like any other candidate. I think it's a nice cross between honesty and managing expectations, without preventing anyone from doing anything.

 

With regards to Girl C, she has all the facility in the world but not the strength to use it! She is physically immature, at almost 14 she looks closer to an 8 or 9 year old in physicality. Due to her hypermobility she struggles to gain and retain strength, despite being given a specific strengthening regime at home. She is a gorgeous performer but falls down on technique, because the examiner can see at the barre all the facility she has and isn't able to use. Girl B on the other hand works to the full range of her limited facility and works with my teacher to try and mask her shortcomings (e.g. in exercises that are designed to move sideways, she tends to travel slightly forward due to her limited turnout and our teacher works with her to discover ways she can limit that forward movement without sacrificing alignment). She has gorgeous ballon and effortless turns. She also has that quality that means you can't take your eyes off her... While she may not be built for a classical career (which luckily she is aware of and is turning more towards contemporary) she is still a stunning ballet dancer in the context of the exam.

 

With regards to Girl C not quite being ready, I would say that still gaining distinctions means that she's still technically very proficient, just not working to her full potential. It will take years for her to gain the control over her body that others her age have, simply because of the way she is built. Another difficulty is that, in my part of the country, exams only occur once a year (we need to fly an examiner over here and they do a whirlwind tour). If the student isn't quite ready, it's not possible to say 'let's just wait till summer', they need to wait an entire year before another exam date! There are distinct social and mental health disadvantages to falling behind their peer group by such a degree, which I don't think advisable if the goal is simply to push them from the 70s to the 80s.

[youngatheart]

Hi Viv,

 

Yes that explains it all very well. Only being able to do exams once a year is certainly not an ideal situation, because some students really do need "just one more term" to reach their full potential. The lowest mark I ever got for a ballet exam was when I was entered before both the teacher and I agreed I was ready, but there wasn't going to be another session for quite a while so she entered me anyway and warned me not to expect too much.

 

Personally given the choice I would opt to stay down in the lower group for another year rather than move up but do a presentation class - surely having to do one of those is a humiliation in itself? It is a very very public statement of "not being good enough" to do the exam - I don't know why making the exam marks public can possibly be regarded as any worse than putting someone in that situation?

 

Yes I see what you mean about the possible effect on someone with already low self-confidence - but putting such a person in for an exam before they are ready is probably not the best choice, although it is surely better if they themselves make the decision (i.e. do it now knowing for certain before going in that their mark will be lower unless they can overcome their issues on the day, wait another year, or skip the exam and move up anyway (with or without the presentation class). I know my preferred option would generally be to stay down and work on it some more, so that I am confident that I have truly mastered everything n the grade to the best of my ability before moving on, however long it took. I would not find that anywhere near as humiliating as having to do the presentation class, but I guess we are all different!

 

 

[hfbrew]

My pupils do not regard presentation classes or Class Awards humiliating in the slightest and I would be absolutely furious with anyone who looked down on such candidates or made them feel that way. I have found examiners to be very respecting of and encouraging to these candidates. No one has ever said that they felt humiliated.

 

A lot of my students opt for these awards either because they really don't want to commit to the extra classes, or they prefer not to have the pressure . In a few cases I recommend them , particularly if they are borderline and lacking in confidence. But I make sure that they are valued nonetheless. It is certainly not regarded as a public statement of " not being good enough". But it is a way of getting  recognition for their work too, not just the ones who will achieve good grades easily. And then everyone can get on and enjoy learning Ballet and not just syllabus content for the sake of an exam.

 

One of my favourite groups come from a school ( for moderate learning difficulties) that I work with and I am lucky to get half an hour per week with them. They wear their class award medals with great pride and rightly so. Better still,their school really appreciate their achievement. It is seen as a valuable part of their education .

 

I do believe that students capable of at least a pass should be given the opportunity to do the full exams if they wish and it concerns me that some teachers don't enter the full range of abilities. But I really don't see any shame in doing class awards and I believe it's a good way of helping whole classes progress. 

Edited May 16, 2018 by hfbrew
Grammar!