Grading for equity is an idea whose time never should never come.
Author: Larry Sand
As a fad-filled field, education is unrivaled. The concocted experiments are especially despicable because the subjects are children who act as lab rats for the experimenters. Everything from whole language, new math, Common Core, Social and Emotional Learning, Critical Race Theory, and many others have replaced traditional education in many of the nation’s schools over the years.
A relatively new entry into the nefarious hodgepodge is Grading for Equity, written by Joe Feldman, a former teacher, administrator, and “educational grading consultant.” The book, which made its arrival on the scene in 2018, has been slow to catch on but is now picking up steam. RealClearInvestigations notes that Boston Public Schools approved a shift to equity grading in 2023. In Oregon, Portland Public Schools is planning to implement similar grading reforms by 2025. New York City and Los Angeles teachers have been trained in equitable grading practices. Smaller districts in California, Nevada, New York, and other states have also adopted the program.
In his book, Feldman asserts, “Our traditional grading practices have always harmed our traditionally underserved students.” He adds, “But now, because the number of students being harmed was so much greater, it got people more aware of it and ready to tackle this issue.”
In the Grading for Equity regimen, teachers don’t consider homework, extra credit, or “soft-skill” behaviors such as punctuality, attendance, timely handing in assignments, and class participation. Students are given extra time to complete tests and can retake them to demonstrate mastery or raise a grade.
Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute Rick Hess writes that Feldman supports “minimum grading,” more commonly known as the “no-zero” policy. “With this practice, teachers are prevented from assigning students any grade under 50%, often regardless of whether the student even attempted the task. If a student who would otherwise have earned a zero, a 25, or a 45 suddenly gets a 50, that will necessarily increase (read: inflate) that student’s grade without changes in the quality of the student’s work.”
He also notes that teachers have told him that “equitable” policies, such as “endless retakes” and “an end to graded homework,” are “lowering expectations, permitting students to coast, and making diligent students feel like suckers.”
Zenaida Perez, a 16-year teacher in Virginia, where equity grading is in place, says, “At least 30% of my students definitely make less effort. Sometimes, they do not come to school, and I still must give them 50%. That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Typical of true believers, the zealots cow their opponents. Perez says half of the teachers in her Fairfax district, the largest in the state, oppose grading for equity but are afraid to speak up because they fear retaliation.
Many students, of course, will try to game the equity grading system.
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