At its retreat last year, members of our VBCPS School Board expressed concerns about grading practices in schools across our city. In particular, they articulated concerns expressed by a few parents about the inconsistent application of grading guidelines in our secondary schools. They questioned the degree to which schools and teachers should have flexibility in making decisions about what to grade and how much weight to give various assignments and assessments. By now, I think many in our community are aware that a Fair and Equitable Grading Practices Committee has worked for months to answer these very important questions for the Board. Specifically, they investigated current guidelines and practices across the city, and reviewed research in the field of grading practices that best support student learning.

Unfortunately, I don’t think many in our community are aware of the exact nature of the sincerely good and thoughtful work done by this committee of teachers, students, administrators, parents and community leaders. Why is that?  Candidly, we’ve not told the story of their work well enough – largely because we felt it would be prudent to allow them time to carefully consider the issues before sharing the details of their work. Regrettably, this has allowed a group of vocal parents to tell the story differently – from the perspective of what they thought this committee might do and how they as parents feel about it for their own child. Astonishingly, some people would even have you believe VBCPS has determined that the best course of action for students is to release them from accountability for learning and create an environment where no students are really expected to learn anything.  It’s almost hard for me to believe I have to say this, but this is simply not true. As my father taught me, having the loudest voice in the conversation doesn’t always mean you are right. No superintendent and no School Board would willfully lower expectations for student learning.  It would serve no purpose, as we are clearly charged with improving—not diminishing—educational opportunities!

So why were some of the grading practices discussed by the committee even on the table?  Let’s take one example that feels controversial on the face of it—the issue of “no zeros.”  At a recent forum held by this small group of parents, it was advertised that VBCPS was going to institute a policy where no zeros will be allowed.  That is not the case.  In fact, on the surface, giving a zero makes sense to many of us—you don’t turn something in, you get a zero. That’s (mostly) how it was when I was in school.  But if we start thinking about the purpose of grading, which is to communicate progress on learning, does that zero really tell us what the student knows?  Of course not.  It simply tells us what the student did, or rather didn’t do.  Research in grading practices tells us that if we really want to know what a student has learned, we would be better served to create a separate set of grades that allow us to communicate both what a student knows and how a student behaves (do they turn work in, participate, etc.).  And that’s exactly what the grading committee has proposed. Their first recommendation is: Assess academic progress separate from behavior/work habits. Essentially, this means that mastery of concepts and content will be reported as one grade while habits such as homework completion, timeliness and organization are reflected independently.

I understand that this kind of thinking causes some anxiety. It’s a paradigm shift for many—it’s not how we grew up in the classroom.  But the research in this area seems to come to one clear, consistent conclusion:  low grades and zeros do not motivate students to learn.  In fact, zeros and low grades tend to discourage learning, especially for students who are already struggling academically.  Simply put, punishment does not work to improve learning (most parents, by the way, know this intuitively!).  This is not to say that a student might never receive a failing grade. Obviously at some point refusal to do any work must result in academic failure. But before simply handing out zeros and failing students, we as educators are obligated to make every effort to ensure our students have mastered what our state, our parents and our community expect them to know. Why?

Our federal government and state legislature demand that every student pass rigorous state tests and that every student graduate on time and career-and-college ready.  Schools whose students do not pass these tests or whose students do not graduate on time are considered failing schools and threatened with things like state takeover or reconstitution. Quite frankly, the expectation is that every child, no matter their background or level of educational preparedness, must succeed in a rigorous learning environment if they are to thrive in a competitive post-secondary and workforce environment.

So, how do we mitigate the impact of a failing grade, encourage students to continuing learning, and ensure that every child is successful? One answer is to create a grading scale that offers as many opportunities to be successful as it does to fail. That is why the committee’s second recommendation is: revise the current grading scale. It should be noted that this doesn’t lessen academic expectation or accountability. Instead, it acknowledges that even one zero can reduce the grade of a student – high achieving, mid-achieving or low-achieving by up to a full letter grade.

There are compelling reasons to look at other aspects of grading practices as well. We should, as a school division, aspire to grading practices that encourage and promote authentic, rich learning experiences. As a parent, I want my own children to learn that work in and out of the classroom should be challenging and meaningful. It should lead to creating something of value and not done simply because someone else will judge them as a winner or a loser. Am I reaching too far into the stars?  Maybe, but how many of you would prefer the latter to the former for your own children?  What if we could thoughtfully create processes and structures in school that supported this kind of rich, meaningful learning?  And what if those same processes and structures supported that kind of learning for all students, not just some students?

But answering these questions will take some time. As the conversation happening in our community clearly shows us, this is a challenging, complex issue. The committee felt there were some concerns that they could not address during their time together. Which leads to their third recommendation: Make the grading committee a standing committee to review and monitor division grading practices and make recommendations as needed.

Now, there are some parents and members of our community who will say the committee was not specific enough in its recommendations. And, to some extent that is true. But here’s why: they need feedback from stakeholders before final recommendations are presented to the school board for consideration. For example, what behaviors should be considered and graded separately by teachers in recommendation one? What suggestions do parents, teachers and students have about the new grading scale in recommendation two? Should it be a four-point scale or should letter grades be converted differently than they are now?  And finally, what areas of grading inconsistency are most pressing for our community? Moving forward, should the committee focus on retakes on assignments, weighting of grades, late work or something else entirely? We genuinely want to hear from you.

So much so that we’ve got an e-Town Hall posted on our website, www.vbschools.com and we hosted two roundtable events. The information we receive will help us navigate what is next. And we are being transparent about the feedback we receive. Anyone can read the comments posted on the e-Town Hall and feedback from the roundtables will be summarized on our website. So, please share your thoughts and concerns. Visit the e-Town Hall and post a comment. Your voice will be heard and your input will be considered before final recommendations are given to the school board this spring. We all want the same thing – the best educational experiences and opportunities for success for every child, every day.

*Please note, a portion of this message was published in The Virginian-Pilot’s editorial section Sunday, March 20.

 

Tell your friends! Follow us!