The following is in response to the February/March 2022 edition of the California Educator, specifically the main feature: “Remaking the Grade: Educators and districts consider a more equitable way to assess student learning.”.

This feature describes various practices that school districts have implemented/are implementing to meet the needs of equitable grading. For example (emphasis in bold type is by the author):

The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District has adopted a practice that grades students “on what they know, rather than on their behavior and ability to meet deadlines.” 

Says Sam Pereira, member of Monterey Bay Teachers Association, “Our new system motivates kids to not give up and keep trying, instead of putting their heads on the desk and not caring. For me, it boils down to how students can show me what they know – even if they need multiple opportunities.”  

This approach, called “standards-based grading,” was piloted at Central Coast High School, a continuation high school…” 

The whole concept behind the establishment of continuation education was the understanding that students enrolled in the program needed some flexibility in their educational goals. This is what we do as educators on continuation education campuses, especially now that most campuses have moved from packet-driven practices to more direct instruction pedagogical delivery. And that is the true definition of standards-based grading. That is what the Common Core is all about. Other excerpts: 

At Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, some members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association are also changing how they grade students. 

Kara Synhorst, an English teacher for high-achieving International Baccalaureate students, has implemented what she calls “labor-based grading” so that strong effort is reflected in students’ grades. 

Since the pandemic, Synhorst allows students to demonstrate knowledge creatively.  “They can write an essay, perform an interpretative dance, create a TikTok video, perform a skit or create podcasts” ….  She allows a week’s grace period on assignments, during which they can earn full credit.  If they don’t turn in assignments until the end of the semester, they receive 80 percent instead of a zero.”  

Courteney Konopacky, a teacher on special assignment and an English and history teacher at Stone Valley Middle School in Alamo, began rethinking the grading process when she and her four colleagues heard education expert Rick Mormeli speak on standards-based grading. It sparked a grassroots teacher-led movement at her site.  

She describes the transition as a work in progress with plenty of trial and error and teacher reflection. Her school calls it “evidence-based learning” with a four-point scale of M for mastery, P for proficient, E for emerging, and N for no evidence…. 

Last year, a majority of teachers including Konopacky eliminated D’s, but it wasn’t a schoolwide policy. Students can now turn in assignments late and redo work.  Konopaacky is doing her best to make sure nobody fails, helping students at lunchtime.  If a student asks to redo a test or assignment, she asks them to reflect on why they did poorly before and why they think they can do better now. 

The story states that “The reasoning behind grade reform is that students living in poverty, who are more likely to be students of color, have more challenges. They may be working to support their family, caring for siblings, or even homeless. Penalizing them for turning in late assignments or their behavior creates bias against students and may even unwittingly promote racism, say proponents.” 

Within the preceding practices, the students are still held accountable for knowing some content. The problem is with this story statement: “This year, Sacramento City Unified School District adopted a policy that students are not supposed to score lower than 50 percent – even if they don’t do the work – in a move toward eventually phasing out D’s and F’s. The goal is for students to keep trying and redo work so they won’t be derailed from a four-year college.”   

Detractors will emphasize that students are not supposed to score less than 50 percent even if they don’t do the work. Assigning 50 percent for work that’s not done is worse than the unwitting promotion of racism. It is racism. It obliterates everything else in this excellently argued feature piece. Taken out of context, this part of the quote will be fodder for critics of public education. They will use that as a very valid argument to transfer public school students to private and parochial schools because such an approach to “education” would make them disadvantaged students indeed.   

If left in the realm of the extreme implementation, we will continue to have disadvantaged students who don’t know how Congress works, who do not know the names of their two California senators, who do not know the arguments set forth in the Declaration of Independence (and its various ironies, though still powerful), who can’t explain why they choose to not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Or why Colin Kaepernick took a knee. Or how James Baldwin’s understanding of Christianity was part of his being as a Black, gay American whose love for his country fanned his fiery intellectual productions in his quest for a “more perfect union.”   

Simple civics. That is just one example of equitable social justice education, and for our students to be able to understand those nuances, they will definitely need to do the work, even if it takes them more than one attempt, as the correct implementation of equitable grading is designed to accomplish. 

We have to be cognizant, too, of the strong belief of those parents who have faith in educators as the professionals into whose care they’re leaving their children, as taught in various multicultural education courses. We have to appreciate the fact that we are not educating their children as “other people’s children,” as researcher and author Lisa Delpit advises. 

Graduation rate: If we celebrate the “improved graduation rates” because of those students who do not do the work, with what are we graduating them? As what?   

The Achievement Gap: Which achievement gap is being closed with such an approach? Are we educating future Alexander Hamiltons, Mary McLeod-Bethunes, Dolores Huertas, Robert Andres Bontas, Ketanji Brown Jacksons?  

Yes, we did have the legitimate argument that we needed to make accommodations in grading when we were in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to factor in all the challenges that our students were tackling at the time, including academic struggles, stress, depression, and challenges at home.  Together with that realization was the application of the true definition of equitable learning and grading so we would not experience the sad reality of the stories of those on whom the pandemic had the most devastating impact . Equitable teaching, learning and grading guard against these inequalities. 

 Dr. Faith O. Mowoe is a member of Rialto Education Association. The views expressed in this article are hers and not necessarily those of CTA and the California Educator.