PORTLAND, OR – A public school district out of Portland is endeavoring to launch what is being coined as an “equitable grading” approach to schoolwork. The effort would see the abolishment of “zeros” even in cases where students were caught cheating or outright don’t turn in work.
The Portland Public Schools school district’s “equitable grading practices” effort, which is reportedly slated to kick off in 2025, consists of a series of classroom and grading guidelines that some critics might see as symbolizing the embodiment of a participation trophy in adolescent academia.
According to a handout stemming from the district titled “Portland Public Schools Equitable Grading Practices Summary,” the spirit of the guidelines aims to withhold authentic grading scales from youths in order to address “racial disparities” in classroom outcomes.
“Rationale (EGP Strategic Plan) - Historical data shows that there are racial disparities in our pass/fail rate in multiple subjects in both middle grades and high school. During the pandemic we adjusted our grading to accommodate for some of the inequities in access to curriculum and instruction.
This caused many teachers to begin the journey towards equitable grading but has led to a mosaic of grading practices across schools and across the district that is confusing to students and families.
We need to organize and consolidate our efforts towards common policies to more consistently and better support students and families with equitable grading.”
Many of the methods outlined within the guidelines aren’t unheard approaches in recent years, such as abolishing the administering of zeros on schoolwork even when work wasn’t completed, or when students were caught cheating on their assignments.
Per the “Grading for Equity” portion of the handout:
Speaking to the Free Beacon, Parents Defending Education outreach director Erika Sanzi asserted these approaches to grading, while coming from a place of compassion, are ultimately harmful to struggling and excelling students alike.
“These equitable grading policies, however well intended, are a disaster for the students who struggle most and for the students who need accelerated coursework,” Sanzi said.
Aside from the existence of the memo floating around online, Portland Public Schools has yet to comment on the concerns surrounding this forthcoming approach to grading in public schools
The Portland Public Schools school district’s “equitable grading practices” effort, which is reportedly slated to kick off in 2025, consists of a series of classroom and grading guidelines that some critics might see as symbolizing the embodiment of a participation trophy in adolescent academia.
According to a handout stemming from the district titled “Portland Public Schools Equitable Grading Practices Summary,” the spirit of the guidelines aims to withhold authentic grading scales from youths in order to address “racial disparities” in classroom outcomes.
“Rationale (EGP Strategic Plan) - Historical data shows that there are racial disparities in our pass/fail rate in multiple subjects in both middle grades and high school. During the pandemic we adjusted our grading to accommodate for some of the inequities in access to curriculum and instruction.
This caused many teachers to begin the journey towards equitable grading but has led to a mosaic of grading practices across schools and across the district that is confusing to students and families.
We need to organize and consolidate our efforts towards common policies to more consistently and better support students and families with equitable grading.”
Many of the methods outlined within the guidelines aren’t unheard approaches in recent years, such as abolishing the administering of zeros on schoolwork even when work wasn’t completed, or when students were caught cheating on their assignments.
Per the “Grading for Equity” portion of the handout:
- Do not issue zeros. Provide a minimum grade greater than or equal to 50% for work that does not meet expectations, is incomplete, or is missing.
- Use a 0-4 scale. A 0-4 equal interval scale is more mathematically accurate than a 0-100 scale.
- Weight more recent performance. Do not average assessment scores across an entire semester. Instead provide more weight to more recent performance.
- No group grades. Do not include group level grades into individual grades. Student grades should reflect individual achievement.
- Summative assessment. Base grades on summative assessments, instead of classwork, homework, formative assessments, etc.
- Homework. Do not grade homework and/or do not include homework as part of a final grade.
- Late work. Do not penalize students for submitting late work.
- No extra credit. Do not offer extra credit. Instead provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency on learning targets.
- Exclude non-academic factors. Do not include participation, attendance, effort, attitude, behavior or other non-academic factors into grades.
- Cheating. Provide alternative consequences to cheating, instead of zeros.
Speaking to the Free Beacon, Parents Defending Education outreach director Erika Sanzi asserted these approaches to grading, while coming from a place of compassion, are ultimately harmful to struggling and excelling students alike.
“These equitable grading policies, however well intended, are a disaster for the students who struggle most and for the students who need accelerated coursework,” Sanzi said.
Aside from the existence of the memo floating around online, Portland Public Schools has yet to comment on the concerns surrounding this forthcoming approach to grading in public schools
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