When students needn’t even bother to blame Fido for their missing homework, something’s gone wrong with the schools. Yet 52% of K-12 public teachers in a new survey say their school or district has adopted at least one “equitable” grading policy, such as no zeros for missed assignments, no penalties for turning in late work, or unlimited retakes on tests.
The good news is that teachers hate it: 81% said a no-zeros policy is “harmful to academic engagement,” including 80% of “teachers of color,” the Fordham report says. Some of the quotations from surveyed teachers are unsparing: “Being given a 50 percent for doing nothing seems to enable laziness.” “Ridiculous.” “Insulting to the students who work.” “Most teachers can’t stand the gifty fifty.”
A majority of teachers, 56%, said a policy of no late penalties is harmful, compared with 23% who liked that. On letting students retake tests, the teachers were divided, with 41% supporting it, and 37% against. But in general, 71% agreed “grading policies should set high expectations for everyone.” Only 29% approved of reforms “to be fairer” to disadvantaged students.
“Equity grading is not leveling the playing field,” one teacher said. “It is simply lowering standards so that school districts look like they are meeting kids where they are, when in fact they are hiding their failures behind ‘equitable’ policies.” Another worried A grades “are passed out like Halloween candy. Whether a student learned anything is nearly irrelevant.”