Revamping Grading Systems for Fairer Standards

It took a global pandemic to ignite a much-needed change. As students faced unprecedented challenges and an alarming rise in failing grades, the Los Angeles and San Diego Unified school districts took a stand. According to The LA Times, these districts mandated a revision of their grading practices. Teachers were “encouraged” to allow struggling students to revise essays and retake tests, eliminating strict deadlines. Instead of relying on arbitrary points or numbers, grades should now reflect a student’s actual learning, independent of punctuality or missed assignments.

Finally, a step in the right direction.

Sarah Thompson, an English teacher at Crestview High School in California, shared her thoughts with the National Education Association, stating that traditional grading practices are “unjust, overly subjective, inaccurate, and inequitable.” Some students submit work late due to jobs or caring for sick family members. Consider a student who is consistently late because he has to drop off younger siblings at school. Under traditional grading systems, these students are penalized for factors outside their control—factors that do not indicate their understanding or capacity to learn.

The disparities highlighted during virtual learning underscored the inequities within our outdated grading practices. I’ve heard educators express their concerns: some students participated in online classes undisturbed in quiet rooms, while others juggled sibling supervision, dealt with unreliable internet connections, or worked in noisy environments. Many students had jobs, and as Thompson notes, these students often felt disheartened as they explained their struggles to complete assignments on time. They worried about their grades suffering due to circumstances they couldn’t change.

It’s time for a transformation.

Outdated Grading Systems Show a Lack of Focus on Learning

I spent ten years teaching college English, and here’s a revelation: most college instructors aren’t trained in effective teaching methods, aside from those focused on writing. Our teaching strategies were influenced by educational theorists like Peter Elbow, Alfie Kohn, and Paulo Freire, who criticized traditional schooling for being inherently inequitable and unfair—often reinforcing colonial norms that favor conformity to a white, middle-class standard while punishing those who deviate from it.

If the aim of schools is to foster learning, why do grading systems emphasize factors unrelated to education, such as tardiness, attendance, and one-time tests that students forget? Why should a student be penalized in December for an incorrect answer given in September? Our grading systems reflect how well students conform to societal expectations rather than their actual comprehension—ask me to recite the periodic table I “mastered” in tenth grade. Ultimately, these systems reward conformity to middle-class ideals, offering college and job opportunities to those who fit the mold while marginalizing those who do not.

“Traditional grading has often been used to justify and to provide unequal educational opportunities based on a student’s race or class,” noted Rebecca Martinez, L.A. Unified’s chief academic officer, and Daniel Rivera, senior executive director of instruction, in a recent letter to school principals.

What Does an F Really Indicate?

“Instead of working harder, most students who receive an F tend to disengage, try less, and attend school less often because they interpret an F as a definitive failure,” explains Laura Finch in Edutopia. “They feel that an F signifies ‘You don’t belong here.’”

Our grading systems effectively label students as failures. Often, their failure is not in learning but in submitting work late. Some learners realize that penalties for tardiness are so severe they choose not to submit anything at all. They may not have failed to learn; rather, they might have learned at a different pace than dictated by the teacher. If they later grasp the material, their earlier zero still impacts their final grade. It does not take into account whether they eventually understood the content, merely when they learned it.

“People have different needs at different times,” remarked Jenna Martinez, a high school educator at a small independent institution in Michigan. “To insist that a student learns at my pace and grades them accordingly seems misaligned with my understanding of learning and what I value.”

Resistance to Change in the System

“By adhering to outdated grading practices, we inadvertently perpetuate achievement and opportunity gaps, favoring our most privileged students while penalizing others,” assert Martinez and Rivera in their letter to principals. However, there are still many who oppose significant changes to our grading systems.

“My concern is that by labeling certain practices as equitable and suggesting they are the right approach, we risk creating an environment where submitting work late is acceptable and deadlines lose their importance… I don’t believe this prepares kids for successful careers or active citizenship,” argues Mark Scott, director of education policy studies at a conservative think tank, in his comments to The LA Times.

Conservatives often uphold a value hierarchy that places middle- and upper-class white values at the top, resisting changes that might disrupt this structure. They prefer to shape children in their image rather than fostering a diverse society. Reforming our grading systems could transform American education, shifting our values from mere conformity to genuine learning.

What happens when those labeled as “failures” achieve success? Perhaps we are about to find out.

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In summary, it is clear that the current grading systems need a significant overhaul to prioritize equitable learning standards rather than outdated metrics that reflect conformity to societal expectations.

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