Too vulnerable to fail?

Coronavirus grading policies range from ‘A’s for all,’ to improvement only, as high schools nationwide struggle to be fair to vulnerable students experiencing remote learning.

The challenges of learning from home this semester have prompted school districts across the nation to adopt temporary policies for grading high school students that vary widely.

Approaches range from bestowing straight A’s on almost everyone, to giving course credit only, to basing grades on effort.

Weighed in these decisions are questions of what will motivate students while being fair to those who lack access to broadband or whose parents can’t help them with online lessons. The issue is particularly loaded for college-bound high school students and their families, who worry about how transcripts will look on applications.

Many educators are looking at the bigger, long-term question of whether standard grading systems make the most sense at any time, not just during a pandemic. Perhaps, they suggest, this should be the start of grading reform.

Seattle’s path to a GPA ‘stimulus’

Seattle is opting to give students an “A or incomplete, as school leaders call it, though many have taken to calling it “A’s for all.”

“The incomplete is for such a rare case that I have trouble articulating what one would be,” said Caleb Perkins, executive director of college and career readiness for Seattle Public Schools in a phone interview. “We’re fine with that, given all of the pros and cons we analyzed.”

That analysis began when educators realized that 13 weeks of an 18-week semester would unfold remotely – relying heavily on virtual instruction that teachers were still learning to give and not all students could receive.

Despite its location in a high-tech city, Seattle schools – like most large U.S. districts – have a “significant percentage” of students without computers or internet access, Perkins said.

Grading the usual way was quickly ruled out as unfair.

The district only arrived at its current plan after considering other approaches.

Among the options, a credit/no-credit approach was the early front-runner. The Washington Office of Public Instruction initially seemed to favor that, Perkins said, and support grew as the University of California and California State University systems and even Harvard issued assurances that they would temporarily suspend letter-grade requirements for admission.

“That was just a very calming idea … and it just seemed like the world was going in that direction,” Perkins said.

But then a racial equity analysis concluded that low-income students and students of color were especially likely to be hurt by the credit/no credit approach if they were counting on letter grades to boost their GPAs. So Seattle chose to give just one grade.

School leaders cited an essay that compared the all-A’s approach to an academic stimulus package, akin to financial help that adults were to receive as they braved the pandemic.

“Give them (students) their checks,” wrote 2011 Milken Educator Award-winner Manual Rustin, who teaches social sciences at a California high school. “And by checks, I mean A’s.”

San Francisco was headed in the same direction, but then swerved and adopted a credit/no credit policy at Tuesday’s  board meeting.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a unanimous vote followed a presentation in which Superintendent Vince Matthews warned that  A’s for all could complicate college admissions and wouldn’t accurately reflect student progress.

Oregon also went with a credit/no credit system, though thousands of parents and students opposed the move in a petition. They cited concerns that even if colleges and scholarship judges accepted transcripts with a grade-free semester, they might not view them favorably.

The case for grades

All A’s makes no sense to Chris Funk, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, Calif.

“I think that’s the dumbest idea. I mean it. Giving everyone an A, you basically are just throwing this semester away and saying that any work that’s been done up to March 13 doesn’t matter.”

March 13 is when East Side’s 16 schools closed. E-learning started in earnest about two weeks later as the district readied for online learning and consulted with the teachers union.

The district’s policy sets a pre-pandemic floor. Students will continue to get A’s, B’s, etc. – even failing grades – on new assignments, but semester grades cannot fall below what they were on the last day of classroom instruction. In other words, students can raise their grades during online learning, but not lower them.

Funk emphasized that his desire to continue grading should not be interpreted as apathy about equity.

“I know that our teachers, as well as our students, are at different levels in terms of their ability to teach and learn online,” he said in a phone/email interview. “I also know that many of our schools, especially our Title I schools – we don’t know the home life. We don’t know the connectivity. We don’t know if they have a quiet place to learn.”

Teachers, he said, were told to bear that in mind and handle grading compassionately.

“We’re all trying to incorporate more holistic grading into our educational plans,” he said. “But colleges want to see transcripts. So I didn’t want to put our kids at a disadvantage by not giving them a grade. And I don’t believe the UCs or the CSUs would accept all A’s from an entire system.”

Other approaches

Rebecca Jacobsen, an expert on school grades, says the temporary changes could be seen as an opportunity to reform grading altogether.

“Grades have become a poor signal in some ways,” said Jacobsen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University who co-authored the book “Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right.”

“Because we know that they can be unfairly given out. We know that they can be advocated for by certain students in ways that other students can’t take advantage of, and that there’s been general grade inflation.” A couple of sentences written by the teacher about each student might give more meaningful information than a letter grade, she suggested.

In Greenville County, S.C., public high schools created a new grading system based on students’ effort and participation, not mastery.

The grades are: Meets Expectations (100 points), Approaches Expectations (85), Does Not Meet Expectations (70), and Not Handed In (50).

Associate Superintendent Jeff McCoy said Not Handed In was added at teachers’ request.

“They said, ‘You know, most of our kids will do the work, but there is a subset that … if it’s not graded at least for participation and they can’t get below a 70, many of them will just disconnect and not do anything.”

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that regular grades will still be given, but high school students may opt to replace any passing letter grade from this semester with a grade of “Pass” that would not affect their GPA. He also announced “summer-fall support programs” in which students can continue to pursue passing grades if needed.

College-admission insights

Jayne Fonash, president of the National Association of College Admission Counseling, offered one tip to districts: Be ready to explain yourself.

Admissions officers review school profiles alongside student applications, and those profiles help put transcripts into perspective, Fonash said.

“I think a clear explanation of grading decisions and how they were implemented is more important than the decision itself.”

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What reopening schools is going to look like
20 days and counting: extended downtime for big-district students
Participation levels vary widely among district remote learning programs