Turn & Talk / "Antiracist" Grading Starts with You

 The reason behind this blog is so I can rant and rave about why American public education is in such a sorry state. It saves me from annoying my wife and from stopping strangers on the street to listen to my great, terrific, stupendous ideas for improving American education.

These days, rather than merely letting things get worse, there are people actively working to make things worse. It's as if they're working toward reducing the number of children who, upon graduating from high school, have actually gotten an education that will enable them to function in society, get a job, and be able to learn and pass on the hard lessons learned from thousands of years of human civilization. Maybe "No Child Left Behind" was an empty slogan, but now were seeing the tacit promotion of - all children left behind.

Part of that promotion is "antiracist grading." I'd never heard of it before, but after reading this article, I think some alleged experts are stretching their alleged expertise into a Bizarro world.

First, I want to challenge the assumption of your question—the term "fall behind" is a social construct. This idea of where a person should be is not a naturally occurring thing. We know from child development psychologist Jean Piaget that all people develop differently and grow at different paces.

And yet, we do know that there is a certain body of knowledge that a person needs in order to navigate life. Yes, children grow and learn at different paces, but the current Covid-related dependence on online school is slowing down the learning process for a large number of children.

Instead of the absurd focus on and twisting of grading practices, how about moving that focus to teaching children to read? While you're at it, throw in lessons on writing and spelling. If you have time after those lessons, some math couldn't hurt. When I say "math" of course, I'm referring to teaching children how to DO math; computation and all that jazz.

One thing we understand from Universal Design for Learning is that there are multiple ways a kid can express their knowing. And so if you know 2+2=4, one way you can express your knowing is by writing it. Another way you can express your knowing is by discussing it. A third way is by creating a model that shows it. A fourth way is by illustrating it and a fifth way is by performing a play. But in too many schools, only one way is considered legitimate. So if you write it, you get an A and that's it. There might be 100 kids in the school who know 2+2=4, but if only two of those kids can write it, then only two of those kids will receive As. That is profoundly discriminatory.

Maybe I'm taking this argument too literally, but being able to express an idea succinctly so that others can understand it would signal that a student understands the concept. In the case of math, to me, that means being able to do the math. If you can write a play showing that 2+2=4, you can certainly figure out the equation.

The second thing I would eliminate is the ideology of transactional gratitude. In most academic spaces, there is a silent pact that teachers make with students: I will agree to teach you well if you demonstrate to me that you are thankful for it. And if you do not demonstrate to me that you are thankful for it, I will withhold quality teaching from you.

This is just insulting to every hard-working teacher who tries to reach every student in spite of all of the roadblocks set up against proper teaching. "Antiracist grading" seems to me to be one more roadblock. 

Teacher’s fired for giving zeros to students who didn’t turn in work – leaves goodbye note on board

It has been decided, I'm not sure by whom, but it has been decided in some school districts, including the one I retired from, that no zeros should ever be given on any assignment, ever. Even the assignments that aren't turned in should be given 50%. Our online grade book was set up to handle this requirement.

Unlike the Florida teacher in the article, we all mostly went along with it eventually. I didn't at first, because it is stupid, and because we were never trained on how to make it work in our grade book. Eventually I figured it out.

Part of the rationale for this practice is that it makes it harder for the student who has a bunch of zeros to their grade up once they decide to start doing the work. Or, if they have a bunch of scores below 50% that on work that they did turn in, it makes it hard for them to raise their grades once they understand the concepts and start getting better grades on things.

The problem is that most of the students who turn in little or no work don't care, and they continue to not to most of the work. Yes, there are exceptions, but very few of them. There are ways to work with those students in order to raise their grades to an acceptable level. And the students who continually score very poorly do so because they don't do the class work. And again, most of them never will.

Another part of the rationale for not giving zeros is based on the mathematical difference between a percentage scale, and the four point scale. Yes, there is a difference, and yes it is harder to raise one's grade from a zero than it is from a 50%. But it's also true that in order to show understanding of a concept, knowing something to less than 50% accuracy is not really knowing the concept. The percentage scale, including a zero for not turning the work in, gives the teacher that more accurate picture of a student's abilities and needs.

Then there is the matter or personal responsibility. At some time, in order to become a functioning adult, one must learn and adapt to this concept.

When it comes right down to it, however, she does not regret stand up for what she believes in. 

"A grade in Mrs. Tirado's class is earned," she said. 

"I'm so upset because we have a nation of kids that are expecting to get paid and live their life just for showing up and it's not real," she added. 

If we are concerned with motivating students, we need to concentrate on using more effective teaching strategies (phonics and beginning with basic skills) so that students can actually learn the material. Once they know they can learn and that they are learning, they will be less apt to give up, thinking that's it's all just too hard.

This controversy is just another dodge to avoid addressing the curriculum issue.