A new national survey gives teachers the microphone on a hot school reform. The Fordham Institute and RAND asked 967 K\u201312 public school teachers about so-called \u201cequitable\u201d grading. The results were blunt. Eighty-one percent said that \u201cgiving partial credit for assignments never turned in\u201d harms academic engagement. One veteran wrote, \u201cStudents are starting to feel entitled to points for nothing.\u201d Another said, \u201cA\u2019s are passed out like Halloween candy. Whether a student learned anything is nearly irrelevant.\u201d Many summed up their frustration with a phrase now common in staff rooms: \u201cMost teachers can\u2019t stand the gifty fifty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Equitable grading is an approach \u201cpopularized\u201d by former teacher Joe Feldman. It aims to make grades more accurate and less biased by prioritizing mastery on tests and major assignments and by separating academic performance from behavior. Typical policies include no zeros for missing work, no penalties for late assignments, unlimited retakes on tests and quizzes, and excluding homework and class participation from final grades. As Education Week explains, advocates believe these rules \u201cmake assessing students\u2019 work more accurate by prioritizing summative over formative assessments, separating academic from behavioral performance, and subsequently reducing subjectivity in the overall grading process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Districts adopt specific rules that change how grades are calculated. Five policies appear most often in the survey and reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some systems also shift from a 0\u2013100 scale to a 0\u20134 scale or set a grade floor. Teachers reported that under a 50 percent minimum, \u201cstudents have figured out that, if they work hard for a quarter\u2026 they can \u2018coast\u2019 the rest of the year and get a D.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The push blends standards-based grading with efforts to reduce bias in evaluation. Reformers such as Feldman argue that grading homework and participation can \u201cmuddy the accuracy of the grade\u201d because those behaviors do not always reflect content mastery. The Fordham report traces part of the movement to broad equity claims about disparities, while warning that some changes amount to \u201ca return to the \u2018soft bigotry of low expectations.\u2019\u201d The debate grew during the Covid years, when many schools loosened rules in the name of flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About half of K\u201312 teachers say their school or district has adopted at least one equitable grading policy, and about 36 percent say more than one policy is in place. Only 2 percent report all five. The three most common are Unlimited Retakes, No Late Penalties, and No Zeros. These are especially common in middle schools. No Zeros appears more often in schools serving mostly students of color. The report notes that \u201cabout 55 percent of teachers in majority-minority middle schools say their school or district has some variant of No Zeros.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers are not uniformly negative about every change. Their views are specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, 71 percent agree that \u201cgrading policies should set high expectations for everyone,\u201d while only 29 percent choose \u201creforming grading to be fairer\u201d for disadvantaged students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers argue that grade floors and blanket leniency distort what a grade means and punish diligence. One wrote, \u201cEverybody gets at least a 50 percent is insulting to the students who work.\u201d The Wall Street Journal editorial adds that if GPAs become unreliable, \u201ccollege admissions officers can\u2019t rely on high-school GPAs\u201d and will turn to more subjective measures such as extracurriculars, which can be less \u201cequitable\u201d for students without the money or time for travel sports. The Fordham brief \u201cThink Again\u201d states that these policies \u201ctend to reduce expectations and accountability for students, hamstring teachers\u2019 ability to manage their classrooms and motivate students, and confuse parents and other stakeholders who do not understand what grades have come to signify.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers describe predictable patterns after adoption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporters say the aim is accuracy and fairness. Feldman argues that including homework and participation \u201ccan muddy the accuracy of the grade\u201d because those items reflect effort and behavior. He also frames motivation as personal responsibility rather than compliance. Education Week notes that advocates want grading that is more \u201cbias-resistant,\u201d with clear rubrics and a focus on whether standards are mastered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skeptics question whether the theory matches classroom reality. One teacher wrote, \u201cEquity grading is not leveling the playing field\u2026 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 \u2018equitable\u2019 policies.\u201d Another said, \u201cIf a teacher\u2019s autonomy to grade how they see fit goes away, I will leave the profession.\u201d Many also point to rising GPAs beside falling scores on the ACT and other tests as a sign that expectations are dropping while learning lags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate has broken into public view in multiple places. Teachers in Fairfax County, Virginia, circulated a document criticizing reforms and warning of unintended consequences. Portland, San Leandro, and Schenectady saw heated debates over policy changes. In Atlanta and Las Vegas, reports indicate administrators reversed parts of the agenda after pushback. In San Francisco, Superintendent Maria Su moved to negotiate trainings with Feldman, which drew attention to how quickly a central office can change grading practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even without formal mandates, many teachers feel a nudge to keep grades high. The survey reports that 84 percent say supervisors would be concerned if they gave too many low grades, compared with 16 percent who say leaders would worry about too many high grades. Teachers wrote that \u201cwe are encouraged not to fail students,\u201d that \u201ccounselors can override teachers\u2019 grades,\u201d and that \u201cteachers are pressured to pass all students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most teachers prefer clear policies that still leave room for judgment. Fifty-eight percent favor schoolwide rules for consistency, while 42 percent want full professional autonomy. Many support common-sense steps that target bias without lowering expectations, such as anonymous grading and strong rubrics. As one teacher put it, \u201cI believe in consistent, high standards and then making exceptions for students who need it. I do not believe in lowering the bar for all students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Fordham report urges districts to end No Zeros and other rules that lower expectations, avoid blanket mandates for retakes or late work, and allow teachers to include participation and homework when it helps engagement. It also recommends refocusing fairness on practices that reduce bias, such as anonymous scoring and clear rubrics, and discouraging extra credit for non-academic tasks. Finally, it calls for leaders to stop faulting teachers who uphold standards and to use external measures of learning so that graduation and pass rates do not drive grade inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers\u2019 voices in this survey are consistent and clear. Policies like No Zeros, No Late Penalties, and Unlimited Retakes may aim to be fair, but many educators say they weaken motivation, inflate grades, and make it harder to know who needs help. \u201cGrading standards have fallen to the detriment of students,\u201d one teacher wrote. Another added, \u201cI don\u2019t think we should reward kids that don\u2019t want to do any work. Real life doesn\u2019t work that way.\u201d The message from classrooms is to keep expectations high for everyone, use smart safeguards against bias, and let grades tell the truth about learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new national survey gives teachers the microphone on a hot school reform. The Fordham Institute and RAND asked 967 K\u201312 public school teachers about so-called \u201cequitable\u201d grading. The results were blunt. Eighty-one percent said that \u201cgiving partial credit for assignments never turned in\u201d harms academic engagement. One veteran wrote, \u201cStudents are starting to feel entitled to points for nothing.\u201d Another said, \u201cA\u2019s are passed out like Halloween candy. Whether a student learned anything is nearly irrelevant.\u201d Many summed up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,20,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-propaganda","category-threat-to-america"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/equitqblegraeeasd.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6434,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6432\/revisions\/6434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}