Students can then revise their work for a better score. They aren't penalized for demonstrating knowledge at a slower pace.
"Grades are no longer static," said Kleiner, a teacher at Mae Hensley Junior High in Ceres. "They're fluid. They're things that can change."
Kleiner doesn't use grades to punish or incentivize students to complete tasks, but rather as a tool to measure their understanding. Transparency, revisions and a laser focus on academic mastery have allowed Kleiner to ensure students don't fall behind and to push high-achieving students even further, he said. Grades in his class have risen overall.
The so-called equitable grading practices Kleiner began using in 2019 are spreading across the country as districts search for ways to support students and close racial and economic gaps in academic achievement.
Stanislaus County's three largest school districts are working with equitable grading practices at various stages.
Ceres Unified will implement a new grading policy by January. A committee of teachers and administrators at the Turlock Unified School District is participating in a book study on "Grading for Equity" and will make a policy recommendation to the school board by next summer, district spokeswoman Marie Russell said via email.
And in September, Modesto City Schools kicked off a three-year equitable grading project, carrying out a goal trustees approved in the spring. The district is working with Doug Reeves, a leading education researcher who consults with districts across the country.
After that spring board meeting, MCS Associate Superintendent Mark Herbst told The Bee, "Equity in grading looks to bring a greater sense of consistency to account for a student's individual situation, such as their life outside of school, their abilities, and/or any challenges they are facing. For example, when using homework to illustrate this point, students may have varying levels of support from their parents/guardians when it comes to assisting them with or guiding them through their homework."
EXPERTS DEFINE EQUITABLE GRADING
Experts present various definitions of equitable grading. Education researcher Joe Feldman, author of the book Turlock teachers are reading, writes that equitable grading involves an accurate evaluation of a student's academic performance, uses sound mathematical calculations, resists institutional and implicit biases and motivates students to improve their learning.
The website of the nonprofit Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development says, "Equitable grading means fair, meaningful grades to students, regardless of students' diverse backgrounds. It reflects students' mastery of knowledge and skills based on measurable and observable course objectives that promote learning."
Reeves said he views improved grading practices as more accurate and more fair, and giving students feedback to improve their performance.
"The most realistic thing we can do for students is stop this nonsense of 'one shot and you're done,'" Reeves said. "Instead, use the feedback to get better. That's what a good grading system does."
Grading reforms aren't intended to make school easier or eliminate scores entirely, Reeves said. Asking students to redo work requires them to devote more effort, leading to higher-quality results, he said.
"Nobody, least of all me, is saying you can't give D's and F's," Reeves said. "What I'm saying is you can't give inaccurate D's and F's."
In a presentation to Modesto City Schools trustees Nov. 8, district Senior Director of School Leadership Will Nelson emphasized that grading reforms will aim to maintain high academic rigor while meeting the needs of individual students.
Nelson said 66 teachers volunteered to attend five workshops on equitable grading throughout this school year. They'll try out different strategies and present their findings in a forum modeled after a science fair.
School officials will note what worked and expand those practices to half the district's schools or half its teaching force in 2022-23, Nelson said. The entire district will participate in Year 3, and potential policy changes would happen after, according to district spokeswoman Becky Fortuna.
"We want this to come from the ground up," Nelson said.
CERES POLICY CENTERS ON FOUR PRINCIPLES
The policy Ceres Unified adopted in June centers on four principles: Grades must provide clarity, measure learning, guarantee equitable opportunity and allow for recovery.
Teachers should assign grades based on "evidence of learning" and "mastery of standards," the policy reads. Categories like attendance, participation and extra credit should not be included.
"We're trying to really create a grading system that's fair and equitable and clear, and truly reflects each child's level of learning," Deputy Superintendent for Educational Services Amy Peterman said.
To accomplish this, the policy proposes two grading scales: 0-4 or 50-100 percent. In both scales, A, B, C, D and F letter grades hold the same weight, making it mathematically possible to rebound from one F. That contrasts with a scale in which an F is 0-59 percent and a test score of, say, 10 percent could mean a student fails a class.
Some teachers changed their grading practices prior to the policy's implementation. Ceres High School teacher Tracey Clark said she altered her grading procedures in 2020 after noticing students racked up points through assignments but didn't score well on tests.
"I didn't feel like I was getting a super accurate reflection of their actual understanding," Clark said. "So I was just looking for a better way."
Now in her anatomy and physiology class, Clark grades only quizzes and tests. She still gives feedback on classwork and assignments, but it's documented outside of the gradebook.
Allowing revisions accounts for variability in students' lives outside of the classroom, Clark said, making school more equitable. Students dealing with difficult circumstances, such as caring for a family member or being in at-home quarantine, can receive full credit at a later time as long as they show they understand the content area.
MAKING GRADES LESS SUBJECTIVE
Separating grades from subjective categories like effort and participation guards scores from teachers' implicit biases, experts say.
Latino Community Roundtable President Aaron Anguiano said a Modesto teacher told his eighth-grade son, a product of the district's instruction for English Learners, that he wasn't giving schoolwork "enough effort." Anguiano said he watches his son work on homework late into the evenings.
He suspects the accusation of a lack of effort was driven by the teacher's biases toward Latinos, whether intentional or not.
Speaking about grading policies at a school board meeting Oct. 18, Anguiano told trustees, "You need to do something about it."
Asking teachers to alter a grading system they grew up with, and one that's been used for over a century, is a big lift. Some resist change, and those on board need to take time to figure out what works with their students.
Fifth-grade teacher Melinda Goodwin described the changes as overwhelming and exhausting. But she said she feels rewarded by their positive impact. She said students in her class take more risks in asking questions because they're less afraid of failure. They're able to articulate specific pieces of subjects that they don't understand.
"I have seen how it works and how it's worth it," Goodwin said. "I have to hold myself accountable for it."
In Modesto, La Loma Junior High School seventh-grade teacher David Bristow said he has no apprehensions about making changes.
"The whole core and basis of it is doing what is best for the students," he said. "This is not a new concept."
©2021 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
