San Francisco Unified calls off controversial 'equitable grading' initiative

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco school leaders are calling off a controversial plan to change how some high school teachers grade.

What if homework, tests, attendance, and other factors didn't heavily count towards a student's academic grade?

Joe Feldman, a former educator, said he saw a need to improve traditional grading practices.

"Because teachers don't get trained how to grade, ironically, teachers are grading in lots of different ways," Feldman said.

Feldman is the current CEO of Crescendo Education Group.

Six years ago, he wrote the book "Grading for Equity."

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He said his research shows that grades should be less about accumulating points for a student. Everything should not be incorporated into the grade.

"If my parent signs my syllabus, if my parent comes to back-to-school night, if I raise my hand, everything that I do in a class is incorporated into the grade and what happens is it starts to warp the accuracy of the grade?" Feldman said.

Feldman said equitable grading doesn't reflect anything except what the student has learned and what was taught in the course.

"Equitable grading is where the grade is accurate, meaning it reflects accurately the student's level of the course, it's bias-resistant which means it doesn't have the subjective biases that teachers might bring into the classroom inadvertently. And it's motivating," Feldman said.

Feldman said in one of his studies, they analyzed 30,000 grades and found 60% were inaccurate.

One of the key components of equitable grading is using a 0-4 scale, instead of 0-100.

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Retired college professor and education consultant Marty Krovetz said it's important that students understand how their grade is calculated.

"The fairer it is for them and the more motivated they'll be to learn," Krovetz said.

He addressed pros and cons of grading equity.

"Students get much more motivated to learn, because it's easier for them to understand how they demonstrated their learning, the disadvantage I think a lot of teachers will resent the idea that if a student doesn't get any work done - a 0 should count as a 0," Krovetz said.

Ten years ago, San Leandro Unified School District changed its grading scale to reflect equitable grading practices.

In 2020, Castro Valley Unified School District started the transition.

San Francisco Unified School District appeared to be considering it, but on Wednesday the superintendent said she has decided not to pursue this strategy.