Thread by @JoshKunnath

The California Association of Teachers of English (CATE) passed a resolution in 2020 about equitable grading.

I think it's commendable, and I'd like more people to know about it.

The following is that resolution in its entirety.

#edchat @CATE_California #sblchat @JoeCFeldman

BACKGROUND: Grading is a difficult and personal matter for educators to discuss because rather than using grades to reflect mastery only, educators have become accustomed to incorporating the participation and effort of students (a.k.a. socio-emotional skills, currently ...

...recognized as soft skills), and to averaging grades throughout a semester. These practices can often fail to accurately reflect a student’s learned knowledge and skills. Recent research, such as Grading for Equity (Feldman), What We Know about Grading (Guskey & Brookhart), ...

... Making Grades Matter (Townsley & Weir), and Grading Exceptional & Struggling Learners (Jung & Guskey), has shed light upon the necessity to reform outdated and ill-informed grading practices that often hinder, and even harm, student learning.

WHEREAS, zeros in grading often facilitate and allow for learned helplessness and conflate non-scores or missing work with lack of ability.This practice can skew the accuracy of reported grades in regards to mastery of a knowledge-based skill.This, alongside giving extra credit..

...and penalizing late work within a traditional grading scale (0-100), can orient students towards failure, and can unfairly grade the process of learning (formative assessment) instead of summative assessment; and

WHEREAS, grading effort and participation can create vulnerability for teacher bias and often fails to account for environmental and behavioral factors beyond the student’s control, or can blur the line between assessing knowledge/skill and responding to behavior; and

WHEREAS, grading should encourage risk-taking in practice and learning, and motivate students from the perspective of growth mindset, as well as, transparently and clearly be aligned to state standards/learning targets; and

WHEREAS formative feedback should be a tool for student learning, and grades can often demotivate students when provided alongside feedback (Miller).

WHEREAS, as California Ed code 49066 protects educators’ professional ability to give accurate grades that another stakeholder does not have the power to change but does not protect students from teacher biased behavior-based grading.

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, CATE recommends educators examine grading practices at the district, school, and departmental levels; and incorporate current research in order to better collaborate...

... and pursue equitable grading practices that strive towards being accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational to students.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, CATE recommends, in evaluating, discussing, and pursuing grading reform, educators seek to gain awareness and avoid inaccurate grading practices which highlight the unfair inclusion of environmental and behavioral factors relating to students’ soft skills.

... Considering that these soft skills (e.g. effort, time management, goal setting, perseverance, self-regulation, etc.) are better cultivated through the restorative practices of social and emotional learning instruction,...

... differentiating that citizenship and behavior is clearly separate from an academic and scholarship based grades; and finally

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, CATE strongly recommends educators should pursue a research-based, transparent, grading approach that encourages and motivates students to take risks and practice in the learning process without fear of penalty. ...

Therefore, grades will reflect student growth and mastery of knowledge and skill within the content area.

[end of thread]

And a shoutout to the author of the resolution, @Coffee_Prof

Here's the webpage for the entire resolution, if you're interested: cateweb.org/resolutions-20…

And if you haven't yet, join CATE! It's a great organization!