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Authored by Sophie Li via The Epoch Times,

As California students return to school, the debate over a new grading system aimed at eliminating biases in traditional grading continues across the state.

The new system, “Grading for Equity,” seeks to remove non-academic factors such as attendance, participation, and timely submission of assignments from students’ grades, focusing solely on mastery of content.

According to Feldman—who wrote “Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms”—traditional grading systems contain biases that do not accurately reflect a student’s mastery of the material, which equitable grading can address. For example, a student with a lower exam score might end up with the same final grade as a student with a higher exam score by earning higher grades in daily assignments or completing extra credit work.

By excluding non-academic factors, Feldman said the system can better motivate students to engage with assignments meaningfully, rather than simply completing them mechanically.

However, Dublin Teachers Association Co-President Laurie Sargent argued that the equity grading system might not work as intended. She said that if assignments become optional or do not count toward the final grade, students are more likely to skip them altogether.

The school district experimented with equity grading on a small scale during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years in grades 7–12 but has paused its initial plan to roll out a districtwide transition within two years, partly due to opposition from parents.

Feldman defends the equity system, saying assignments can sometimes obscure a student’s true level of knowledge, leaving issues unresolved.

“What was happening is that students were hiding that they didn’t know information, [and] they were concealing that by handing in homework because they got help [from parents or tutors] and doing extra credit,” he said.

Additionally, Dublin Unified Superintendent Chris Funk, who supports the equity system, said students’ grades are sometimes affected by factors unrelated to learning, such as forgetting to write their names on their papers.

“We’re giving the zero because they don’t have their first name, last name, the period and the date on it,” he said in the episode. “How does that reflect whether they did the work correctly?”

50 Percent Floor

Funk said the equity grading policy was not significantly different from the traditional one, focusing only on removing the zero score and implementing a 50 percent base score.

He added that while some teachers in the district were already practicing some of the changes, the new policy simply makes these practices more uniform and standardized.

Sangeetha Shanbhogue, a parent at Dublin High School, told “California Insider” that her children received a 50 percent base score on every test last year and were permitted to retake exams if their grades were below a C. Additionally, her children did not have homework.

“Since [her son] did not have practice, he didn’t learn because he didn’t know what he was doing wrong,” Shanbhogue said. “Especially for science subjects, where you have to spend some time outside of class trying to learn or practice.”

She said that not requiring homework could severely hinder students’ learning quality because they would miss out on practicing what they’ve learned, especially for students in higher grade levels.

“If you started at once at high school, when the stakes are high [as] they’re applying for college, it will have a big impact,” she said.

Besides introducing the base grade, the equity grading system also allows students who didn’t get a C to retake exams multiple times, which some argue could diminish their motivation to study.

In some instances, Sargent said, students might use their first attempt at a test to discover its content, as teachers often use the same exam for all retakes.

She added that while retaking exams allows students to revisit and correct their mistakes, it is also crucial to teach them to take responsibility for their work before they enter society.

Shanbhogue echoed this concern, saying that such practices have harmed her children’s motivation to study hard for exams.

Graduation Rate

On a larger scale, Sargent said the equity system will boost graduation rates, but at a cost.

Moreover, higher graduation rates don’t necessarily translate to higher college admission rates, Shanbhogue said.

According to the school’s profile, the four-year college placement rate decreased from 73.4 percent to 64.8 percent from the 2022–23 school year to 2023–24. In contrast, the two-year college placement rate increased from 21.5 percent to 24.2 percent, while placements to military and other schools rose from nearly 5 percent to 11 percent.

School data also show that in the 2022–23 school year, 184 students were accepted into the University of California, and 115 students were accepted into the California State University system. In the 2023–24 school year, 137 students were accepted into UC schools, and 106 were accepted into CSU.

Challenges

The Dublin Unified Board of Trustees voted to discontinue the equity grading program in July 2023.

During the board meeting, Funk also announced that the district is ending its relationship with Crescendo Group, the consultant firm led by Feldman. The firm had been assisting the district in developing the grading system.

According to the superintendent, 26 teachers participated in the pilot program, and 80 more were planning to join before the board paused it.

However, Funk said that more practice and research are needed because pilot program data were insufficient to determine whether the new system is effective, and he was disappointed that the board did not give it more time.

The district’s director of communication, Chip Dehnert, told The Epoch Times in an email that while the district-backed effort was discontinued, teachers are still free to implement equity grading at their discretion. The board’s decision does not ban it.

Some other school districts that have implemented similar grading practices include Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, Santa Ana Unified, and San Diego Unified.