NHUSD Tests New Grading Strategies

A New Haven Unified School District task force is trying out new grading strategies that no longer factor in homework, attendance or classroom behavior in a student’s grade.

It may sound like a slacker’s dream come true, but members of the district’s Grading and Assessment Task Force said at Tuesday night’s school board meeting that by placing more emphasis on summative testing and less on behavior and participation, students will be forced to take ownership of their education.

“When students know that their grads reflect what they know, they’re going to take responsibility for their learning,” said Alvarado Middle School teacher Jennifer Nemecek Tuesday night.

“They don’t hand in homework to get a grade, they hand in homework because they want to learn,” said Director of Instructional Programs Joe Feldman in a follow-up interview with Union City Patch.

The task force – comprised of parents, teachers, administrators and high school students from each district site – has been meeting once a month since last August to review and help improve district-wide grading practices.

While conducting data analysis last year, the task force found a wide variance in passing rates betwen classes in the same grade level, Feldman said. “In looking a little deeper, we found that some of that could be attributed to the grading policies and practices of individual teachers,” he said.

Members of the task force began researching and discussing the theory and philosophy of grading, with each teacher in the task force trying out different types of practices aligned with the research, Feldman said.

The teachers began conducting “action research” in their classrooms earlier this year. Among the new practices, participating teachers awarded students with a 50 percent score for an “F” grade instead of zero, didn’t penalize them for turning in late homework and allowed them to retake tests.

According to Feldman, the state prescribes classroom curriculum but has no mandate in regards what should be considered in grading. Many schools don’t take behavior in account when it comes to issuing grades, he said.

“It’s the tradition,” Feldman said. “Teachers just accept it and adults accept it because that’s what they experienced as a kid. But teachers found that when they tried something different, they had a much more positive impact on learning.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, teachers Carmen Galli of Alvarado Elementary School, Vicki Baker and Nemecek of Alvarado Middle School and James Logan High House Principal Grace Kim, who spoke on behalf of teacher Kim Petitt, discussed the findings from the “action research” conducted in their classrooms. They found that:

• more students received passing grades when teachers used assessment systems that more accurately reflect what they know.
• when students are allowed to turn in homework late without penalty, more homework is actually completed. They also become better at time management when they make decisions about how to prioritize their work.
• when an F grade isn’t worth a zero, it gives students a sense of redemption and, as a result, improves their attitude about themselves. “If I take a test and flunk it, and the teacher keeps moving, they’re not expecting me to pass. They’re encouraging me to fail,” Feldman said.
• when grading practices reflect a student’s knowledge and not their behavior, students understand that the grade is within their control.

The task force concluded that a student’s grade should reflect only the student’s mastery of course content, not factors such as behavior, effort, participation, attitude and attendance.

“The task force isn’t saying we don’t care about those things, the task force is saying don’t include them in that grade,” Feldman said.

Teachers acknowledged that when grades no longer serve as a punishment or reward for classroom behavior, they have to create alternative strategies,which  is very difficult.

However, teachers are punishing students for tardiness and other bad classroom behavior by requiring students to stay in class longer or in class during lunch to finish their work, he said.

In Petit’s twelfth grade English class, the new grading policy resulted in fewer A’s, more B’s and C’s, and no F’s. There were fewer A’s because students weren’t being rewarded for things like being in class on time, said Logan house principal Kim on Petit’s behalf. There were also fewer failing grades because “students saw it wasn’t too late to succeed,” Kim said.

School board members supported and applauded the task force for their research.

“Students shouldn’t be punished for who they are or where they come from,” said board member Michelle Matthews.

However, school board trustee Jonas Dino said he’d need some convincing.

“In the workplace, if somebody doesn’t show up, they don’t have a job,” Dino said. “You can be a jerk, you can be disruptive in class and you can still get an A.”

The task force will continue to meet and conduct research, sharing its findings with Instructional Leadership Teams at each school and through the district’s Targeted Leadership programs.

The task force plans to create a strategic plan for an improved grading policy and will submit recommendations to the school board in the coming months.