📊 Grading Practices

1 PURPOSE — What Good Grades Are Supposed to Do

A grade should clarify learning, not obscure it.

• Communicate — Tell students and families what has been learned right now.
• Guide action — Point to the next instructional or support move.
• Stay fair — Reduce teacher-to-teacher inconsistency and hidden penalties.
• Protect motivation — Keep students believing improvement is possible.

2 RESEARCH — Consensus in One Slide

The strongest recurring ideas are surprisingly consistent across major grading scholars.

1. Grade clear learning outcomes — Grades should be anchored to intended learning, not a pile of disconnected tasks.
2. Reflect current achievement — The most recent and most consistent evidence matters more than early struggles.
3. Separate achievement from behavior — Homework completion, attendance, effort, and punctuality should be reported separately.
4. Use fewer gradations — Too many grade categories create false precision.

3 DECISIONS — Stop Doing This. Start Doing This Instead.

4 EVIDENCE — Why Averaging Misrepresents Learning

A grade can be mathematically tidy and still educationally misleading.

5 PRACTICE — Missing Work Is a Workflow Problem, Not a Zero

The consequence should trigger action, not grade collapse.

1. Mark as incomplete — Not zero, but clearly not done.
2. Diagnose why — Was it time? Understanding? Support?
3. Re-teach or support — Address the root cause.
4. Provide opportunity — Allow reassessment once learning is demonstrated.

6 CLARITY — Separate Academic Achievement from Learning Behaviors

Otherwise the grade tells families several things at once and none of them clearly.

7 EQUITY — Fairer Grading Also Means More Equitable Grading

A grade should capture learning, not hidden advantage.

Ask before scoring:

• Can students relate to the context?
• Did we teach the language the task requires?
• Are there multiple valid ways to demonstrate the learning target?

Watch for bias:

Neatness, style, accent, compliance, and speed often get rewarded even when they are not the intended learning outcome.

8 SYSTEMS — Redesign the Gradebook Around Standards

This is where grading reform becomes visible to teachers, students, and families.

9 ACTION — 90-Day Grading Reform Plan

Keep the change narrow enough to implement well.

10 BOTTOM LINE

• Base grades on clear learning outcomes and high-quality evidence.
• Prioritize current achievement over arithmetic average of all attempts.
• Report achievement separately from behavior, effort, and homework habits.
• Use incomplete and reassessment workflows instead of punitive zeros.