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a ready-to-run workshopGrading for Equity
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Grading for Equity (Workshop)

Traditional grading practices, averaging everything, grading homework and behavior, zeros that sink a grade, often measure compliance and privilege as much as learning. Grading for equity means grading practices that accurately and fairly reflect what students know, for every student.

Key takeaway

Grading for equity means practices that accurately reflect learning rather than compliance or privilege, so grades mean the same thing for every student.

Format
PLC / team meeting
Length
45 minutes
Group size
Any (works 4-40)
Who can run it
Any teacher-leader
You will need
Slides (5)Printed handoutYour grading practices in mindA timer
Aligned to
Learning Forward: Rigorous ContentInTASC 6: AssessmentFeldman: Grading for Equity
Share / assign

Why it works

Work like Feldman's Grading for Equity argues that common grading practices, averaging across a term, grading homework and behavior, the zero on a 100-point scale, and heavy weighting of early attempts, distort what grades mean and disadvantage students with less support, without measuring learning more accurately. More equitable practices focus the grade on demonstrated learning, weight recent evidence, and separate behavior out.

The research: Feldman's Grading for Equity; research on grading accuracy and bias.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

    The core activity: examine one grading practice

    Teachers leave having chosen one grading practice to make more accurate, with a plan to explain it.

    Grades should mean learningIf a grade mixes in behavior, timing, and early struggle, it stops meaning what a student knows. Equitable grading makes the grade reflect learning, for everyone.

    Facilitator notes

    Accuracy, not leniencyEquitable grading is not about lowering standards. It is about grades that accurately reflect learning rather than compliance or circumstance.

    Adapt it

    Participant handout

    One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

    K12 Academics · Professional Learning

    Grading for Equity: make grades mean learning

    <b>Accuracy over compliance:</b> weight recent evidence, separate behavior, reconsider zeros, allow reassessment.

    1. My grading practices under honest review:
    2. The one that may measure compliance or privilege:
    3. A more accurate alternative:
    4. How I keep behavior addressed, separately:
    5. How I explain the change to students and families:

    Make it stick

    Grades reflect learning:

    Common questions

    Doesn't removing zeros or deadlines let students off the hook?
    The aim is accuracy, not leniency. A zero on a 100-point scale is mathematically distorting; separating behavior and allowing reassessment make grades reflect learning, while behavior is still addressed, separately.
    Isn't averaging fair?
    Averaging across a term penalizes early struggle even after a student masters the content. Weighting recent evidence reflects what the student actually knows now.
    Where do I start?
    Pick one practice: stop grading behavior, reconsider the zero, or allow reassessment. You do not have to change everything at once.

    Go deeper

    Build it into a bigger day

    Workshop
    Standards-Based Grading
    Workshop
    Feedback That Moves Learning
    Workshop
    Equitable Discipline