San Diego Unified School District Changes Grading System to 'Combat Racism'Alexis Rivas
October 15, 2020
NBC San Diego
Students will no longer be graded based on a yearly average, or on how late they turn in assignments. Those are just some of the major grading changes approved this week by California's second-largest school district.
The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is overhauling the way it grades students. Board members say the changes are part of a larger effort to combat racism.
“This is part of our honest reckoning as a school district,” says SDUSD Vice President Richard Barrera. “If we’re actually going to be an anti-racist school district, we have to confront practices like this that have gone on for years and years.”
The SDUSD VP decries
practices of: formative and summative grades... downgrading late assignments... zero tolerance for cheating. Observant readers will notice and question the reporting, including:
- Failing grades by demographic group:
....."
30% - English Learners......25% - Students with Disabilities......23% - Native Americans......23% - Hispanics......20% - Blacks......07% - Whites"
...This totals 128%, Several students may belong to multiple demographic groups.
...The first two demographic groups do not reveal the student's race/ethnicity.
- "
Disparities due to cheating..." appears to not hold students accountable for their choices to break the rules...
...but rather removes the rules. What precedent does this set, what message does this send for managing expectations that
...students learn the importance of compliance with other rules in society?
- "
... teachers fail minority students more than White students " casts the students as passive entities,
... rather than acknowledging that grades were based on actual learning and demonstrated knowledge.
- "
...citizenship grade...", a term referring to student behavior, including cheating and late assignments.
...More accurate, descriptive, and readily understood terms may be "deportment," "decorum," or "behavior."
Thoughtful readers will remember that correlation does not imply causation: A student with a failing grade and who is a member of a demographic minority is not the same as a student being given a failing grade because s/he is a member of a demographic minority.
Unfortunately, there is a movement away from holding pupils accountable, and toward blaming the system.
The announced changes, when put into widespread practice, appear designed to inculcate poor study habits which will not serve students well throughout life. The new path to good grades appears to be: defer turning in your assignments long enough to cheat, copy another student's work, and receive credit. Essentially gaming the system to achieve a grade which indicates success.
