Taking Equity to the Next Level with Equitable Grading Practices

Renard Simmons • Cahn Fellow 2022

This project started, as most changes do, with a problem: We felt that our students’ grade point averages did not accurately reflect their learning.  We believed that too many of our high school students were failing classes due to attendance lapses caused by family trauma and disruption, outside work responsibilities, and mental health crises that derailed them in their efforts to meet graduation requirements. Too many were having to repeat an entire course even though they had already mastered most of the content. Too many, when faced with yet another “F”, succumbed to discouragement and dropped out.  Did a student’s GPA, under our current grading system, even reflect their learning? Was our grading system demoralizing and disengaging? Was the GPA system, at its core, “inequitable”? 

Tasked with the re-engagement of struggling students, DC21 strives to involve and accelerate high-risk students to prepare them for college and careers in the 21st century. Since student engagement is at the heart of our innovative approaches, a focus on equity is always at the top of our agenda. In our ongoing effort to champion equity and eradicate bias, our administrators participated in a Denver Public Schools Network Improvement Community (NIC), funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This led us to Joe Feldman’s book,  Grading for Equity, which, in turn, inspired us to question our traditional grading practices and ultimately to make the changes needed to take the concept of “Equity” to the next level.