Should Teachers Give Zeros?
The Case For and Against Zeros
As I discussed in an earlier post, tough grading systems actually lead to better student outcomes. But grades can also be a form of inequity in the school system. This usually happens when a teacher’s grading system doesn’t accurately reflect the learning that took place in their class.
Grades serve three purposes: to give feedback to the student, to motivate students, and to sort students within a broader context.
In Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman provides three pillars for equitable grading: accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational.?
It seems to me that Feldman’s three pillars are similar to my three purposes except that he focuses on ensuring that our grading systems are “innoculated from bias.” He says it’s achieved through a coherent grading system.
One of his main points is that zeros should be eliminated from the gradebook.
Is this realistic? Is this what’s best for students? Let’s examine it.
The Case Against Zeros?
Feldmen puts this recommendation under the heading of “Accuracy.” His argument is that zeros do not reflect the student’s learning. In addition, using the traditional grading scale of 0-100, it severely punishes the student for missing an assignment. Let’s say that a student completed half of an assignment and received a 50/100. This is the same grade as someone who did nothing.
Part of his argument stems from the flaws of a 100 point grading system. For example, let’s say a student’s grade is determined by the average of three assignments. Here are the student’s grades:
The students grade is 57/100 (F). This doesn’t seem fair. Two B’s and one F means that a student fails??
But the problem remains even if we eliminate the 100 point grading scale and move it to a 5 point grading scale. The student’s grade is an even lower percentage (8/15) if we use the 5 point grading system.
Simply put, a student’s grade suffers greatly from a zero. Here’s a great video you can share with your students to emphasize this point.
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But is this fair?
Feldman says it isn’t fair.?
I can understand this, but what I can’t support is the practice of giving student’s grades when they don’t turn in anything. I’ve heard of districts that require teachers to give a minimum grade of 50/100--even when students turn in nothing.
Students should not receive any credit if the teacher receives nothing. But how can we make the grading system more fair?
The Case for Zeros
I support giving students an opportunity to make up work.
An accurate grade reflects student learning and content mastery, but I don’t think that grades should be impacted by factors that are outside of content such as turning in work on time.?
Don’t come after me. I’m not saying that teachers should not have any deadlines and accept anything, anytime, but teachers should remember that grades should provide feedback and motivate students. The teacher needs to take this into account when deciding on whether to accept late work or not.
Grade validity is mathematical, but it should also be based on student performance on assigned tasks. A teacher needs to balance the student’s mastery of content, the student’s ability to meet academic norms (meeting deadlines, mainly), and the teacher’s time constraints.?
Obviously, if a student comes to the teacher on the last day of the quarter with all the assignments, the teacher shouldn’t be expected to grade it all without penalty. This is a violation of the teacher’s time constraints and academic norms. But it becomes complicated if the work shows a mastery of the content. How should this be handled? Isn’t that the most important aspect to teaching?
There are other aspects to teaching than content mastery. In addition to content, K-12 Teachers are educating students about the norms that rule society. The zero allows the teacher to create a boundary.
The teacher should use zeros as a means to provide feedback (you’re not turning in work) and motivate (you can still turn in this assignment).
Key Takeaways