A teacher in Canada was recently suspended because he gave students zeros for missing work, which was against the policy of his school district.

Whether or not to give zeros is a big controversy among teachers.

Some say that if a student doesn’t turn in work, the zero is an accurate assessment and appropriate punishment. But others, like Joe Bowers and Ken O’Connor, say that giving zeros amounts to hurting children and discouraging learning. If an A is 90, a D is 60 and an F is 50, then why go down to zero for missing?

This debate is fraught with emotion. Everyone has gone through school, so the typical way we think of grades is deeply rooted. The 100-point scale seems natural, and so does the zero for missing work. After all, isn’t school supposed to prepare students for the real world, and shouldn’t they be held accountable for messing up?

I’ve thought about grading policies for a while. Some years, I’ve tried standard-based grading systems, which largely get away from the 100-point scale and emphasize progress toward learning outcomes rather than student effort. Other years (like this one), I’ve gone with an extremely traditional grading method: a strict 1,000 points for the semester.

And this is what I’ve realized: Assessment and grading are two completely different things. Yes, students should know their strengths and weaknesses, and giving them a grade or points by assignment does not help them grow. On the other hand, the grade is a helpful summary of a student’s performance in your class — and a requirement in most schools at the end of the semester.

I’ve also realized that although I appreciate the no-zero philosophy, grades must reflect the combination of performance and effort. After all, to be a good student does not just mean knowing the content or being able to write a good essay. Rather, it means having the habits of being a good student.

The answer to the no-zeros debate is to separate big, required assignments from small, practice assignments. If a student misses a small assignment, she should receive a zero and be factored into the habits-of-work grade. But if a student misses a large assignment, which aligns with one of the major outcomes of the course, she should receive an incomplete and be required to complete the work, hopefully within a one-week window.

(Getting students to make up missing work, of course, is the hardest part. And one more thing: What’s the proper penalty for late work? More about those things in an upcoming post.)

What do you think about this grading controversy? Readers, I’d love to hear your viewpoints. 

 This year, I’ve become a little more clear about my philosophy of assessment and grading. It’s called “Only forward, never backward.”

My Old Way: When a student didn’t turn in an assignment, I’d get really frustrated, admonish the student, predict the end of the world, and make grandiose plans for the student to go back in time and make up the work.

But that way never worked — for two reasons:

• It didn’t increase the student’s turn-in rate of future assignments,
• It didn’t increase the student’s sense of responsibility.

Most important, My Old Way confused students by putting them in two places at once. I expected them to go ahead with the new unit while simultaneously finishing up the work from the last. That’s too complicated for everyone.

Here’s My New Way: I teach, give assignments so students can demonstrate their skill and understanding, offer scaffolding and coaching, encourage students to work hard, collect the assignments, grade them…and move on.

If I’ve constructed a class with many opportunities to succeed (and fail), then missing one assignment shouldn’t be the end of the world.

Of course, it’s important to make sure the student (and sometimes, the family) is aware that I have noticed the missing assignment — and that I am disappointed, that I expect more, and that things had better change soon.

I like My New Way because it focuses on the future instead of dwelling on the past. That said, the disadvantage of “Only forward, never backward” is that it doesn’t necessarily teach students the importance of 100 percent turn-in, which is crucial in college, where there are fewer assignments. Plus, it doesn’t work well with classes that have culminating projects (like my old Mock Trial and this year’s Theme Study).

Overall, though, I’d much rather spend my time in the present — about what can be done now — than running around being in more than one place at once.

Even though my classroom may include 25 students, all different, it’s my job as a teacher to do my best to create one narrative — one bigger story that we can all participate in together, that we can all grab hold of. 

 Don’t worry, I won’t be putting down my students in this post.

But I will say this: My students are unaware of their grades, how grades work, and how to improve their grades. This is a problem.

Evidence #1: Our school uses PowerSchool, a popular student information system. Students and their parents can access grades online anytime. But most of them don’t. The URL is confusing and students habitually forget their passwords.

(There has to be a better way. Please suggest a solution!)

Evidence #2: Most teachers at my school still use points. But most teachers also use category weights, which messes up the simplicity of points. No wonder why low-performing students give up on understanding how the game of grading works.

(My better way is to make sure there are 1,000 points per semester. Simple. No, it’s not standard-based grading, which focuses on learning, and it perpetuates the capitalistic nature of schooling, but at least it’s easy to explain to students and parents.)

Evidence of #3: Most students have no idea how to improve their grades in any kind of specific way. I had a meeting with a senior today who needs to pass Math in order to graduate. He’s a smart, kind, motivated kid who attends class, goes to office hours, and has met repeatedly with his teacher about a plan. When I asked him what he needed to do to raise his 64% to 70%, he replied, “I guess I have to do really well for the rest of the semester.”

Um, that is not a specific-enough answer.

I mean, if I were in my student’s situation, I would be making charts and graphs, cracking out my calculator, and doing mild regression analysis (whatever that is). I would get all my points in a row and figure out my chances — and then go slightly maniacal getting things done.

Without detailed information about his grade, my student has no power over his situation. He has given his graduation over to chance and good intentions. Either that or he’s hoping that his teacher will lower his standards.

As teachers in schools, we have to do better. Our grading practices have to be immediately understandable to our students and families. Students must be able to make sense on their own what their grade means and how they can improve their grade. Most important, it’s crucial that students feel ownership of their grades — that it’s something that they’ve earned — rather than feeling that grades come from nowhere or from a teacher’s assessment of their personal worth. 

 I think I’ve figured out the starkest difference between my students and those who perform better academically.

My students don’t always turn in their assignments.

I’m not talking about little assignments, like classwork. In fact, my students work harder in class than many suburban kids.

No, I’m talking about essays, projects — big assignments.

When I collect AP practice essays every other Thursday, I typically receive 21 or 22 out of 23. There are always one or two excuses, one or two emergencies, one or two instances of things coming up.

Some teachers would call this turn-in rate a success. I don’t. After all, students have several days (and many opportunities of support) to complete their essays. In addition, my students are just a few months away from enrolling in college, and as far as I know, if you don’t turn in assignments in college, you generally don’t pass classes.

I’m really worried that many of my students will receive Fs next year because they haven’t internalized how crucial it is to turn in all their assignments on time.

The problem is, They’ve missed assignments in high school and have gotten by. Their teachers have offered them deals. Some teachers, citing standard-based assessment, don’t give zeroes for missing work.

I understand that things happen and that students need extra chances, particularly in the earlier grades. That’s why our Humanities department last year agreed on a late work policy that becomes more strict from ninth to twelfth grade. (This year, the policy was suspended by the administration.)

Whatever the approach, we need to tell our students how important it is to follow through, to honor their commitments. Life moves forward, and in general, you can’t get on a time machine to correct your past mistakes. 

Since I began teaching, I’ve wanted to make standard-based grading work. I’ve read huge amounts, realigned my curriculum, collaborated with colleagues, and overhauled my thinking many times.

And I still haven’t figured it out. I still struggle with standard-based grading.

I think it’s hard for two reasons: (1) Standard-based grading is better when there are concrete, discrete standards, which is much harder to pull off in English. (2) Standards-based grading works best in a binary assessment system, where standards are passed or not-yet-passed. Most of my attempts have not included concrete standards that students could check off as passed. Nor have I been successful getting rid of points and conversions in a standard-based system.

This year, to regain some sanity, I’m retreating to a points system. And I must be honest: I think it will benefit my students.

One of the requirements of points-based grading, of course, is that there is a finite number of points, and the teacher has planned ahead of time where those points will go. Otherwise, those points don’t have any worth in the moment. Not knowing where each point will go leads to unfair grades, end-of-semester assignment point inflation, and students asking for extra credit.

I’m happy with what I’m trying this semester: 1,000 points. That’s 300 for each five-week unit and 100 for the final examination.

This system worked for me 10 years ago when I taught Government and Economics. When combined with a stern no-late-work policy, it sends a clear message to students to take care of business, not to procrastinate, and to live and work in the moment. Especially when working with seniors, with their graduation on the line, grading must be transparent and easy to explain.

While I understand that a points system may not correlate well with learning, I challenge the argument that standard-based grading is the only way to make grades mean something. After all, because I’ve already set up my assignments, my students this semester will be able to track their strengths and weaknesses in a number of skills.

In addition, even though standard-based grading has enjoyed some traction the past few years, it still takes a huge public relations campaign to explain it to students and families. This year, I’d rather spend that time creating strong lessons and looking and my students’ writing.

Maybe I’m getting more conservative. Perhaps I’m just trying to keep things simple this year. But I do believe that it’s OK to take a break from my quest for the perfect standard-based grading system for a while and still have something that works.

Part of moving to standards-based grading is deciding which standards I’m going to assess. What do I want my students to know about be able to do?

After taking a look at the California and the Common Core standards, as well as reflected on what habits I feel my ninth graders need to practice to become college-bound students, I’ve narrowed my lengthy list to the following 10 areas:

College-Bound Student
1. Homework
2. Classwork
3. Class Participation
4. Technology

Reading
5. Reading Identity
6. Analyzing Non-Fiction
7. Analyzing Fiction

Writing
8. Essay
9. Writing Process
10. Conventions

Some may argue that including homework, classwork, and class participation amounts to setting behavioral expectations as standards rather than placing the emphasis on learning. For most of my ninth graders, learning how to do school is extremely important. We’re still in a place of the teacher as responsible for controlling student behavior, rather than the student learning the habits of work required for college-preparatory study. Therefore, my hope is that by making these things standards, I can quit getting annoyed at challenging behavior and turn it into learning opportunities.

Others may ask, “What’s reading identity?” In short, I want my students to see themselves as readers and to read a lot. That’s why I have The 1,000,000 Word Challenge. Are my students consistent readers? How long can they read without stopping? Do distractions cause them to lose focus? If their reading identity is strong, nothing will stop them from reading.

Next steps: First, each category title needs to become a true standard (as in, I need to write some sentences). After that, I can create some easy rubrics for the 10 standards. It’ll be good to get student input, of course. Then comes some backward planning: What’s the best curriculum map to make sure all 10 standards are assessed regularly?

Notice I’m not asking the how-does-this-translate-into-a-grade question yet. There’s still time for that later. 

Here’s a question I get too often from students: “If I do good on this assignment, will it raise my grade?”

And here’s another: “Can I do extra credit?”

Both questions indicate that my students don’t understand how they earn their grade. Although my grading system seems simple  to me (categories and points), it makes no sense to students. They just keep doing my assignments and hope that the computer spits out an A, B, or C.

For a long time, I’ve wanted to move to standard-based grading. There are many advantages: (1) It aligns better to student learning, (2) It puts more ownership on students, (3) It offers better information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses.

Although I know that standard-based grading is the way to go, I have not yet adopted it because I’m worried I can’t pull it off. Specifically, will PowerTeacher Gradebook let me do what I want to do? I don’t want to be in the middle of the semester and find out that I have to retreat.

And here are some other questions:

1. I teach English. Using standard-based grading is harder in English than it is in Math. I’ll have 10 standards for the semester, but I’m not sure how to calculate each standard’s score. Mean? Median? Mode? Most recent? For most of my standards, using a custom version of “most recent score,” though arbitrary, makes the most sense. But for other standards, mode or median seems more appropriate. I’m pretty sure I have to select one way of determining all standards grades.

2. What’s the best way to determine a student’s final grade? If there are 10 standards, I’d like to see how many standards each student mastered during the semester and then assign a grade accordingly. Does Gradebook allow this? Or would I have to override Gradebook’s calculation, which would lead to mass confusion for students and parents checking grades online?

How exactly does Gradebook calculate the final grade? Would it take all the standards scores and then do the mean, median, mode, or most recent?

I’ll try to find out these answers before I go forward with my plan, but the question is, Will I cave (again) and do something more comfortable?