Left-leaning teachers in Northern Virginia have begun a revolt in response to news that the Arlington County School Board wants to enact new grading practices.
The school board’s more “equitable” grading practices would allow for unlimited redoes on homework assignments and eliminate grading on homework.
Per Fox News:
The supporters of the proposal say that late penalties lead to inaccurate grades and that students with fewer resources are penalized when other students are able to complete extra credit assignments. Additionally, it has been suggested that students should not be graded on homework assignments because the fear of making mistakes will have a negative impact on their learning process.
“There’s no labeling of students or ranking of students,” Dr. Erin Russo, the Principal of Discovery Elementary, said during a meeting on the proposal. “It’s the ownership of what do I need to work on and where am I?”
However, teachers at Wakefield High School in Virginia sent a letter to the Arlington County Superintendent pushing back against the proposal.
“As educators with decades of experience in APS, we are extremely concerned with several changes proposed in the new grading and homework policy,” the letter said. “We believe that these changes will impact student learning and socio-emotional development and growth in a negative way. The changes, if implemented, will also result in the decline of high expectations and rigor in the classroom across all APS high schools.”
Additionally, many teachers worry that such drastic changes would make it even harder to conduct teacher evaluations.