"Joe Feldman shows us how we can use grading to help students become the leaders of their own learning and lift the veil on how to succeed. . . . This must-have book will help teachers learn to implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact." --Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain Crack open the grading conversation Here at last--and none too soon--is a resource that delivers the research base, tools, and courage to tackle one of the most challenging and emotionally ...
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"Joe Feldman shows us how we can use grading to help students become the leaders of their own learning and lift the veil on how to succeed. . . . This must-have book will help teachers learn to implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact." --Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain Crack open the grading conversation Here at last--and none too soon--is a resource that delivers the research base, tools, and courage to tackle one of the most challenging and emotionally charged conversations in today's schools: our inconsistent grading practices and the ways they can inadvertently perpetuate the achievement and opportunity gaps among our students. With Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman cuts to the core of the conversation, revealing how grading practices that are accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational will improve learning, minimize grade inflation, reduce failure rates, and become a lever for creating stronger teacher-student relationships and more caring classrooms. Essential reading for schoolwide and individual book study or for student advocates, Grading for Equity provides A critical historical backdrop, describing how our inherited system of grading was originally set up as a sorting mechanism to provide or deny opportunity, control students, and endorse a "fixed mindset" about students' academic potential--practices that are still in place a century later A summary of the research on motivation and equitable teaching and learning, establishing a rock-solid foundation and a "true north" orientation toward equitable grading practices Specific grading practices that are more equitable, along with teacher examples, strategies to solve common hiccups and concerns, and evidence of effectiveness Reflection tools for facilitating individual or group engagement and understanding As Joe writes, "Grading practices are a mirror not just for students, but for us as their teachers." Each one of us should start by asking, "What do my grading practices say about who I am and what I believe?" Then, let's make the choice to do things differently . . . with Grading for Equity as a dog-eared reference.
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I have taught American history at the middle school level for over twenty-five years. I have attended numerous workshops and/or have read numerous books and articles on how to (supposedly) improve my teaching. I have found these trainings to be of little to no value; the book Grading for Equity falls in the same category. In fact, this is the most absurd and insulting book I have ever read in all the years I have been teaching. While the author means well (as most progressives do) his ideas are not consistent with the real world of school and the real world of work that our students will eventually reach. He advocates that students should have multiple attempts at assessments. True, there are many situations in which a second opportunity is presented. However, there are many situations (such as the track and field events in the Olympic Games) in which there are no second chances. He also advocates that if students cheat on homework, they should not be punished but have another opportunity to do the work correctly. Really? If I cheated on renewing my teaching certificate, would I still be employed? The author says that teachers should not grade the punctuality of student work, just the quality of the work. Seriously? What would happen if I renewed my teaching certificate past the due date? I could only stomach this book for about twenty minutes at a time before my frustration level caused me to do something else.
I read this book as part of a workshop facilitated by my building principal. If you are reading this book or this review, you are likely in a similar situation. This book is further proof of the weakness of our public school system and its suggestions will do nothing to improve student success. This is because student success is based more on the family situation at home, not what teachers do in the classroom; I can say this because I see that my higher-performing students come from intact families--this is not a criticism, this is an observation.
In closing, I do want to say that the author does bring up some good points. He states that grades should be based on academic performance, not behavior; in other words, a student's grade should not be affected because he or she brought tissue for the class or if he or she is tardy. I am in complete agreement. He also maintains that grades should be transparent and calculated within the system--I completely agree. He is also not supportive of extra credit--I agree with this as well. Even so, the overall message of this book (go easy on grades) and its ideas fly in the face of the twenty-five-plus years of experience I have in the classroom. And, Julius Caesar said that experience is the teacher of all things.
