8 Strategies to Grade With Equity
Every teacher aspires for students to succeed in their classroom and to have an equal chance to do so. Every student comes to school with their circumstances, which can result in them having an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to their academic success. It can be challenging for teachers to meet every child where they are and give them what they need at each moment.
One way that teachers can ensure success for all kids, without lowering expectations, is to ensure they are grading with equity.
Cate Reed, seasoned administrator, current Senior Vice President of Teach For America, and Possip Reporter, outlines strategies to help teachers grade with equity.
Ensuring students can be successful means remembering that while every child may have similar resources available in their classroom, all the supports students have outside of school are not always the same. Developing a playing field where all students can succeed at high levels is important – and possible! Ensuring equitable grading promotes fairness and inclusivity in educational settings.
Here are eight strategies to help you grade more equitably:
1. Clearly Define Expectations
Some students may have families at home with easy access to the internet who can look up strategies for support, or access the online school portal. Others may not. Providing clear and detailed grading criteria for assignments and assessments, in writing, and requiring students to take it home with them, ensures that everyone has equal access to what they are expected to do.
This includes the specific criteria you will use to evaluate their work. Develop and use rubrics that outline the criteria for each level of performance. Rubrics help standardize the grading process and make it more transparent for students, ensuring everyone is assessed based on the same criteria.
2. Blind Grading
Consider blind grading, where you conceal student identities during the grading process, especially for more subjective assignments like writing. This can help eliminate unconscious biases and ensure that assessments are evaluated solely on merit. Once the grading is complete, then look to see how students did so you can provide targeted support for students who struggled with the material, and opportunities to make the work up. A student’s success should not be summed up in how long it takes for them to learn, it should be measured when they do grasp the material!
3. Eliminate Curve Grading
Gone are the days of only allowing a certain number of students to succeed, while ensuring some percent of them fail. Everyone is entitled to a fair shot to master all the content and get an A. It doesn’t mean everyone will, but deciding at the starting line that some number of kids won’t even be able to finish isn’t only unfair, it disincentivizes kids to do their best.
4. Provide Flexible Homework Policies
Whether to provide homework or not is controversial in itself, but if you do, think about ways to ensure kids can complete it if there are obstacles outside of school. Consider a small window at the end of class for kids to get started or open your classroom up during breakfast or lunch for kids to come and complete assignments. Even better, talk to your school about building in a flex period during the day when kids can work on homework as a way to build independence and work stamina, versus a “gotcha” for who can manage to get it done outside of the school day.
5. Hold Virtual Office Hours for Students and Families
Hold weekly office hours over Zoom or another digital platform for families to come and ask questions about homework, classwork, or student progress. Some families have easy access to email or can communicate during the school day, but not all do. Most importantly, ensure there is a reliable way that families can be in touch using the mechanisms easiest for them, which in most cases is a phone.
6. Record Lessons
Record mini lessons on particularly challenging concepts or things that families may have learned differently when they were younger, and post them online. A 3-minute video on how to simplify fractions or identify a complex predicate can save a ton of time at home when families are helping with homework.
7. Consider Multiple Assessment Methods
Utilize a variety of assessment methods to capture different learning styles and abilities. This can include written assignments, oral presentations, projects, and collaborative activities. Providing multiple ways for students to demonstrate their understanding promotes equity.
8. Offer Flexible Due Dates
Every adult has had to ask for an extension in their lives because of illness, or other things coming up. Kids are no different and are often at the whim of the things that come up in their families’ lives. Be flexible with assignment due dates, especially if students have different challenges or circumstances outside of school. This flexibility can accommodate diverse needs and reduce the impact of external factors on grades. Be clear on how to ask for an extension, and help students plan as much as possible so they don’t fall way behind.
Not every strategy is necessary for every student, but by considering grading equity for students you can set more kids up to thrive and succeed!
