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As the coronavirus crisis has thrust schools into an unprecedented experiment in remote learning, it has required schools to wrestle anew with a fundamental part of the education system: grading.
School systems around the state are adjusting their assessment systems to try to best support students as they learn outside of the classroom, with many schools opting for either optional or universal pass/fail systems.
Educators say they have wanted to give students as much slack as possible, all the while keeping them motivated to learn. And the perennial question about grading — what’s fair? — has taken on an added urgency in a context in which so many families have had their lives upended by the virus and its economic toll.
Mike McRaith, assistant executive director with the Vermont Principals Association, said there’s “a pretty strong consensus that we want to err on the side of the students.”
“There’s an asterisk on this spring for the whole country, the whole world. So everyone’s in the same spot,” he said.
Vermont’s high schools have largely chosen one of two paths, McRaith said. Administrators either decided on a pass/fail system for everyone, or gave students the option to choose whether to be assessed according to a pass/fail metric or the school’s prior grading system.
Educators have long acknowledged that social and economic inequities play heavily into educational achievement. But the pandemic has brought the disadvantages that some students must contend with into even sharper relief, as some step into caretaking roles for their younger siblings, others go to work to support their families, and many struggle to access online learning without access to basic broadband.
Whether or not to give students the option to choose has raised questions about equity. McRaith said many educators feel like it’s unfair to give students the opportunity to distinguish themselves when the pandemic has made the playing field more uneven. Others argue that some students from marginalized backgrounds might very well be thriving while doing schoolwork online.
“I don’t think there’s a solution that is optimal on either side,” he said.
That tension was in full display in the Lamoille South Unified Union, where the school board last week overruled superintendent Tracy Wrend’s decision to move to a modified pass/fail system for all.
Backlash to the administration’s new grading policy appeared to come mostly from Stowe, one of the state’s wealthiest communities, according to the local press. While school board members criticized Wrend for changing the grading policy without consulting them first, they also at times spoke directly to socioeconomic dynamics.
“When I cast my vote, it will be based on what brings these communities together, rather than driving wedges based on who is perceived to have and have not,” said Chair David Bickford, the News & Citizen reported.
At North Country Union High in Newport, principal Chris Young said the first concern for school officials was that students not be penalized for the closure of schools.
Administrators ultimately opted to keep their existing 1-4 grading system. But they promised students that while they could work to improve their grades, their marks would not go down from where they were when the school closed its doors in mid-March.
Educators included the caveat that students still had to show some degree of work. Teachers are being as flexible as possible, Young said, but they’re also telling students they’re not getting a free pass. At times, that’s been a hard balance to strike.
“We have to remind them, well, as long as you were doing some work, you were going to be fine. But you can’t just take March 17 until June 12 off from school,” he said.
At South Burlington High, principal Patrick Burke said flexibility and holding students harmless were the school’s “north stars” as they created a new grading policy.
The school had a traditional A-F grading system before the pandemic, and administrators decided to keep letter grades for any student able to get a B- or better. Students that would have otherwise received anything between a B- or a D- will instead get a “pass,” and for any student on track to receive an F, their transcript will simply read “withdrawn.”
Students who would prefer to simply be graded in a pass/fail system can also choose to do so.
“Some kids might say ‘I’ve gotten straight As my whole life. I’ve never gotten a B-. And it’s because this remote learning is terrible,” Burke said. “That student could flip it to a P, if they want.”
All told, Burke said the changes seemed to be working well for the community.
“The flexibility, the student choice, and the hold-harmless provisions have pretty much addressed the continuum of fears or concerns,” he said.
At Champlain Valley Union High School, students will receive either a “pass with distinction” or an “incomplete” on their second semester courses.
CVU principal Adam Bunting said he had initially proposed a third option — “pass” — but got pushback from his fellow administrators.
“They had the foresight to call me out and say ‘Hey, we may be perpetuating some inequity here,” he said.
Bunting admits the decision not to give students the choice to use the prior grading system if they wanted didn’t make everybody happy. But he felt like it was the fairest route.
He compared the situation to Advanced Placement, or AP, classes. Colleges won’t hold it against a student that doesn’t take the higher level courses if their high school didn’t offer them. But they will if their high school did give them that option.
“If you’re going to hold students harmless, then you really need to have a uniform approach so you can communicate that clearly with colleges. Or maybe employers, or wherever students are going on to next,” he said.
Bunting acknowledges there are other downsides to a universal pass/fail system. Many students are habituated to the traditional way of doing things, and rely on external motivators to do their best work. For those students, he said, the new model can be “de-incentivizing.”
“There are some teachers who felt like, ‘Wow, like, the student’s done kind of the bare minimum here and you’re saying it’s a pass with distinction. That feels funny to me,’ And I say, ‘Yeah. I get it. It’s a pandemic,’” he said.
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