School News: Putting Grading for Equity into Action

Spring 2020

Like many teachers at schools across the country, teachers at St. Anne’s-Belfield School (VA) typically graded students on exam scores, completion of homework, and participation in groups and class discussions. During the 2018–2019 school year, after a colleague suggested they read Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms by Joe Feldman, middle school math teachers Mark Gearhart, Julia Robbins, and Terry Lippmann used the book as a launching point to examine what they were doing and to think about how they could better assess content mastery and mathematical ability across grade levels.


Math teacher Terry Lippman works with a student./Photos courtesy of St. Anne's-Belfield School

Based on what they learned from the book and what they discussed, they’ve implemented some changes. Homework is no longer graded, but completion is still tracked. After an assessment, students reflect on their progress with their teacher, allowing both to discuss the relationship between homework completion and mathematical ability. After this conversation, students can retake quizzes and tests. Teachers are already hearing positive student talk about “homework for learning,” and some have observed an increase in student engagement during class.
Students work independently on their assignments. 

Equitable grading can also translate to other areas of study. Associate Head of School Beth Miller and colleague Antxon Iturbe are implementing some of the equitable grading practices for the 2019–2020 school year in their Spanish 3 classes. Inspired by conversations with the middle school math teachers and Grading for Equity, they no longer give grades for homework completion, and students can retake all quizzes.

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