After removing “D” and “F” grades in an attempt to reengage students amid falling test performance during the pandemic, California school districts are being accused of being too soft on students.
Nidya Baez, assistant principal at Fremont High in Oakland, told Bay City News “Our hope is that students begin to see school as a place of learning, where they can take risks and learn from mistakes, instead of a place of compliance,” calling the new measure “mastery” or “competency-based” learning.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, Santa Ana Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, Sacramento City Unified School District, and other California school districts will all gradually remove sub-“C” grades for high school students.
Meanwhile, students who fail tests or do not finish their homework are given extensions or the opportunity to retake the remainder of the course. If students do not complete the above assignments by the conclusion of the semester, they will receive an “incomplete” rather than a failing letter grade.
“What mastery learning does is really allow students every opportunity to show that they know the material and if they don’t know the material, to get the support they need to be able to demonstrate it,” explained Steven Kellner with California Education Partners.
Baez added, “Right now, we have a system where we give a million points for a million pieces of paper that students turn in, without much attention to what they’re actually learning.”
The new grading method is especially important, according to advocates, because grades dropped during the pandemic’s virtual learning, especially among black, Hispanic, and low-income kids. They also believe that it will allow young academics to digest the coursework without being denied admission to the University of California and other state universities because of a poor grade.
Many local educators, however, were critical of the competency-based learning initiative, claiming that it put feelings ahead of academic accomplishment.
“I will never lie about [students’] knowledge level,” said Debora Rinehart, a math and science teacher at St. Theresa School, a Catholic school in Oakland. “Not reporting ‘D’s and ‘F’s is the equivalent of lying about a student’s progress.”
She went on to say that eliminating “D” and “F” grades doesn’t guarantee that students will absorb the material and may even lead to grade inflation.
The contentious grading rules have also caused friction on social media.
“This generation needs to learn lessons in life, which are consequences to their actions,” one traditionalist Twitter critic said. “You don’t study or pay attention in class, you fail that’s simple. None of this coddling BS!”
Another called the new mastery learning standards “participation trophies for education.”
“This just shows how bubble-wrapped the new generation is,” scoffed one detractor. “Failure is a part of life.”
However, others supported the policy, “School should be a tool to create successful kids not failures … a failed child needs more work not a failure grade.”
“I don’t understand the ‘let them fail, that will teach em’ argument,” argued another supporter. “The majority of kids are not failing because of lack of effort, it’s lack of understanding.”
They added, “No amount of failing is going to make them learn it, ‘do over’ means the teacher maybe changes delivery & child learns.”
Meanwhile, some alternative education specialists were concerned that the traditional grading system would negatively affect kids’ self-esteem.
“We’re talking about people who are very young, and labeling them at such an early age as ‘less than’ or ‘more than’ can have significant psychological repercussions,” said Patricia Russell, who runs the Mastery Transcript Consortium, a nonprofit that advises school districts and colleges on alternatives to grades. “Some things in life are zero-sum games, but learning should not be.”
The move comes after the University of California committed to stop using SAT or ACT results in admissions and scholarship selections a few months ago. The agreement was reached as part of a settlement in a lawsuit filed in 2019 on behalf of low-income students of color and students with disabilities.
The West Coast isn’t the only place where controversial schooling programs are being implemented. After proposing a plan to eliminate the public school system’s Gifted and Talented program, which disproportionately favored white and Asian pupils, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio came under fire from parents this past October.
“I am really angry that the mayor who has been in charge of our education for the last eight years uses his last days as mayor to make this very radical change to our public education,” said Yiatin Chu, co-founder of education New York advocacy group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education.
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