Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1449741
were upset that it happened during a pandemic, when things were most challenging. Teachers worried that grading policies would be dictated by the school board or administrators. ey filed a grievance and eventually reached a settlement giving teachers the right to determine: • e length of the grace period for each late assignment. • Which assignments may be submitted within the grace period for late work. • How many times an assignment can be resubmitted. Meanwhile, the district is implementing stan- dards-based grading at the secondary level, with San Diego Education Association (SDEA) and dis- trict talks continuing, to ensure teachers retain their right to grade as they see fit, as granted in the state Education Code. Because behavior is not supposed to affect a student's academic grade, it is now reflected in a separate citizenship grade. Under the settlement, teachers don't have to give students more than one retake or redo per semester, and late work can be submitted without demerits only up to a point. "We had to set boundaries," says Julia Knoff, an economics and U.S. government teacher at Scripps Ranch High School, who was on the SDEA team that negotiated the settlement. "I understood lenient grading when kids were doing distance or hybrid learning. But now we are back at school. I don't allow retakes on tests. I don't think it prepares students for the real world or college. And I still use the 100-point system. To me, points demonstrate mastery." Knoff, a teacher for 30 years, fears assignment retakes cause an increased workload for educa- tors, who must regrade assignments. And while some school districts are considering eliminating D's, she believes that is a mistake. A D is passing and still allows students who are not bound for a four-year college to graduate. SACRAMENTO: A unique approach is year, Sacramento City Unified School District adopted a policy that students are not supposed to score lower than 50 percent — even if they don't do the work — in a move toward eventually phasing out D's and F's. e goal is for students to keep trying and redo work so they won't be derailed from a four-year college. At Luth er Burbank High S chool in Sacra- mento, some members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association are also changing how they grade students. K a r a S y n h o r s t , a n E n g l i s h t e a c h e r f o r high-achie ving Int ernational Baccalaureat e students, has implemented what she calls "labor- based grading" so that strong effort is reflected in students' grades. "Grading students for how hard they work is a way to accurately determine what they know," she says. "I give students weekly assignments, and if they put time and effort into it, they get 100 per- cent. But I also tell students to put a cap on it, because some high-achieving kids will work all night, and I want them to achieve a work-life balance." Since the pandemic, Synhorst allows students to demon- strate knowledge creatively. "ey can write an essay, perform an interpretive dance, create a TikTok video, perform a skit or create podcasts. One student demonstrated what she knew through embroidery in the Hmong tradition. I have guidelines: Others must view what they are doing and understand what they are saying." She allows a week's grace period on assign- ments, during which they can earn full credit. If they don't turn in assignments until the end of the semester, they receive 80 percent instead of a zero. "I disagree with those who say it doesn't work like that in the real world ," she says. "I spent time working in the real world, and if I had a report due Thursday and needed to turn it in on Friday, the boss was OK with that. The real world isn't robotic. The real world has empa- thetic human beings." Shana Just, who teaches biology at Burbank High, also allows late work without penalty. She has imple- mented a 5-point rubric for grading. Other science teachers have joined her. Years ago, after attending a Linked Learning conference in Berkeley, Just began questioning whether the 100-point grad- ing scale was valid. For example, there is a 10-point difference 32 cta.org Kara Synhorst "I don't allow retakes on tests. I don't think it prepares students for the real world or college. I still use the 100-point system. To me, points demonstrate mastery." —Julia Knoff, San Diego Education Association Feature