Navigating a “No Zero” Policy
A “no zero” policy is receiving media attention and stirring controversy and resistance in Greenville, South Carolina.
Establishing a “no zero” policy is counter-intuitive for most people since it seems to work against a sense of fairness, and as those who oppose the policy typically respond, a “no zero” policy seems to encourage laziness and even passing students along who do no work.
However, a “no zero” policy is the right thing to do both statistically and academically—but only if that policy is part of wider assessment practices that support dropping zeroes as part of the grading system.
First, I recommend reading carefully an analysis that shows why assigning zeroes is flawed in a traditional A-F grading system in which the F range is often 50-60 points while all other grade ranges are 10 or fewer points. As Cristea explains:
The flaw in the system is that a 100-point grading scale does not mathematically equalize zeros to have the same weight as other scores. This paper presents the view that zeros are not fair to anyone including students, parents, teachers, and society as a whole.
The statistical flaw of zeroes and a disproportionate F range lead us to the equity problem. AsRick Wormeli has noted, fair isn’t always equal. So let me lay out briefly the broader assessment practices and concerns that must be in place when a “no zero” policy is adopted (and the “no zero” policy and these issue below should be implemented).
Schools, teachers, parents, and students must set aside grading as a system of rewards and punishments, and begin to see grading as a subset of assessment, which must be used as a system of feedback and student revision to support student learning.
In other words, assessment, tests, and grades must become part of learning and not the conclusion of learning.
In that context, student assignments, tests, and performances must be viewed as obligations by the students; in short, they must be done.
Ideally, all students would complete all assignments with mastery at the same rate, but in the Navigating a “No Zero” Policy – the becoming radical:
