CDE offering new grading guidelines
Thurmond also notes ‘ongoing issue of equity’ in distance, hybrid learning models
State schools chief Tony Thurmond has released guidelines for grading student progress.
State schools chief Tony Thurmond has released guidelines for grading student progress and the “ongoing issue of equity” in distance and hybrid learning environments.
Resources that support local control are included in the new guidance, allowing schools to make the best decisions for their respective student populations, he added in a prepared statement issued Monday.
“As the majority of California’s public schools continue to respond to distance learning needs, we should reflect on how student progress is measured and consider how to shift to more equitable grading systems and policies, whether the instructional setting is in-person, virtual, or hybrid,” said Thurmond, a former East Bay legislator, in the statement. “This is an opportunity to make a significant change.”
The new guidance includes research-based approaches to grading that may be especially helpful if students are not in class and access to technology and learning supports may be unequal.
These include replacing grading quantities, such as the extent to which students have completed assignments, with grading qualities in student work that reflect students’ current achievement level at the time, and using flexibility in timing the collection of evidence for grading decisions, “so students are graded on the learning they do, not when they do it,” he added.
To help educators, the state Department of Education posted resources for making local decisions, the support lab, and CDE distance learning on the CDE web page, at cde.ca.gov.
For more information, contact the department’s Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resource division at CFIRD@cde.ca.gov.