The lowest grade students can get in a Sacramento school district is 50. Why that’s equitable

The Sacramento City Unified School District has implemented a new grading policy in which the minimum grade a student can receive is 50%. The move is designed to create a more equitable grading system for the district’s more than 40,000 students.

Matt Turkie, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for SCUSD, said this amendment would be the new grading system for the district moving forward and that he does not expect the criteria to change in the foreseeable future.

“This is not just for COVID-19. This is actually part of our reimagining a more equitable school system, which works for more kids. This seems to be the right time for change,” said Turkie. “I think school districts across the state and across the nation are choosing now as an opportunity to change systems which have been inequitable for a long time.”

Turkie said some teachers base a student’s grade from behavior, tardiness, excessive absence, or incomplete work – factors that do not accurately reflect the information learned in the classroom.

“We need to teach math, we need to teach English like we coach basketball,” said Turkie. “You keep going, and you keep going, until the kid gets it right.

The San Leandro Unified School District has prioritized equity in education with their Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (LCP) that focuses on students’ social and emotional well-being.

After focusing on both students’ academic needs and mental wellness in the classroom, SLUSD found that the percentage of students receiving Ds and Fs decreased. There were nearly 250 fewer failing students and the district was able to reassign the cost of what would have been “remedial” seats to instructional seats.

A smaller, suburban and rural district – Placer Union High School District – is also committing to what it considers more equitable grading practices .

Jeff Tooker, the Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services for PUHSD, said students are more likely to have an interest in education with a more equitable grading style.

For the past two years, PUHSD implemented a 0-4 grading system rather than the traditional 0-100. The district found that students’ grades more accurately reflected the work they completed.

Student-teacher relationships were improved, as less stress in the classroom was reported.

“I think every district should be doing it,” said Tooker. “We have too many kids with barriers in their life, where they haven’t had the same access to an education as other students without barriers. We recognize the system that we’re creating is an actual barrier to learning. As educators we have to be responsible to remove that barrier.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 1:19 PM with the headline "The lowest grade students can get in a Sacramento school district is 50. Why that’s equitable."