US schools shift towards no-zero grading policies

Washington

SCHOOL districts in the Washington, DC, area and across the country are adopting grading practices that make it more difficult for students to flunk classes, giving students opportunities to retake exams or turn in late work and discouraging or prohibiting teachers from giving out zeroes.

The policies have stirred debates about the purpose of academic grades and whether they should be used to punish, motivate or purely represent what students have learned in class. Some regard it as the latest in a line of ideas intended to keep students progressing through school and heading towards graduation, akin in some ways to practices like social promotion.

Under a new policy in Virginia's Fairfax County, one of the nation's largest school systems, middle and high school students can receive a score no lower than 50 if they make a "reasonable attempt" to complete work. And for the first time this year, high school teachers who were going to fail a student had to re-evaluate the student using "quality points", making an F less detrimental to a student's final grade. Prince George's County in Maryland will limit failing grades to a 50 per cent minimum when s…