The coronavirus pandemic has already toppled standardized testing, postponed prom and likely transformed the graduation ceremony as we know it.
So it should come as no surprise that it’s also beginning to change one of the most rigid and traditional pillars of the school experience: the letter grade.
In a school year like no other, several New Jersey districts have already abandoned the “A” in favor of pass/fail grading, a sign of the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on education.
The state Department of Education has no estimate for how many districts have shifted to pass/fail grading. It is a local decision, and schools do not have to report changes to their grading, said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the department.
But support for the system has grown, given the challenges presented by remote instruction.
Supporters of the change say it creates equity for students who have taken on additional responsibilities at home during the pandemic or receive little academic help from their families. But many schools have also stayed the course, opting to retain structure and give students something to work toward in a year where motivation could easily wane.
Is there a right answer?
“Pass/fail is something everybody certainly talked about,” said Betsy Ginsburg, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. “Overall, what superintendents and educators want is for no student to suffer because we have had to go to online learning. … I have heard some people say, ‘OK, whatever we will decide, nobody who is doing distance learning will do worse than they did the previous quarter.'”
The school system has long been rife with disparities that affect a student’s performance, including family income — a major factor in students’ access to technology, tutoring and other academic support. The classroom is the closest thing students have to a great equalizer — same teacher, same lesson, same opportunity.
With that common ground eliminated when schools closed in mid-March, every district should move away from letter grades for the remainder of the academic year, suggested Tanya Maloney, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Montclair State University.
A statewide approach to pass/fail grading would ensure consistency and level the playing field at a time when there’s so much disparity in the support students receive at home, she said.
“If we don’t do that collectively, it will continue to create this situation where you have students that have privilege in every way — not only financially and all different types of privilege — but it also is showing up on their report card,” Maloney said.
Many New Jersey colleges, including Rutgers University, quickly offered students the option to abandon letter grades this semester, setting the stage for what followed in K-12 schools. The Verona School District was one of the first in the state to adopt pass/fail grading because of the coronavirus when it announced its decision in late March.
“When initially faced with a relatively brief closing of our schools, continuing the grading of students’ work seemed manageable and sensible,” Charles Miller, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, wrote in a note to families. “However, as we are now confronted with the distinctive challenge of our schools closing for a prolonged period of time, the conversation regarding grading our students has shifted.”
The district of 2,200 students is combining its third and fourth marking periods into one semester with pass or fail grading. Teachers are still assigning projects and writing assignments, and students are still taking quizzes and other exams, according to the district.
Students are being graded “based upon their completion, submission and understanding of their work," Miller wrote.
Verona will combine the pass/fall results with students’ grades from the first and second marking periods to determine their final grades.
Other districts have made similar changes for at least some students or grade levels.
Mount Olive Township schools gave students a choice between retaining the traditional letter grade or switching to “meeting standards” or “not meeting standards,” superintendent Robert Zywicki said.
The goal was to accommodate students whose lives have been most affected by the coronavirus. About 37% of students decided to make the change, Zywicki said.
“We have kids who are taking care of elderly grandparents, kids who are babysitting younger brothers or sisters. We have kids who are working at ShopRite or are EMTs,” he said. “That gave options to kids based upon their individual needs."
Elliot Lee, a junior at a Bergen County high school, was ecstatic when the idea of pass/fail grading was proposed at his school, he wrote in a recent editorial for The Star-Ledger. But many of his classmates were less enthused.
“To some of my peers, it seems unfair to award a student who works and studies hard the same grade as those who barely do enough to pass,” he wrote. “Others wish for the opportunity to rise above the rest of the student body."
Keeping students motivated is likely the primary benefit schools see to maintaining letter grades in a time of crisis, said Maureen Connolly, an associate professor of education at The College of New Jersey.
But top students are likely going to shoot for A-level work, even if they are receiving only a passing grade, she said. And schools should be more focused on supporting the students who could see their grades unfairly suffer because of factors outside of their control, such as access to a computer, she said.
“An A earned by a student who has access and has parental support and has very few responsibilities is very different than an A earned by another student who may have so many pressures,” Connolly said. “So why not have it simply be a ‘pass?’”
In Woodbridge, district officials decided to keep letter grades for high school students, who have district-issued devices for remote learning, and middle schoolers, who already complete many of their assignments online, Superintendent Robert Zega said.
However, the district switched to a pass/fail grading system for its 17 elementary schools in anticipation of a steeper learning curve for young students during the months away from their teachers.
Regardless of the grading system, the district expects elementary school students will have all the motivation they need to learn, he said.
“We don’t expect any kind of lack of effort from our elementary kids,” Zega said. “There are no class ranks in third grade.”
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Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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