{"id":1174351,"date":"2021-12-31T01:19:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T06:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1174351"},"modified":"2021-12-31T01:19:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T06:19:30","slug":"virginia-teachers-bristle-at-equity-proposal-to-abolish-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-teachers-bristle-at-equity-proposal-to-abolish-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Teachers Bristle at &#039;Equity&#039; Proposal to Abolish Grades"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginia-teachers-bristle-at-equity-proposal-to-abolish-grades%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1174351&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/classroom-students-elementary-middle-school-raise-hands-getty-images-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Teachers in Arlington, Virginia, <a href=\"https:\/\/wjla.com\/news\/crisis-in-the-classrooms\/va-teachers-push-back-on-equity-proposal-to-abolish-some-grades-late-homework-penalties\">pushed<\/a> back on their school district\u2019s \u201cequity\u201d grading proposal, saying the lack of \u201caccountability \u2026&nbsp;will impact student learning and socio-emotional development and growth in a negative way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Arlington School Board is considering a proposal that would allow \u201cunlimited redoes and retakes on assignments\u201d and no grades or late penalties on homework, among other things, as part of a mission to \u201cimplement more equitable grading practices,\u201d according to ABC 7 News.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Lowering grading standards in the name of equity is interrelated with critical race theory, and is part of the ideology\u2019s contention that \u201cnon-white people&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/04\/15\/california-weighs-equitable-math-goal-obtaining-correct-answer-racist\/\">are<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2021\/05\/28\/exclusive-critical-race-theory-inside-virginia-countys-curriculum-racial-indoctrination\/\">somehow<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2021\/02\/16\/oregon-educators-making-math-students-show-their-work-is-white-supremacy\/\">generally<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2020\/07\/15\/smithsonian-african-american-history-museum-defines-whiteness-individualism-science-hard-work\/\">incapable<\/a>&nbsp;members of society,\u201d as Breitbart News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/29\/2022-battleground-conservatives-push-for-partisan-political-school-board-elections\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter sent to the school board, teachers from Wakefield High School said the changes would \u201cresult in the decline of high expectations and rigor in the classroom\u201d continuing that, if implemented, the \u201caccountability \u2018piece\u2019 of the learning process will exist in theory only.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Wakefield teachers say that there are different sides of a well-rounded education that would be left by the wayside with equity grading.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Just as important as writing, math, and science, is personal, social accountability because, \u201cas students matriculate through high school, they also learn how to develop organizational, time and stress management skills and grow as responsible, civically engaged, and considerate young adults.\u201d Deadlines, the teachers argue, are something that helps teach the skills the content of the assignment might not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe pride ourselves on providing useful constructive criticism for our students, analyzing and reflecting on major content and skill-based assignments and providing them with exemplary work from their classmates,\u201d the teachers write. \u201cWe do not see how this practice can continue if the \u2018timeliness of the completion\u2019 is not considered in the submission and grading process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There would also be significant logistical problems and likely student abuse of the new system as well. \u201cThe potential certainly exists for a nightmare evaluating scenario for teachers, as submissions are delayed to suit students\u2019 needs (and whims),\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore often than not, content and concepts lead to new content and concepts \u2014 in other words, the material we access in one week organically fosters the material we will access the following week,\u201d the Wakefield teachers pointed out. \u201cIf students are able to manufacture their own sequence of submissions, it seems logical that doing so would hamper \u2018mastery\u2019 moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The teachers also said that since not completing \u201cformative\u201d assignments portends negatively for the future \u201csummative\u201d assignments, the \u201caccountability element\u201d is necessary both for motivation and ensuring students \u201cparticipate in the learning process consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cStudents who exhibit reduced motivation to complete\/submit formative work seem hardly likely to increase said motivation with the removal of grades,\u201d they said, referencing the school district\u2019s planned removal of extra credit. \u201cIn fact, students often are able to augment less-than-exemplary scores on summative assessments with successful completion of formative work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Suggesting that the new policy would be unfair to both students who turn in their work on time and students who do not turn it in at all, the teachers ask:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>What message do these proposed policies send to students if they do not complete their work in a timely manner and still get 50% for their missing work? What message do these policies send to a student who met deadlines and received a lower grade than a student who ignored the deadline entirely?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>They also pointed out that the actual content learned in high school is not the most important aspect of the learning process, but rather the habits and skills learned while grappling with the content, such timeliness, work ethic, and acquiring and synthesizing information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do we reconcile these policy changes with our efforts to prepare students for the challenges of their post-secondary school lives\u2013challenges which certainly involve deadlines as well as successful completion of assigned tasks?\u201d they ask.<\/p>\n<p>While the school district is eyeing the changes for \u201cequity\u201d purposes, the teachers point out that the new policy would actually exacerbate inequity.<\/p>\n<p>If the school district decides to do away with accountability and rigor in the name of equity, the teachers point out, families with access to more resources can fill the vacuum by creating their own \u201cchallenging and engaging academic experiences for their children.\u201d Families that do not have such resources, like access to tutors, \u201cwill be subject to further disadvantage because they will not be held accountable for not completing their homework assignments and\/or formative assessments according to the deadlines set by their teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Breccan F. Thies<\/em>&nbsp;<em>is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreccanFThies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BreccanFThies<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teachers in Arlington, Virginia, pushed back on their school district\u2019s \u201cequity\u201d grading proposal, saying the lack of \u201caccountability \u2026\u00a0will impact student learning and socio-emotional development and growth in a negative &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}