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Grading for Equity

What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms

  • "Reading this book will make you re-think the way you assess students and will inspire you to enact a system that encourages revision and redemption instead of compliance and corruption."

    Denise Pope Ph.D., Senior Lecturer at Stanford School of Education and Co-Founder of Challenge Success

  • "There is growing awareness that traditional grading practices have become a barrier to meaningful student learning. There is a lack of resources to support educators who want to adopt new grading practices that are both accurate and equitable. Joe Feldman addresses this need."

    Jeffrey Tooker Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services, Placer Union High School District

  • "We don’t usually think of grading when talking about equity, but Feldman helps us see why grading is an integral part of an equity agenda. This must-have book will help teachers implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact."

    Zaretta Hammond Education Consultant and Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

  • "Grading for Equity penetrates macro-level grading policies to transform micro-level teaching practices that embrace the cultural and the contextual. A must read for justice-centered educators."

    Rich Milner Co-Author of These Kids are Out of Control:' Why We Must Reimagine Classroom Management for Equity, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
Buy the Book
Read Chapter 1

  • "Reading this book will make you re-think the way you assess students and will inspire you to enact a system that encourages revision and redemption instead of compliance and corruption."

    Denise Pope Ph.D., Senior Lecturer at Stanford School of Education and Co-Founder of Challenge Success

  • "There is growing awareness that traditional grading practices have become a barrier to meaningful student learning. There is a lack of resources to support educators who want to adopt new grading practices that are both accurate and equitable. Joe Feldman addresses this need."

    Jeffrey Tooker Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services, Placer Union High School District

  • "We don’t usually think of grading when talking about equity, but Feldman helps us see why grading is an integral part of an equity agenda. This must-have book will help teachers implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact."

    Zaretta Hammond Education Consultant and Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

  • "Grading for Equity penetrates macro-level grading policies to transform micro-level teaching practices that embrace the cultural and the contextual. A must read for justice-centered educators."

    Rich Milner Co-Author of These Kids are Out of Control:' Why We Must Reimagine Classroom Management for Equity, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
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Quiz:
How Equitable Is Your Grading?

We all want equity in our districts, schools and classrooms. Teachers and school leaders: Find out how equitable your grading is, and ways to improve.

Take the Quiz

Bring Equitable Grading to Your PLC, School, or District

Students need equitable grading in every classroom in every school. Find resources to help others understand the urgency, ideas, and strategies of equitable grading.

Additional Support

  • After this work we have a much higher percentage of passing grades and meaningful grades: the kids know why they got them and the teachers know why they gave them.

    Kate Superintendent

  • This has caused fundamental changes to my classroom. I didn’t think this work was going to be this big. This challenges what I’ve learned to do as a teacher in terms of what students need to know, what they need to show back to me, and how to grade them. This feels really important, messy, and really uncomfortable. It is ‘Oh my gosh look what I’ve been doing!’ I don’t blame myself because I didn’t know any better--I did what was done to me. But now I’m in a place that I feel really strongly that I can’t do that any more. I can’t use grading as a way to discipline kids any more. I look at what I have been doing and I have to do things differently.

    Lucy High School English Department Chair, Teacher of 18 years

  • This is all about equity. This is grading and assessing students on what they do inside the classroom, not based on their lives outside the classroom. It’s about giving every student second chances, and third chances, and more, to learn. It’s about giving every student hope. This is equity-based grading—grading in a way that is fair and transparent to students, parents, teachers, everybody.

    Mike Middle School Math Teacher

  • What surprised me was that I actually changed my mind on some grading practices that I have been using for 8 years!

    Sarah High School Science Department Chair

  • I used to think grading was confusing and overwhelming but now I feel more confident in my grading practices. Last year I used grades almost as punishment: ‘Oh, you didn’t do the work, now you have a bad grade.’ Doing this work really changed my perspective. It helped me realize that the main purpose of grading is to see how much the students know, to assess their learning instead of assessing their efforts: do they really understand the work, as opposed to did they do all of the assignments.

    Cathy 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher