By ESTHER J. CEPEDA
CHICAGO -- As a matter of professional courtesy, I won't disclose any specifics about the standards and practices that have been provided to my teacher friends for grading through the pandemic. Let's just say that there'll be more than a few seniors who graduate this year as a gift.
Students who, in the past, would have been dragged into summer school to make up a bare minimum of class work before getting a high school diploma will mostly skate. The paper that promises they've been adequately prepared for a career or to go on to college will be flimsy, at best.
As for the younger kids, well, it's unclear how their loss of nearly half an academic year of in-person instruction will affect them as they (hopefully) begin a semi-normal school year this fall after six months of being home.
Schools are in the process of strategizing next year's school experiences. They include such options as a combination of e-learning with rotating in-class sessions that are staggered to allow for social distancing guidelines and sanitizing classrooms.
This is critical planning for keeping students safe and healthy. However, another aspect must be at the forefront of designing next year: grading policies.
The 2019-2020 school year is basically a wash. Whatever grade students had earned going into spring break is probably the only fair measure of their learning for the last half of the academic year. After all, how could teachers possibly account for students without computers or access to the internet? Or students without adults available to help them complete projects or be on Zoom calls in a timely manner?
As a result, next year will be challenging on a variety of levels. And kind-hearted, well-meaning educators will want to err on the side of being understanding, nurturing and accommodating. This would be the wrong approach when it comes to grading.
In an analysis of 350,000 North Carolina math students in 8th- and 9th-grade, Seth Gershenson, a professor of public policy at American University, found that students learn more from teachers with the most rigorous grading standards. Those tough teachers increase student test scores by 17% of a standard deviation compared with their peers with the easiest grading standards. That's an increase equivalent to a little more than six months of learning, according to a study published in the spring 2020 issue of the journal EdNext.
Even teachers in the middle of the grading-standards pack improved student test scores more than teachers with less strict grading standards.
This is one of those studies that very specifically quantifies a gut feeling that all students instinctively understand: Demanding teachers require students to sit up, pay attention and work hard for a grade.
For the most part, students rise to the occasion.
With proper supports -- like additional tutoring, spot remediation for foundational skills that were never cemented, and meaningful extra practice that helps students really learn a concept or skill -- students can thrive in class work that is hard for them.
There is a very nascent educational movement -- in math education in particular, but which can be generalized to reading instruction and other subjects -- to provide students with what is called productive struggle. It basically means letting students make mistakes and work through something hard until they "get" it.
It's a philosophy that will have to be adopted next year as teachers get classrooms full of students of different abilities, and students whose skills may be full grade levels behind their peers.
Those students will need different amounts of interventions and more support mechanisms than ever before.
What students will not need next fall is pity.
Yes, they will have experienced hardships ranging from mere isolation and loneliness to the loss of a home or a loved one.
But they will be coming to school for a familiar place, friendship and, yes, the challenge and potential excitement of learning from an expert alongside their peers.
It won't be easy, and no one should expect it to be.
Learning can and should be a joy, but it is often an excitement that goes along with questioning, confusion, and a need to dig deeper to expand the mind in some way. It can be uncomfortable and even infuriating.
But ultimately, teachers will have to give a grade. And they will not be doing students a favor by attesting to their abilities if the students haven't earned the grades on their report card.
Esther Cepeda's email address is [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @estherjcepeda.
(c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group