zero homework policy

Do No-Zero Policies Help or Hurt Students?

No-zero policies spur serious—and productive—debate among teachers. We look at the big insights on both sides of the argument. 

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With a no-zero grading policy, the glass is always half full.

The controversial grading policy—which is rising in popularity across the country—sets the lowest possible grade for any assignment or test at 50 percent, even when students turn in no work at all.

Schools systems like Fairfax County Public Schools and the Philadelphia School District have adopted similar approaches in recent years, arguing that they give all students a chance to succeed. These changes in grading policy are moving in tandem with national efforts to abolish letter grades  and minimize the value placed on AP exams and SAT scores in favor of assessments focused on students’ skills, competencies, and work samples.

“I think grades oftentimes become an indicator of ‘completion’ and not necessarily a movement toward proficiency of content standards,” Jennie Frederiksen wrote on Facebook. “Teaching is hard work. Let’s have grades that reflect actual learning.”

But others feel differently. A no-zero grading policy allows students to do minimal work and still pass, pushes students forward who haven’t mastered the content, and doesn’t teach students the real-life consequences of not meeting their responsibilities, according to many of the 300 members of the Edutopia audience who reacted to our Facebook post “ Is Our Grading System Fair? ”

“We are creating a generation of entitled people who are hitting the colleges and the job market with major holes in their abilities to survive,” wrote Tom Bannan on Facebook, reflecting on the lack of forgiveness for poor or unfinished work in real-life work environments. And the actual cause of failing grades isn’t tough grading systems or pitiless educators, according to many who joined the Facebook thread. “Zeros don’t create holes,” said Lara Morales. “Kids choosing not to do their work creates holes.”

Giving Students a Second Chance

For many in favor of a no-zero grading policy, it comes down to equity. Many educators argue that home-life factors create barriers to student learning, that low grades encourage struggling students to give up, and that teachers who can’t get their kids to comply use grades to punish rather than to assess knowledge.

There are a wide variety of home-life factors—like learning disabilities, learning English as a second language, or working a job to support their families—that impact students’ abilities to succeed academically, teachers noted. If a student misses a major assignment or assessment due to a home-life situation and receives a zero, that’s much more difficult to come back from academically than a 50.

“I work with students that don’t always know where they are sleeping or whether they will be eating when they go home,” says Polly Pennington Wilson. “Sometimes there are outside factors that affect student success. Grades run second to those concerns.”

But the equity argument was just one dimension of the criticism leveled at zeros. A significant number of teachers simply considered it draconian arithmetic—a grading strategy that, once triggered, torpedoed any record of progress and learning across the remainder of the grading period.

“If you are using a 100 point system, 0’s are unfair,” said Edutopia audience member Stephan Currence. “Which student has demonstrated greater mastery: student A: 100, 100, 100, 100, 0, or student B: 75, 80, 90, 80, 90? Mathematically, it is student B with an 83 average, but student A has clearly demonstrated greater mastery.” Even demonstrating consistent mastery for months can be undone by a single zero, in other words, and for many teachers that feels unjust.

Still, some educators assume that giving very low grades—zeros, in some cases—communicates to students that they need to work harder. That’s not how students see it, explains Sarah Duncan, the co-director of the University of Chicago’s Network for College Success , an organization that works with high schools to improve grades and graduation rates for entering freshman.

“Instead of working harder, the vast majority of students who get an F tend to withdraw, try less, and come to school less because they’re taking an F for what it actually stands for: failure,” said Duncan, refuting the argument that zeros create greater accountability in students. “They interpret an F as ‘You do not belong in this environment.’”

The research tends to corroborate that perspective: According to a 2014  literature review that explored the history of grading spanning almost 200 years, grades increase anxiety and decrease the interest in learning for students who struggle.

Finally, a few teachers worried that no-tolerance grading policies are often used as a classroom management strategy—and they’re the wrong tool for the job. “I feel like teachers are not being equipped with the tools to address behavior so they are using grades as a way to try to get kids to comply,” said Currence. “This does not help the child, or parent, understand where they are in terms of learning and what is necessary academically to succeed.”

Just Passing Through

Several of the educators participating in the conversation had direct experience with no-zero policies, however, and felt that in practice they simply didn’t work well.

“[Our 50 policy] had unintended consequences that undermined instruction. Many students learned to subvert the system and would do nothing two quarters [of the] year, collect their 50s, and do well during the next two quarters and on the final,” said Rachel Kent of her school’s adoption of the policy. “In essence, they were smart kids who didn’t want to do the work (or didn’t want to come to school) and knew they could take half of a year off and still pass.”

The same logic drove Leominster Public Schools in Massachusetts to rescind their no-zero grading policy. “We really felt that after years of doing it that way, kids just weren’t learning to be responsible,” said Sky View Middle School Principal Tim Blake, as reported by the Sentinel & Enterprise News .

While teachers who spoke in favor of zeros recognized that the grade can dampen enthusiasm for learning, they suggested that no-zero approaches had a similar effect—with potential long-term consequences for students.

According to these educators, a no-zero grading standard allows students who haven’t mastered the content to slip by, and then move on to increasingly harder subjects, the next grade level, or even to college completely unprepared, putting students in a hole they might never climb out of.

“Why boost a kid’s GPA when they clearly don’t know the subject and lack determination?” said Alo Torres. “If they aren’t ready for the next grade, let them fail. It isn’t a punishment. On the contrary. It is help. It is making sure a child will be successful by not just passing them along before they are ready.”

According to Christina Arenas, a community college professor, high school students are often shocked when they get Ds and don’t move on or coast through. “If your boss gives you a deadline and you miss it, what happens?” asks Arenas. “At some point, our job as educators has to be to prepare them for the real world.”

Maybe It’s Not a Zero-Sum Game

Given the complex range of factors to consider, perhaps both strict pro-zero and no-zero strategies are too inflexible. Giving students productive feedback requires nuance—all children are different.

Already, there is evidence that teachers are starting to find their way back toward the middle. According to our audience, some educators in schools with a no-zero policy give a slightly higher grade to students who put in effort. Teachers with more flexibility say they give slightly lower scores to students who don’t try at all. Others put students’ original scores on their papers, but mark 50 percent in their gradebook so students and their caregivers know the grade that reflects their actual understanding.

To help him remember the reason behind every 50, Jimmy Araujo, a high school biology teacher, uses place markers in his gradebook to note distinctions in student performance.

“NM stands for non-mastery. AB for absent. NHI for not handed in regarding homework assignments. DNA for did not attempt,” Araujo wrote on Facebook. “These allow me to communicate to students and parents better to distinguish where the student needs help.”

Overall, according to the experts, neither no-zero nor zero policies are silver bullets. Grading is more about the feedback provided and expectations set by the teacher to contextualize the grade.

“If you hand me an essay that’s really lousy, do I say ‘F, do better next time,’ or do I say ‘I’m not going to grade this. I expect a much higher quality of work from you. I wrote comments on it. Come to my room at lunchtime, and we’re going to work on it together, and then I need you to turn it in next week,’” Duncan said. 

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No Homework Policy: One Year Later

By Mary Montero

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.Last school year was a really big year in my classroom. We started flexible seating (you can read more about that adventure  HERE ), we implemented a Bring Your Own Device program, and we did away with homework. Like I said– BIG year!

While each of those three changes contributed to a very different feel in my classroom than years prior, I was particularly nervous about doing away with homework. I know that homework has its place, and I know there are concepts and skills (especially in 4th grade!) that require repetition to really grasp. Yet, I still felt like the reasons to do away with homework were more important than the benefits of homework itself.

Throughout the school year, I had many colleagues pop in and ask how our no-homework policy was going. “It’s going well!” I would respond, but I wouldn’t give many details. Now, after a full school year without it, I definitely have some reflections on how it went, what changes I would make, and if I would do it again!

After a Full Year of No Homework

You can see that we didn’t COMPLETELY do away with homework, but we did do away with 99% of it. We still STRONGLY encouraged students to be reading each night, and they were required to have a novel in progress at all times. We also continued our weekly letter writing, where students had to respond to us in letter form by the end of the week. You can read more about that idea  HERE . I’ll never have a classroom where I don’t do it!

We also had a disclaimer that if students did not complete their classwork in a reasonable period of time or were excessively off task during an assignment, they would need to bring it home to complete it.

How I Broke The News To My Students

Of course, when we first told students about this change, there was hooting and hollering and cheers galore! I let them have their moment and then gently pulled them back together. I reassured them that it was totally possible that they wouldn’t have homework, but that it would mean they had to give me their all every. single. minute of every. single. day. Their eyes got big, they sat up taller, and an air of confidence washed over them. “We’ve got this, Mrs. M.!” I remember one kiddo saying. In the beginning, it was as if they would do anything to keep this privilege.  We floated on clouds of no-homework bliss for a solid week…

And then here’s what really happened when I did away with homework…

I expected more from my students than ever before.

When I was planning my lessons this year, I packed in more than I ever had before. While that might send like a negative effect of this little experiment, it was actually one of the best parts for me.

The Monster That Is Math

In math, in particular, this was a game changer for me. I knew that my students needed to deeply and fully understand these concepts and be able to compute with automaticity. I also knew they wouldn’t be going home and doing 20 extra problems each night like they had in the past. This meant that 1) I had to make sure they understood the concept like the back of their hand and 2) They could apply that understanding to a wide variety of problems…. Of course, these are two non-negotiables that any math classroom should have, but I was going to be doing it with less practice and repetition than before.

Therefore, when I was planning, I ended up with FAR more inquiry-based lessons and practice (so that they would really get the meat of the concept), and far less direct teacher instruction. I jammed as much as I could into my whole group time (10-15 minutes a day) and then jammed even more into their workshop time. Kids were collaborating, practicing, and learning more than ever… Simply because I had this sense of urgency that I was missing before.

But What About Spelling

A few people have asked about spelling and how this worked without homework and studying at home. We use a word study philosophy, similar to Words Their Way , which means that students are studying patterns in words rather than the words themselves. I incorporated this into my reading rotations and would occasionally devote some of our writing to it, and I would highly recommend it!

Another option to fit in what would have previously been homework is to rethink your morning routine. I usually use my  Think It Through  critical thinking packet as morning work, and when I did away with homework this year and had to give them some more “intense” morning work, I started using the packet during Morning Meeting instead. I used our morning work time this year to review and reteach grammar concepts some days and math skills other days. It was the perfect balance!

This brought out the best in some kids

When I say it brought out the best in them, I mean it changed their study habits permanently. They created habits that I hope will continue on with them for years and years to come. They knew that in order to continue having no homework, they truly had to give me their all during the day. It wasn’t easy. They had to not only complete their assignments, but complete them well. We had very, very little down time, and I expected more from this group of kids than ever before.  Some rose to the challenge and THRIVED under the challenge…

…and some kids didn’t care.

I did have a handful of students who were not at all motivated by a lack of homework. These were the kids who repeatedly ended up taking work home because they weren’t completing it in class. Usually due to them being distracted and not on-task. Some kids learned quickly that this isn’t what they wanted, and a few kids never did quite learn.

Some parents loved it. Others hated it.

On Back to School Night, when we handed out this homework policy, the general consensus was all the praise hands in the world! Parents thanked us for giving them FREEDOM in the evenings to take their kids to gymnastics without worrying about homework and some parents thanked us for eliminating the nightly homework battle they had fought for the past few years.

We also had a small number of parents who wanted their kids to have homework. They worried that they would become accustomed to not having homework and have a difficult time next year when their teacher required it again. They worried they wouldn’t get enough skill practice. These were valid concerns, and we reassured parents that, if they requested it, we would send home supplemental practice. Not one of the parents who initially expressed concern over the policy ever ended up asking for homework.

…but some KIDS asked for homework!

I’ll never forget the first time one of my kids ASKED for homework! It was about a month into the school year, and we were working on  Error Analysis  in small groups. One of my students looked up and said, “I LOVE this. Can you PLEASE give us some more to do at home!?” How could I deny them that opportunity!? 🙂 The rest of the kids in the small group chimed in that they wanted to bring some home too. During my lunch break, I printed a few more tasks out for those kids, and guess what? Every single student in that group brought it home and returned it the next day– BY CHOICE!

This happened multiple times throughout the year, primarily with my  math projects  and error analysis tasks. I never, ever denied them when they asked to bring something home for homework.

Some kids NEED homework.

Usually, these aren’t the kids who were requesting the extra homework, but I had another handful of students who needed homework. They needed skill practice, they needed reading fluency practice, and they needed fact practice. I talked to each of those students individually and contacted those parents privately. They (both students and parents) understood why I needed to send supplemental work home. Once a quarter, I put together packets based on those kids’ needs. I gave them free reign to complete it at any time throughout the quarter, and every single packet came back completed by the end of the quarter.

I would do it all over again.

At the end of the year, I had parents come up to me and thank me for this policy, telling me how they had enjoyed a better relationship with their student this year without the nightly homework battle. They had taken more walks, participated in more after school activities, and were generally so thankful for the reprieve.

As a teacher, I saw happy kids coming in every day and relaxed kids leaving every afternoon. There were no battles over missing homework, and kids worked hard to keep the privilege. I had no noticeable (anecdotally or with data) drop in achievement or growth over the course of the year. I felt like a better teacher because I worked even harder during the school day to make sure they were getting exactly what they needed while they were with me.

…Oh, and I had a lot less grading to do, too! 🙂 🙂

I would do it again a heartbeat!

Homework Policy

We strongly believe in the power of play and the importance of letting children be children. Further, research does not indicate significant benefits of homework at the elementary level. We believe that when students give us all of their day, they deserve to have all of their night. Therefore, we have eliminated the majority of our standing homework assignments. Eat dinner as a family and ask them how their day was, enjoy your child’s extracurricular activities without worrying about homework, and know that your child is working hard at school each day and has earned their evening playtime!

To foster community and self-reflection, your student will have a weekly letter from their teacher (more about that below!) to respond to, and we highly encourage you to read a book of choice with your child each evening. Please Note: If a student exhibits off-task behaviors during the school day and fails to complete an assignment, the assignment will be sent home for completion.

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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We have spelling and vocabulary programs that each have a workbook. I've used those as homework assignments with the test on Fridays. Would you have the kids do these assignments in class rather than as homework? What homework did you use to give for Language Arts and how did that change? Do your kids take tests and do you have them study at home for those? I'm interested in having no homework – I'm just not sure how to fit everything in a short class period. Thanks in advance for providing more information!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! My team and I have been thinking through this possibility for us. I am wondering if you give spelling tests? If not, can you tell me did this go away at the same time or previously? Thanks!

I did not do homework in my fourth grade classroom last year either. I had very much the same reactions from parents and results with my class. I also felt that sense of urgency to get things accomplished and to make sure that kids really knew what they were doing in the time we had at school. I am definitely planning on implementing this again this year in my third grade classroom! I do like your idea of making it a privilege. Putting it to them that way also creates a sense of urgency with them to succeed. Thanks so much for sharing!

That was a fascinating read. Good to hear that most of the kids stepped up their game!

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Fairfax County elementary school principal talks no-homework policy

A year after implementation, we chatted with the administration at Bull Run Elementary School to find out more about its no-homework policy.

By Jess Feldman --> August 9, 2019 at 3:27 pm

The month of August is a time of preparation for parents, children and, of course, the teachers and administrators across all levels of education in Northern Virginia. 

While children approach higher grade levels, the common expectation is that they will receive a larger workload, typically in the form of homework. Yet, at Bull Run Elementary School , in Centreville, homework is no longer a part of the curriculum, and it has been this way since Principal Jason Pensler implemented a no-homework policy before the 2018 academic year began. 

A few years ago, research was published on the effects of homework, fueling a debate on whether or not children needed assignments outside of academia from a young age. According to Harris Cooper , a researcher with Duke University, homework has a significant benefit at the high school level, drops off for middle school students and has zero impact on the academic performance of elementary students. 

Pensler, an Arlington-native with over 17 years of experience in education, is the only administrator in Fairfax County to put the no-homework belief to the test at the elementary level. Bull Run has around 800 students and 100-plus staff members. 

Since its inception, the only assignment outside of school is for children to read. Whether they read for 20 minutes or one hour, aloud or on their own doesn’t matter, so long as the children are reading something. Plus, he has increased his presence on social media in order to share events happening in the community that might be beneficial and enriching for families to attend.

The one-year-old policy is meant to put a stronger focus on the development of the children within the classroom, better preparing them for the future, explains Assistant Principal Rachael Blanchard.

“With our sixth graders, for example, we work with time management,” says Blanchard. “They have all week to work on certain tasks or with long-term projects they’ll have a final due date, which prepares them for what is ahead. We are trying to teach them what assignments look like in real life.”

In lieu of the start of the academic year and the one-year anniversary of Bull Run’s policy, we chatted with Pensler to find out more about life inside the Fairfax County school. Highlights from our conversation are below. 

What prompted the change at Bull Run? I think what really prompted it was just my experience as an administrator and a parent. We started looking at the purpose of homework at the elementary level and found that kids were spending countless hours doing this work at home and also a lot of it was done by parents. I also did my research with books, including Ditch That Homework: Practical Strategies to Help Make Homework Obsolete , The Case Against Homework,  and spent time looking at people of influence on Twitter. In elementary school, the research predominantly says there isn’t a correlation between academic success and homework.

I’ve been thinking about this for seven years and I felt like it was the right time to implement it. We made it a procedure, a belief, a commitment. Our kids work almost eight hours a day, so we are going to ensure they get the content here and communicate to families what we are doing, but not send them home with work. We want kids to be kids, to be able to go outside and play, participate in extracurricular activities and read.

What has the reaction been like? From families, it was well-received. You’re looking at a small handful of families that have contacted me or Rachel about why we don’t do homework. But it’s our opinion that homework should not be the vehicle for how you communicate about what’s going on in school. When you talk about the why we are doing this, it all comes down to the fact that we want our kids to come to school ready and excited to learn. So, our communication with families is growing to show them what exactly we are doing here.

Feedback from teachers has been the same, though we’ve had a couple who are like, ‘We need to give them homework, what about when they get to middle school?’” But our job is not to prepare them for middle school, it’s to prepare them for life. 

Have students retained information in a similar way prior to the start of the policy? Formative and summative assessments are still administered, and our teachers are doing a lot of quick checks. We also incorporate a 30-minute intervention block with the staff, twice a week as a collaborative team where we discuss content and what the kids need to know. The process is looking at what do my kids know and what we need to do while at school. Since we started the policy a year ago, I have not seen any level of understanding dip because they’re not doing homework. I just think it’s so much more than homework, we have to see that progress. 

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An anthropological case study on the impact of the "no zero" homework policy on teacher culture in two central florida middle schools.

Mary Bolger , University of Central Florida

Teacher culture, no zero, privatization, educational policy, middle school, high stakes accountability

No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are Federal educational policies that have evoked criticism from teachers and administrators. Both policies extended the federal government’s reach into local education by tying federal funds to a school’s student growth and teacher effectiveness. With an increasing emphasis on economic mechanisms such as choice and competition, teachers’ effectiveness is now determined by standardized and quantifiable measurements. These policies have created a data driven and high stakes accountability culture within each school. Teachers are finding themselves in a new balancing act of recording quantifiable yearly progress for all students while trying to work against environmental factors that are out of their control. The rising trend to utilize a “no zero” homework policy under these new pressures merits investigation into its role within teacher culture and these current tensions. The recent call for anthropology to re-enter the classroom as a cultural site allows the researcher to provide context to the fluid relationships that often lead to the reproduction of or resistance against dominant ideology. Using the case study method, this ethnography employs the critical theory framework to examine policy impact on teacher culture and gain an understanding for how and why trends such as the “no zero” homework become a part of school policy. By looking at a “school of choice” and a traditional “feeder middle school,” this thesis gives context to how the local trends illuminate larger cultural shifts

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at [email protected]

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IS GIVING ZEROS AS AN ACADEMIC MEASUREMENT ETHICAL?

by Elderine | Nov 12, 2018 | Articles |

     Most teachers and parents consider a grade of zero acceptable for noncompliance of homework. It is common for instructors to give zeros for late or incomplete assignments. Unfortunately, few educators or parents question the validity or usefulness of the practice, and students continue to reap the consequences without benefit. Giving zeros as an academic measurement is inequitable and produces failure rather than performance.      Administrators discovered that raising questions about grading procedures could induce powerful emotional responses from teachers. Many teachers resent directives regarding their grading procedures. Even when school policies exist, teachers often deviate from the prescribed standard to reflect the teacher’s personal preferences for evaluating students. Grading policies usually develop from teachers’ personal school experiences without questioning or considering the validity of the process (Friedman 1998).        Most educators agree that grades are a measurement of learning and should reflect academic achievement. However, many grading policies promise zeros for things like not doing homework, having incomplete or late assignments, being tardy, coming to class without books, chewing gum, or failing to follow through with any other required classroom detail. Unfortunately, many instructors combine behavior issues with a students’ academic measurement. Giving zeros for behavior issues is an inaccurate reflection of the student’s academic performance. Academic measurement should only measure learning. Behavior management policies should govern conduct (Dockery 1995, Friedman 1998, Page 2002).      A zero is a mathematically imbalanced measurement. Letter grades usually have a ten (10) point range or less. For instance, A = 90-100, B = 80-89, C = 70-79, D = 60-69. Using this model, a uniform evaluation for an “F” should be F = 50-59. It is not equitable for the “F” to carry 59 points (0-59) while all other grades carry 10 points. An “A” averaged with an “F” should make a “C.” However, if the “A” is 100 and the “F” is 0, averaged they equal a 50 which is still an “F” (Dockery 1995, Page 2002).      Teachers usually use zeros to motivate students to do better. However, zeros kill motivation. Two zeros, whether just or unjust, can destroy a good average.  Zeros produce discouragement and certain failure for those lacking self-discipline and parental support (Dockery 1995). Parents of ADHD students report that much of their child’s homework is completed but the student fails to give it to the teacher. Many students fail courses due to a lack of organizational abilities rather than defiance or laziness (VanDeWeghe 2004, Christian 2004). When teachers give zeros for homework assigned for extra practice rather than for academic evaluation, they are using grades as a behavior management tool. Recording a failing grade for assignments not intended for academic evaluation is not reasonable. Assigning zeros for homework issues is especially inequitable for students with organizational issues and dysfunctional homes that lack parental support.      The grade of a zero does not benefit the advancement of a child’s education. Students through either laziness or avoidance, take zeros as an easy way out of doing the assignment. Students often avoid assignments like research papers, essays, and reports by taking a zero instead of doing the work. The student barely passes to the next grade without having gained these vital learning experiences. Students with organizational problems do not increase performance skills through the automatic zero. Neither does the automatic zero help students who do not understand the assignment gain the knowledge intended. In fact, the automatic zero threatens failure and produces discouragement.      Teachers need to use logical consequences rather than a grade reduction when work is not completed or responsibilities are not fulfilled. There are several possible alternatives to giving a zero.      The school can include tardiness and other behavior issues in the discipline policy rather than in the grading system. If the teacher must give a failing grade, give a grade no more than ten points lower than the last passing grade to make the measurement equitable. The teacher can have a voluntary or involuntary homework detention hall after school to help those who struggle with completing assignments.  The student receives a grade of incomplete until the student completes major assignments such as research papers, essays, and reports. These assignments are imperative to the student’s education. If the work remains undone, students can be sent to In-House Suspension to complete these major projects. The final average for the term is recorded only when the assignments are received and graded. The student cannot earn credit for the course until these valuable assignments are fulfilled. A minimal passing grade would be appropriate for extremely late assignments.  Completing the work is valuable and students should complete assignments.      Administrators can create make-up sessions as part of the school calendar for each grading term that becomes required for those with incomplete work. Students who have completed their work can either have the day off or attend a field trip or special assembly.  School wide grading policies should govern grading procedures for assignments, tests, and homework. The teacher’s guidelines should include a no-zero policy. Teachers can be encouraged to inform parents of expected homework assignments and to offer support to families struggling with time management and organization. Parenting classes can be offered to discuss homework and test preparation strategies. The teacher should be reasonable about homework. Many homework assignments are for practice such as writing spelling words three times. Rather than assign a grade for practice assignments, teachers can record the lack of performance and give a discipline response after the offense is repeated three or four times.  A school-wide agenda can be used for recording assignments. Agendas teach organizational skills and gives a uniform procedure that helps students build organizational skills      For many years teachers have followed grading procedures learned from their teachers without evaluating the effectiveness or appropriateness of the policies. Grades should measure academic learning. Receiving a zero for not putting your name on a paper or failing to do homework does not reflect a student’s lack of knowledge. Such issues are behavior responses not academic. Zeros promote failure rather than the student gaining more knowledge. Three 100’s averaged with one zero gives a score of 75. The zero forces failure and is not an evenhanded measurement of learning. Anything that is inequitable is unjust. If it is unjust, it is unethical. Therefore, giving zeros as an academic measurement is unethical.

 Works Cited

Dockery, E. Ray. 1995.  “Better grading practices.” The Education Digest 60:5 (January) 34-36. Friedman, Stephen J. 1998. “Grading teacher’s grading policies.” National  Association of Secondary School Principals, NASSP Bulletin.  Reston: 82:597 (April) 77-83. Page, Bill. 2002.  “Improving classroom grading procedures.” Teachers Net Gazette. Electronic website: http://teachers.net/gazette/MAY02/page.html.  Christian ADHD Alternative Treatment List.  2003 “School Woes.” ADHD of the Christian Kind. Electronic website: http://www.christianadhd.com/schoolwoes.html  VanDeWeghe, Rick. 2004.  “Research Matters.” English Journal. (High School Edition). Urbana: 93:4 (March) 76-80.

(A forum paper presented at Oxford Graduate School, Dayton, TN 2005)

 © 2005, Elderine Wyrick 

About The Author

Dr. Elderine Wyrick received a bachelors (BS) in Education from Faith Evangelical Christian College, a master’s degree (MLitt) in Family Life Education and a doctorate (DPhil) in Sociological Integration of Religion and Society with emphasis in education from Oxford Graduate School renamed Omega Graduate School in Dayton, TN. She has served in four Christian schools as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, administrator and founder within the past 30 years. As the administrator and founder of Master’s Academy, she has led a specialized school for dyslexic and ADHD students since 1988. Dr. Wyrick conducts seminars for churches, civic and professional groups including past seminars for South Central ACSI (educator’s) conference, adult literacy programs, home school associations, and in-service training for teachers in Christian schools in Texas and in Guadalajara, Mexico. Along with her husband, she has done extensive pastoral, family and marriage counseling for over twenty years. She has studied with Peacemaker International directed by Ken Sande. She is listed in the Who’s Who of Executive and Professionals of America. She was nominated as a “Point of Light” in her community in 1991. She is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International for Administrators since 1988.

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