Grading for Equity Blog

Reimagining Grading, Reimagining Learning

Crescendo Education Group’s 2024–25 Annual Report showcases how districts nationwide are transforming grading to be more equitable and impactful. With over 6,000 teachers and 750,000 students reached, results show: stronger teacher–student relationships, improved instruction, and overwhelming recommendations from educators.

👉 Read the full report to see the stories, data, and resources shaping the future of grading.

The District’s transition to competency-based learning did not happen overnight. It has been a multi-year journey, requiring hard work and a commitment to students, continuous improvement and innovation from the entire community of educators, administrators and family. Stretching from the Sacramento suburbs to the Lake Tahoe environs, Placer County Union High School District serves approximately 4000 students in 7 high schools. Today, the District is proudly implementing competency-based education – an approach to teaching and learning that is grounded in awarding students credit for learning based on demonstrations of learning, not seat time – across each of its schools.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO READ MORE!

Placer County Case Study

Dr. Shantha Smith, our current Vice-President of Programs and Partner Success, will be the company’s new CEO, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Dr. Smith brings over 25 years of success advancing achievement for historically resilient students—including those with disabilities, multilingual learners, students of color, and those facing economic hardship. Since joining Crescendo nearly five years ago, she’s been a key voice in leadership, shaping strategic decisions that have expanded our national impact. A former teacher, teacher-leader, and consultant, Dr. Smith blends deep expertise in professional development with entrepreneurial savvy and an unwavering commitment to equity.

Most importantly, this transition has no impact on our relationship with you -Joe and Dr. Smith will continue to facilitate workshops, so this internal transition will have minimal impact on our commitments for 2025-26.

We look forward to continuing to support you with this critically important work through workshops, coaching, online courses, and other ways to partner in the current educational landscape. Stay tuned: our best work is still to come!

Our work to improve grading has always created both excitement and pushback: excitement because we give teachers–most of whom get no training in how to grade–the research and strategies to grade accurately and fairly; pushback because we challenge traditional grading practices.

 

During this current wave of hostility toward equity, people are prone to believe misconceptions about equitable grading. In the past few months, there has been an uptick in those misconceptions and pushback. 

 

The biggest misconceptions are that Grading for Equity lowers expectations, and even gives preferences based on race or other circumstances. Grading for Equity does the opposite. After ten years of implementation in thousands of classrooms across the country, the evidence is in: Grading for Equity grades students entirely based on merit, and makes classrooms more rigorous.

 

The research on equitable grading could not be more clear: Traditional grading practices don’t tell the truth about what students know and can do, and they demotivate students, inflate grades, and lower academic standards. By contrast, equitable grading results in grades that reflect only what students have learned in a course–not their family income, race, special education designation, or first language. Grading for Equity reduces grade inflation and holds students accountable for their learning. Grading for Equity practices make teachers’ grades truthful.

 

Because every child benefits from grading that is accurate, fair, and merit-based, when people who are unfamiliar to Grading for Equity start learning about it, even if they are skeptical to other applications of “equity”, they become supportive of Grading for Equity (sometimes to their own surprise). 

 

So if equity attracts misconceptions and hostility, why use the word “equity” at all, especially now? Standards-based grading and competency-based grading have similar approaches, but Grading for Equity is unique. We define “equity” as recognizing the reality that not every child starts from the same position and life circumstances, and our schools should ensure that every student is graded on what they know. Some people call this “accurate and fair grading” or “common sense grading” because it’s only by using the equitable grading principles and practices that grades can be trusted to tell the truth about what students have learned. 

 

To those in classrooms or leading schools, districts or post-secondary institutions who worry about the difficulty of more equitable grading: Do not be afraid to do the right thing, and the right thing is to improve our century-old grading practices. Learn about equitable grading, consider contemporary research, and work in community with other educators and parents. Communicate clearly and truthfully about the deep flaws to our 100-year old grading practices–they are inconsistent from teacher to teacher, are mathematically unsound, invite subjectivity, and aren’t truthful–and why every student deserves and benefits from equitable grading. And build support by amplifying the stories of those who have experienced those benefits–students, teachers, parents. Join the thousands of teachers whose teaching and learning has been transformed because of their changes to grading. And if you have questions or need support, reach out to us.

 

Aren’t truthful and fair grades what we want for every student and family? Isn’t that what they deserve?

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