When I tried out new grading strategies, my students saw that it was not ever too late to succeed, and there were fewer failing grades. [But also] I had fewer A’s because procedural compliance and homework completion no longer inflated grades.

About the Author

Joe Feldman has worked in education for over 20 years at the school, district, and federal levels of government, in district and charter school systems, and in the non-profit sector. He began his career as an English and U.S. History teacher in Atlanta Public Schools and was the founding principal of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C. which has the highest performing students of any open-enrollment public school in the city. He was the Director of K-12 Instruction in Union City, CA. There, he led the district's initiative to make its high school placement process more equitable, resulting in doubling the number of African-American and Latino students enrolled in and passing honors courses. He is now the CEO of Crescendo Education Group, which partners with schools and districts to improve the accuracy and fairness of their grading practices.