There was a story in The Wall Street Journal in late April that should concern parents across America. It wasn't about inflation or the peril facing regional banks: It was more serious than that. It was treated as an education story but was in fact a culture story about the push by progressives for "equity" in our nation's public school classrooms. A push that affects American families and, in the end, American employers too.
Unlike the better-known fights over woke curriculum attacks involving white privilege, antiracism and "The 1619 Project," the "equity" part of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (or DEI) push may be the most controversial. The story's headline caught my eye: Schools Are Ditching Homework, Deadlines in Favor of 'Equitable Grading.' It caught the eye and ire of thousands of Journal readers too.
"Las Vegas high-school English teacher Laura Jeanne Penrod initially thought the grading changes at her school district made sense," the story began. "Soon after the system was introduced, however, Ms. Penrod said her 11th-grade honors students realized the new rules minimized the importance of homework to their final grades, leading many to forgo the brainstorming and rough drafts required ahead of writing a persuasive essay. Some didn't turn in the essay at all, knowing they could redo it later."
The teacher in the story disagreed with the change. "They're relying on children having intrinsic motivation, and that's the furthest thing from the truth for this age group," Penrod, a teacher for 17 years, said.
Readers learned that the Clark County School District where Penrod works—the nation's fifth-largest—joined school districts across the country in this equitable grading revolution, and with "varying degrees of buy-in," the Journal noted.
Were the parents of Clark County a part of the buy-in process? Or the parents of America? Did any of us sign up for this radical change?
Readers soon discovered the driving force behind this radical new way of incentivizing and measuring student performance, buried in the Journal's story: homework and traditional grading methods "favor those with a stable home life and more hands-on parents."
And there you have it! In the name of "equity," progressive education consultants—and the progressive educators who pay them to advance their ideological goals—drove this change, not parents. And the problem they're trying to fix is parenting itself, or the lack thereof.
It turns out—this is a shocker—that kids in "stable homes" benefit from homework because there's an adult at home supervising their behavior with an enforcement mechanism called disciple. Some—parents like mine and millions of others—call it love.
But the answer to this homework parenting gap wasn't to provide after-school homework or tutoring opportunities to kids in unstable homes, an idea an overwhelming majority of Americans would favor. Clark County's educators—and the consultants doing their bidding—instead punished not just kids living in stable homes but all kids by eliminating incentives for homework entirely. Under the banner of equity, Clark County's educators punished good parenting.
Clark County's educators—and the consultants doing their bidding—instead punished not just kids living in stable homes—and getting what used to be called good parenting—but all kids by eliminating incentives for homework entirely. All in the name of "leveling the playing field."
One consultant featured in the Journal story, Joe Feldman, author of Grading Equity, is a driving force behind this movement. And a highly paid one. We learned in the story that the Albuquerque Public Schools signed a $687,000 contract with Feldman for a two-year pilot, a high-priced experiment in social engineering—with local students as the guinea pigs. He's worked with 50-plus school districts since 2013.
What is "grading equity?" It's as bad as it sounds. Homework, in-class discussion and other practice work are downplayed in this new progressive education scheme, as are extra credit and grades for behavior in the class, all replaced by "summative" assessments such as essays and tests.
Worse, the grading scale starts at 49 or 50 percent instead of zero, all designed, as the Journal story noted, "to keep a student's grade from sinking so low from a few missed assignments that they feel they can't recover and give up."
One high school student, Samuel Hwang, a Clark County senior, spoke out against the grading changes, saying they provide incentives for poor work habits. "There's an apathy that pervades the entire classroom," he told the Journal, noting that the new grading system affected the behavior of the honors and Advanced Placement classes too. More students, he added, were more prone to skip class unless there was an exam.
We also learned that students in this "equitable grading" regime are given multiple opportunities—multiple do-overs—to complete assignments and tests. One teacher understood the negative implications. "If you go to a job in real life, you can't pick and choose what tasks you want to do and only do the quote big ones," Alyson Henderson, a high school English teacher said. "Lessons drag on now because students can turn in work until right before grades are due. We're really setting students up for a false sense of reality."
What does the Clark County superintendent, Jesus Jara, think about this experiment? He's pleased, and pleased because fewer students across racial demographics received an F and there are fewer A's too in the system, which he advocates. He's doubling down on his commitment, telling the school board that "successfully shifting the system will take years, as the district's 18,000 teachers shed the traditional grading mind-set," according to the Journal.
Here's what the new reality—the brave new education world—will look like if people like Jara and Feldman get their way: a grade-free, homework-free, deadline-free world with public educators playing the role of equalizer and enforcer.
All of this is happening without the constructive consent—or knowledge—of America's parents. School board elections are not high-turnout events, but as progressive educators continue to advance radical notions like homework-free schools and "equitable grading," they soon will be.
Journal readers will be leading the charge. Here are a few of the more than 1,700 comments.
Here's Barry W: So let me get this straight, coming from a stable home with two parents is an unfair advantage that needs to be remedied?
This is from Janet P: What happens when these kids go into the workplace? Do employers allow this sort of nonsense?
From Julie K: When you lower standards, kids know it. You're just reminding them they're from a broken home.
From William M: Less work for the teachers to look over homework and grade it. A win-win for teachers and students!
Here's Joe H: I wonder if the coaches on these schools' athletic teams are using similar "equitable" principles in selecting who makes the team and who gets playing time.
Here's Sarah L: Everyone will suffer. As someone who did not have "hands-on" parents, school activities, and a job, I still managed to graduate with a B average.
And this from Tom S: Go ahead, America, embrace this scholastic ribbon-for-all nincompoop. It will ensure decades of an underachieving US matched up against over-achieving China. Good Choice!
This progressive march to change how America teaches, incentivizes and rewards student performance is about to become the biggest education battle in America. One that will make its way to the ballot box, where progressive educators had best be prepared for the backlash to a battle they began.
The WSJ's inbox is the canary in the coal mine.
