School Districts Grapple With How to Grade K–12 Students Fairly

The mean grade point average for high school graduates was 2.68 in 1990. It rose to 2.94 a decade later and 3.11 for the Class of 2019, and graduation rates increased as well.

And yet, the latest report released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2025 indicates that most U.S. high school seniors can earn a diploma even if their state standardized test scores show they aren’t at grade level in reading or math.

It also states that 69 percent of 8th graders were below proficiency levels in science.

At the local level, some districts mandate a minimum score of 50 on any assignment or test, while others have outlawed non-zero and grading-floor policies.

A few are moving toward a more complex system where grades and scores are not just based on mastery of content.

As the 2026–2027 academic year gets underway, educators seek a better way to assign scores and grades, as children can now use AI to cheat on assignments and colleges are increasingly offering remedial courses to students who arrive unprepared.

A 2025 survey-based research project by the Rand Corporation and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation found that, even though half the schools in the nation require “equitable” grading, the vast majority of teachers are opposed to it.

These practices include unlimited retakes, no late penalties, no zeros, no homework, and no required participation.

“Turns out, teachers don’t like it when the powers that be take a sledgehammer to their few sources of leverage over student motivation and effort. Nor do they like giving students grades they don’t deserve,” the report stated.

That report raised eyebrows in districts across the country. Here is a look at this evolving situation.

Prohibited in 2 States, Interest in Others

South Carolina’s new law eliminating no-zero policies and minimum grades took effect as schools opened their doors this month. 

The legislation was spearheaded at the local board of education level after leaders noticed inconsistencies across districts.

Many of them were unaware their districts had old policies that essentially prevented zeros and Fs.

“I almost didn’t believe it when I was told about it,” Bryce Fielder, director of the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network, told The Epoch Times. “It seems outrageous.”

He said a board member in Sumpter County later championed grading reform in the Palmetto State, and his peers in North Carolina expect to consider a similar measure in the year ahead.

South Carolina still has a long way to go in its quest to have 75 percent of students at grade level by 2030; a move overwhelmingly supported by state lawmakers, Fielder said.

The measure allows students a second chance on some tests and assignments if they have a solid record of attending class and completing assignments.

“If you know there’s a minimum grade waiting for you, then you are far less motivated. It’s an erosion of academic integrity,” Fielder said.

Texas’s Truth in Grading Law was passed in 2009. It applies to both traditional public schools and charter schools.

Andy Mulvihill, chairman of the New Jersey Policy Institute and former state board of education member, said he hopes similar legislation can be put forth someday in the Garden State, considering that many schools there bolster graduation rates by ensuring that high school students never score below a 65 on tests.

“That may make the numbers look better, but it doesn’t make our students look better,” he told The Epoch Times. “Lowering the bar might feel good in the short term, but in the long run, it shortchanges our children and their potential.”

Anna Van Hoek, a board of education member for the Higley Unified School District in Arizona, said grade inflation has masked actual academic achievement in schools where fewer than half of 7th graders are proficient in math, and most high school juniors fall well short of the college benchmark score on ACTs.

“Students deserve the support and opportunities necessary to master the material, and parents deserve an honest picture of where their child is academically. Lowering the bar does not prepare students for college, careers, or life,” she told The Epoch Times.

In Utah, the Sutherland Institute recommends that if a district refuses to prohibit grading floors, then it should at least inform district residents so parents can choose a different school if they don’t like that policy.

“To fulfill their role as education partners and decision-makers, parents need to know how well their child is really doing in each subject,” Christin Fairbanks, the institute’s education policy fellow, told The Epoch Times.

‘Equitable Grading’ Proponents

Schools implement grade equity practices to counter low state test scores, bolster graduation rates, and address academic achievement gaps based on race and socioeconomic status.

Author and former teacher Joe Feldman, in his book, “Grading for Equity,” describes a four-point scale system in which zeros aren’t allowed.

It is focused on practices that value knowledge, “not environment or behavior,” and does not grade students’ completion or accuracy of homework.

Retakes of tests and projects are allowed under this arrangement. The higher scores are counted instead of an average from multiple attempts.

Feldman’s nonprofit consulting company, Crescendo Education Group, has helped schools in several states implement these practices as a means to counter inequity, according to its website.

The New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco districts are listed as partners, along with the National Education Association teachers’ union.

“We believe in the moral imperative to disrupt harmful cycles and systemic barriers that preserve and promote white supremacy and other harmful cycles of power and privilege, and to amplify the voices of those historically underserved or silenced so that we can create environments that are more just and that allow for all people to succeed,” Crescendo’s website says.

Albuquerque, the largest school district in New Mexico, lists equitable grading recommendations on its website.

It discourages participation grades, taking points off for late work, and grades for homework that is an excessive amount of skills practice.

It also suggests having students submit assignments with their identification number rather than name to “guard against unconscious bias.”

A New Way

Laura Link, director of the University of North Dakota’s Masters in Teaching and Leadership Program, said there’s some merit to the argument that an F grade is harsh for an assignment or test where the student still got most of the answers correct, even if only by a slim margin.

Equitable grading practices were founded on good intentions, but non-zero or grading floor policies do nothing to help students learn. The same goes for automatic zeros on late assignments, she added.

Link designed an expanded way of communicating academic achievement and learning progress with students and parents without minimizing the importance of content mastery.

This includes adding scores for effort, participation, responsibility, or other measures of durable skills such as persistence and engagement on report cards and transcripts.

“It’s all about making grades more meaningful,” she told The Epoch Times. “Colleges want to see those durable skills alongside academic knowledge.”

Link advised the Bethlehem Area School District in Pennsylvania, which implemented a “multiple grades” report card system for grades 6–12 ahead of the 2023–2024 academic year. 

She is currently working on a similar initiative with the East Aurora district in Upstate New York.

Maureen Leeson, Bethlehem’s assistant superintendent, said the expanded grading mechanism has been well received by parents, students, teachers, and administrators. 

Traditional methods for final scores and letter grades remain intact, but for every course there’s also a score (one, two, or three) for both engagement and responsibility, plus personalized comments from teachers.

These scores are reflected on high school transcripts used in college applications, but not the teacher comments.

School profile information with an explanation of the multiple grades system is also included on transcripts, Leeson told The Epoch Times.

There is no indication of grade inflation or deflation with this system, Leeson said, and students have indicated that they have a greater understanding of the learning process and the importance of engagement.

“The most important thing we did was emphasize the why,” she said, adding that local Chamber of Commerce members applauded the district for adding durable skills assessments, which are important to employers.

“Overwhelmingly, people say they prefer this.”