1. The Power of ZERO
adapted from the presentation:
Grading Practices
Douglas Reeves, Ph.D.

2. Grading
• Grades = Feedback to Improve
Performance!
• If you have high levels of success and low failure
rates, your policy is sound and should be left
alone.
• If you have low levels of success and high failure
rates, what you are doing is not working.
• The “Real World” is not “You have one chance at it
and you’re done”.

3. Grading
• We seldom use “average” for anything else
except grades.
• Grades must never be used as punishment.
It doesn’t work!
• Rewards for work done daily are far greater than
punishment for work done late.
• The Driver’s License Test example –
chance to “re-do/re-take”

4. Toxic (Ineffective)
Grading Policies
• The use of “zeroes” for missing work.
Consequence should be to complete the
work!
• The practice of using the “average” of all scores during
the grading period, a formula that presumes that the
learning early in the semester is as important as learning
at the end of the semester. (Marzano 2000; O’Connor,
2007)
• The use of the “grading period killer” –
the single project, test, lab, paper, or
other assignment that will make or break
students.

5. Toxic Grading Practices and Alternatives
Toxic Alternative
• “Get ‘Er Done, Just
• “Zeroes” for Do It”,
missing work complete/submit
• Average/Mean missing work
• Grading Period • Best representation
of work (Re-do, Re-
Killer: One Test submit)
or Project • Resilience, Personal
Responsibility (Don’t
let them off the
hook!)

6. The Power of Zeroes
Rick Wormeli, Middle Ground
• Convert “zeroes” to “50s”
• Conversion necessary so that any
“calculating” is mathematically justified.
• Not using “zeroes” is a more accurate
picture of the students’ ability.

7. The Power of Zeroes
Rick Wormeli, Middle Ground
• “Zero” has an undeserved and
devastating effect on students and their
grades – so much that no matter what
student does, the “zero” distorts the
final grade as a true indicator of
mastery.
• Mathematically and ethically –
unacceptable!

8. Negative Impact of “Zero” on
a 100-Point Grading Scale
0, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 = 83% = B
50, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 = 92% = A

9. Negative Impact of “Zero” on
a 100-Point Grading Scale
• Should we use an “F” grade near the top of the
“F” range, such as 50 in this case, or should we
use the bottom, most hurtful and distorting of
“F” grades – a “zero” - as the indicator of
failure?
• What purpose does it serve to use a “zero” to
indicate a student failed to demonstrate
mastery?

10. Negative Impact of “Zero” on
a 100-Point Grading Scale
• Should a string of perfect papers for a grading
period combined with one paper not submitted
equate to a lower grade? (NCLB-AYP)
• What would happen if we did not count the
lowest grade?
• “Consider trying to find the average
temperature over 5 days and recording 85, 82,
83, 86, then forgetting a day and recording
“zero”. The average temperature would be 67,
a figure that does not accurately show the
weather from that week.

11. High Expectations
Todd Whitaker
• Great Teachers – high expectations for students
and even higher for themselves. If students are
not passing, they ask what they themselves can
do differently.
• Is accepting/allowing a student to earn a failing
grade (F) and/or not completing the work an
example of “high expectations”?
• Absolutely not! It is the “lowest expectation”
you can have for your students and must be
unacceptable!

12. Expectations
Behavior Academic
• Students expected to • Students expected to
behave complete/submit
• Students expected to work?
follow/obey rules • Students expected to
• Students expected to follow directions of
the assignment?
follow procedures
• Students expected to
• Zero tolerance
pass?
• Misbehaving is not an
• Zero Tolerance?
option!
• Failing is not an
option!

13. Effective Grading Practices
-Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D.
• To reduce failure rate, schools don’t
need a new curriculum, a new
administration, new teachers, or new
technology. They just need a better
grading system.
• Grading seems to be regarded as the last
frontier of individual teacher/school
discretion.

14. Effective Grading Practices
-Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D.
• The same school leaders and community
members who would be indignant if
referees, judges, etc. were inconsistent
in their rulings continue to tolerate
inconsistencies that have devastating
effects on student achievement.

15. F (Fail) vs. I (Incomplete)
• Goal – Student to complete the work.
• WOO (Window of Opportunity) to
complete missing assignments, re-test,
re-submit, re-do etc.
• Re -Do! Re-Take!
Re-Test! Re-Submit!

16. Did You Know…
• Two common causes of course failures –
1) missing homework;
2)poor performance
on a single major assignment.
Adjusting your policy would have a huge
impact on student failures. (Reeves)

17. Did You Know………..
• Assessments are used to provide the ladder for
the student to crawl from his/her hole.
Whether it is due to immaturity, behavior or
cognitive readiness level, great teachers still
provide the ladder. (Wormeli)
• Distorted and inaccurate grades are little more
than harsh punishment. Students want to throw
down the ball and go home. They see no reason
to play. Grades that reduce the negative
effects of an imperfect grading system keep
students in the game. (Marzano)

18. Better Students, Better
School, Better Climate!
Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D
• When grading policies improve, discipline
and morale always improves!
• When was the last time a single change
in a school accomplished all of that?

19. Better Students, Better
School, Better Climate!
Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D
• When student failures decrease,
student behavior improves, faculty
morale is better, resources allocated to
remedial courses and course
repetitions are reduced, and resources
invested in enrichment and other
meaningful opportunities increase.

20. What should NOT be
included in a grade?
• Effort
• Participation
• Attitude
• Behavior
• Homework
• Group work

21. Zero and the EC Student
• Are you saying that the EC student
retained zero percent of your
instruction?
• Are you grading effort and
participation or mastery of a concept?
• There has to be alternate methods to
demonstrate mastery!
• Can you achieve mastery by doing
“page 87 numbers 1-24 even?”

22. Re-Do, Re-Take, Re-Test, Re-Submit!
“The consequence for a
student who fails to meet a
standard is not a low grade but
rather the opportunity—indeed,
the requirement—to resubmit
his or her work. “
-- Douglas

23. “What information provides the most accurate
depiction of students’ learning at this time? In
nearly all cases, the answer is ‘the most current
information’.
If students demonstrate that past assessment
information no longer accurately reflects their
learning, that information must be dropped and
replaced by the new information.”
--Guskey

24. “The use of an ‘I’ or ‘Incomplete’
grade is an alternative to assigning
zeros that is both educationally
sound and potentially quite
effective.”
--Guskey & Bailey

25. Incompletes
• “I” Contracts- for both individual
concepts and final grades.
• Should clearly outline the desired
learning outcomes.
• Should allow time for re-teaching.
• Communication with parents,
students, and administration.

26. STUDENT CONTRACT FOR REMEDIATION OF FAILING GRADE
Grading Period 1 2 3 4
_____ I, ________________________________, understand that my current
grade for Reading Class is an F ( _____ % ), but will receive an “I” for
Incomplete on the report card.
_____ I understand that my teacher is giving me the opportunity to
complete/retake specific assignments for the expressed purpose of not
making a failing grade.
_____ I understand that I have 3 weeks to improve my grade. All work,
tests, and/or assignments that my teacher gives me are due on
___________________________ at the beginning of the period.
_____ I understand it is my responsibility to complete this work at home.
_____ I understand I must complete the work to get a good grade on it. I
must give this work to my teacher to grade on or before the due date
above.
_____ I understand at the end of the 3 weeks my teacher will change my
grade on the report card from an “I” to the appropriate grade after my
work has been graded.

27. EC Grading Policy
• Grades will be based upon
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
• Grades will be based upon
MASTERY OF CONCEPTS AND SKILLS
• Students should have
MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES
to demonstrate mastery

28. Resources
• O’Connor, “A Repair Kit for Grading:
15 Fixes or Broken Grades”
“How to Grade for Learning”
• Marzano, “Assessment and Grading that Works”
• Guskey, “Practical Solutions for Serious Problems
in Standards-Based
Grading”

29. Do you want to be right or do you
want to solve the problem?
-Dr. Phil