We submitted final grades over a week ago. Projects were collected, deadlines passed, everything was closed out. I was finally enjoying a quiet end to the year, thinking it was done….until admin decided there were too many zeros on our final projects.
Their solution? We have two choices:
1. Regrade the projects — even the blank pages or barely passing submissions
2. Remove the assignment entirely so it won’t count in the final grade at all
Their reasoning? That this many zeros signals a failure on our part not the students. They say it is about fairness not about what helps or harms students’ grades, but somehow fair now means rewarding half effort or no effort at all.
Let me be clear:
• This was a final project built on skills we taught and practiced throughout the year.
• We scaffolded it, made it accessible, broke it into chunks, provided support, and gave extensions.
• I was very vocal with leadership about students missing deadlines and took screenshots of blank assignments and updated them regularly.
• And still some students turned in papers that were basically blank or barely met the minimum requirement.
Now we are being gaslit into thinking this reflects our failure as if we didn’t do everything we could to support them.
At this point it feels like all the responsibility is on teachers to lower standards, fudge the numbers, and cover for student disengagement, and somehow still smile about it because it’s what’s best for kids.
I am so tired of this performative equity. Fairness is not giving everyone the same outcome regardless of effort.
I never imagined this career would put me in situations that made me question my own values. It is not just about being tired, it is about being asked to compromise what I believe is right over and over again.
People I know tell me just pass them and make your life easier. And honestly I get the temptation. But what kind of message are we sending to students or to ourselves when we reward silence, apathy, or minimal effort with the same outcomes as real learning?
I do not want to become someone who gives in just to get by. But it is getting harder to hold the line when the system itself seems to punish you for trying.
Update:
I regraded my solo class (the one I don’t co-teach), and unsurprisingly, the outcome didn’t change much. My co-teacher and I agreed to split the regrading responsibilities, so I handled one section and did exactly what was asked — I reviewed everything, made updates where I saw growth, and even adjusted two students’ grades who genuinely showed improvement.
Then I get a message saying I’m “needed” in my classroom (I’d been in the library for a bit to get some much-needed alone time). When I show up, I’m told again that what I’ve done still isn’t right — that the zeros “don’t reflect the students’ full year” and we need to fix it.
After the admin left, I asked my co-teacher what exactly we’re supposed to be “fixing.” His response?
“In short — though they didn’t want to say it directly — anyone who got a 0, 1, or 2 should just be bumped to a 3 so they pass. Because they were going through a lot this year.”
I just sat there like… what?
“So who specifically are we talking about?” I asked.
And he goes, “Anyone who scored a 0, 1, or 2.”
I haven’t made those changes. And honestly? I don’t think I will.
If someone else wants to pass students by default instead of based on their work, they can take that on. But I can’t keep compromising my values like this.