The Boise School District’s controversial grading system is coming under scrutiny by teachers who say it allows both high- and low-achieving students to “game the system” and bypass learning without consequences. 

But administrators are doubling down on the 7-year-old policy, and say it’s just a first step toward a necessary reinvention of an obsolete grading system.

Basically, staff is being asked to be patient as sea change in Idaho’s second largest district takes time. 

“We need to continue to listen, engage, understand, meet, and then push forward on these initiatives,” said Dan Hollar, spokesperson for Boise School District. 

Boise eliminated zeros and added a grading floor in 2017. Since then, students have been guaranteed at least a 50% on all assignments, essays, quizzes, and projects — even if they don’t do them, and even if their score is lower.

The grading system was supposed to be a first step in a paradigm shift, but the shift has been slow. Teachers in at least three Boise high schools have begun meeting informally to air their frustrations and brainstorm solutions.

With the full transition still years away, district leaders reacted to the teacher complaints by forming a committee, which includes representatives from the Boise Education Association, to discuss short-term solutions and alleviate issues.

Science teacher Annie Muniz is worried her students won’t be ready for college. 

“Kids are not learning how to study,” she said.

The paid, international consultant who first floated the idea of no zeros and a 50% grading floor defended the practice in a recent interview with EdNews. 

“It’s an imperfect solution to an already imperfect system,” said Tom Schimmer, who lives in Canada and is a former teacher and administrator. “Education has gone through such an evolution … Why would grading be the one thing that is untouchable?”

The 50% floor was meant to be temporary

The no zeros, 50% grading floor policy was meant to be a temporary solution while the district converted its grading system from traditional to standards-based — a switch leaders say would foster an intrinsic motivation to learn among students and make grading simpler and more accurate.

District officials have recommitted to overhauling the status quo, even as other districts in Idaho and nationwide have abandoned efforts. Teachers are concerned.

“Students can choose to do or not do an assignment, and … there’s not a real high penalty for that,” said Muniz, who’s been organizing informal meetings among teachers at Timberline High. “We’ve had students do one quarter of work and nothing for the second quarter, and they’re still passing.”

Learning becomes “fragmented,” and based on bits and pieces of lessons they’ve opted in for, Muniz said. They’ve become “masters” at manipulating the system, packing their schedules with advanced courses to make their transcripts glow and their G.P.A.s soar, and pulling it off because they don’t have to do all the work in each class. 

In theory, standards-based grading leads to motivated learners and accurate scores

The standards-based grading system is designed to increase student motivation and make grading more consistent and accurate, said Schimmer, the education consultant behind Boise’s no-zeros policy. 

With traditional grading, learning has been reduced to “harvesting points,” he said — students do assignments to get points and grades, instead of doing them to learn.

That’s where standards-based learning comes in.

Becca Anderson, a Boise administrator and chair of the policy development committee, said reluctant learners would be more likely to buy in if they see completing assignments as “building a body of evidence to show what you know.” Highly-motivated students would be more likely to choose classes based on interest instead of prestige. In both cases, the student mindset shifts to learning for knowledge.

“It’s not about task completion, it’s about where you want the student to be by the end of the year,” Anderson said. “It’s a big shift …. there’s a lot to be done in terms of helping people understand (it).”

Schimmer said standards-based grading is also more accurate, partly because it uses a smaller scale. Teachers only have four or five grade options to choose from, instead of 100. Because of that, grades are more consistent from teacher to teacher. Instead of one giving a ‘C’ and another an ‘A’, the variation might be from a 3 to a 4.

Plus, standards-based grading better reflects academic progress by cutting out behavioral factors, like late work or missing assignments.

But when he presented the idea to Boise leaders years ago, it was such a drastic change that they couldn’t implement it all at once. They would need to rethink assignments, overhaul the online grade book, and train teachers, students, and stakeholders to think differently about grades.

As Schimmer said, “every change or advancement in education —in any industry — requires a paradigm shift.” And paradigm shifts take time. 

So he suggested a short-term fix: eliminating zeros and establishing a 50% grading floor. To work, it would have to be paired with districtwide supports to ensure students complete all assignments, like required study halls for those who fall behind — a suggestion Boise leaders did not implement.

Students need to be held accountable for missing work, stakeholders say

Seven years later, Boise’s controversial policy is still in place, partly because the pandemic delayed efforts to overhaul the grading system, Anderson said.

Muniz said because the district doesn’t provide required study halls for students who don’t do their work, teachers are having to give up their unpaid lunch time to ask students to come in and do assignments. Others don’t have that option because they coach or supervise clubs during the lunch hour; some don’t want to work unpaid hours. 

“It becomes a burden on the teacher, and is that teaching a student how to really learn and be accountable for their learning?” Muniz said. 

In addition to the no-zeros policy, Boise also allows students to turn in any missing work up until the last two weeks of a quarter. Teachers get flooded with missing work that they have to grade and record on a tight deadline, and students aren’t learning the material in a timely manner.

Told about the concerns, Anderson said the district committee is looking into using detention monitors to facilitate study hall sessions for those who are not doing assignments. The district will also be piloting a new missing work policy this year that would call for more timely submissions.

Schimmer acknowledged that the 50% grading floor has its downfalls, but said it’s better than the status quo.

A national critique of Boise’s policy

Jessica Grose, an opinion writer for The New York Times, called out grading floor policies in a column last fall, and named the Boise district as one of those nationwide that have adopted them. 

Boise teachers saw the article, and felt validated and seen. 

Grose argued that grading floors contribute to grade inflation, decreased academic readiness, and declining attendance — all while boosting graduation rates. 

Boise School District’s historical data paints a more nuanced picture. While some standardized test scores have declined over the years, at least one has increased. At the same time, the graduation rate has dipped or remained steady.

Daniel Buck, an editorial and policy associate for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, agrees that grading floors contribute to grade inflation. Students might accept a 50% grade instead of trying and potentially getting a lower score.

“Our current grading system isn’t terrible,” he wrote in a 2022 column. “It provides at least some extrinsic motivation. It incentivizes excellence over mere completion.”

But status quo critics say the current system can also lead to grade inflation if students get points docked or added due to behavior, or get non-academic extra credit (for, say, bringing in tissues or canned goods to class).

Grade reform is ‘a long road,’ but Boise leaders are staying the course

Attempts to overhaul the existing grading system have had mixed success.

Nationally, at least one district has adopted then banned a no-zeros policy, while another is committing to the overhaul, like Boise.

In Idaho, Nampa School District in 2020 adopted standards-based grading for all grades, touting it as a way to separate behavior from academics, and better reflect a student’s understanding. But in 2022, and against the recommendations of district administrators, trustees reverted to traditional grading for secondary students amid criticism from parents and teachers. Some thought it didn’t prepare students for the real world and college, while others said the district did not communicate well enough about the grading change. 

West Ada has adopted what seems to be a middle ground in the standards-based grading conversation: Students can get zeros, and the four-point scale has half-steps, so it’s more like an eight-point scale. And the points are still converted to percentages for the grade book. 

In Boise, fully adopting standards-based grading is still years away, but leaders remain committed to the cause.

Here’s the work yet to be done:

• Consider overhauling the learning management system (LMS), Infinite Campus, so it would support a four- or five-point grading scale.
• Consider whether another LMS would better serve a four or five-point grading scale.
• Create districtwide, common formative assessments (which are learning checkpoints along the way; like a low-stakes quiz or assignment).
• Educate staff, students, and stakeholders about what the new shift will entail.
• Continue to meet with the grading policy committee.

“This is a long road,” Anderson acknowledged. 

The ultimate message, according to Hollar: “It’s not about a grade, it’s about growth.”