AFC Joins 30+ Organizations in Responding to Proposed DOE Grading & Promotion Policy

04.24.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children joined more than 30 other signatories, providing feedback and recommendations on the DOE's proposed grading policy for the 2019-20 school year. In light of the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19-related school closures, the letter urges the DOE to give course credit to all students this semester (K-12) in lieu of a grading system, and to design a separate system to provide needed support to students who have fallen behind. 

We believe it would be inequitable to give grades, notations of “needs improvement” or “incomplete,” or any other indication of how a student performed while schools were closed, particularly given how many students have been unable to access remote learning in a meaningful way.  Labeling a student as needing improvement or having incomplete work would unfairly penalize students who have faced barriers to remote learning such as lack of access to technology and digital literacy, lack of English proficiency of parents and students alike, lack of special education supports, family trauma, and overall lack of resources, among others. Read the letter [PDF]