The No-Zero Grading Policy: Is It Hurting or Helping Students?

The no-zero grading policy is a law that sets the lowest possible grade for any test or assignment at 50%. For an old school parent, this sounds so out of the blue. Based on the no-zero grading policy, a student could still get a 50% score even if they turned in a blank test paper. This policy has opened up a can of worms, yet there is a rationale behind it. To dig deeper into the debate, let’s examine two scenarios as follows:

Cira Haveson (2014) in a vivid response on Quora paints a picture of the pros and cons of the no-zero grading policy through two examples of students she observed in her math class. Jake a quintessential slacker who never did his homework, always spent his time doodling in class, never participated in projects and always ended up with D’s in his report card. In addition, he never participated in extra-curricular activities and cared less about everyone. The other student was Emily; she was the complete opposite of Jake. She worked very hard, was very cheerful, did her homework, participated actively in class and took down notes during lectures. She was the kind of student who owned up to her mistakes.

In all, Jake had failed to do all his assignments during the semester. One day, there was a graded homework assignment on which Emily worked very hard. It was an assignment that was tracked through a LMS and the teacher noticed that she failed with 49%. She was very furious, not at Emily, but at Jake. Why? Because in spite making no effort, they both ended up with 50%.

What we can learn from this story is congruent with the opinion pool curated from 300 members of edutopia.com who opine that ‘A no-zero grading policy allows students to do minimal work and still pass, pushes students forward who haven’t mastered the content, and doesn’t teach students the real-life consequences of not meeting their responsibilities’.

This trend seems to be unleashing a young generation of entitled individuals ill-equipped to cope with the challenges that lie ahead in college. Proponents argue though that giving kids zero grades in tests could affect and destroy their self-confidence. They opine that coming back from 50 is easier than from zero. The counter argument though is that giving a zero grade is a reminder for kids to work even harder.

This policy could make sense to policy makers but could send confusing signals to children who are not sophisticated enough to understand it’s breathe and depth. Emily in the example above could stop trying, while Jake could become the new role model. After all kids love it the easy way.

The debate is still ongoing and we appreciate your thoughts.