'Very Unusual' Grading System At District 86: Official

HINSDALE, IL — A top Hinsdale High School District 86 official calls its grading system "very unusual."

It's not even one system — it's more than 30 individual grading scales. And that's the problem, said Chris Covino, the district's assistant superintendent for academics.

"It's the product of teachers and their grading going unchecked for decades," Covino said in an interview this week. "Eighty-six is an A in three or four different classes. Fifty percent in some classes is a D."

A group of 45 of the district's teachers — officially known as the Learning Leadership Team — has been developing polices for grading. The group plans to present its proposal to a parent-teacher advisory committee. And the school board is expected to hear a presentation at its March 11 meeting.

"Part of the work of the Learning Leadership Team is to examine ways to bring consistency to grades, so that a grade actually means something," he said.

During a forum over the weekend, a number of school board candidates criticized a policy enacted in November in which a teacher can give students 50 percent for missing work. The candidates called it grade inflation, saying they disliked the idea of giving a student a 50 percent when it should be a zero.

However, Covino said the policy was necessary as a way to prevent transcripts from being devastated. He said the policy is in line with districts around the country.

"We're not going to punish you for the pandemic," Covino said.

Under the grading proposal by the group of teachers, he said the district would avoid giving students zeroes. If an assignment is missing, a teacher would mark it as "ME," or "missing and essential," Covino said.

The goal is to get students to complete assignments, and if they don't, they fail the class, he said.

He compared the proposed policy to getting his child to shovel the driveway. He said he would harp on his kid to do it until it is completed. Letting the work go unfinished is not an option, a concept the district should apply to grading, he said.

"Getting a zero is the easy way out," Covino said. "That's a way for the student to ignore the work and the teacher to move on. The punishment for not doing the work is doing the work."

From his 13 years of experience in the classroom, he said he knows some students don't mind zeroes.

"They don't have to do the work. What we're trying to do is have a scale that holds them accountable," he said.

He said he expects some people will oppose the group's suggestions on grading.

"They'll say we're letting kids get away with too much," he said.

He disagreed, saying the system requires work get done.

"We're basing this on sound research," he said.