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San Francisco's public high schools will implement a sweeping change to their grading system this fall, replacing traditional methods with a policy that allows students to pass with scores as low as 41 percent.
The initiative, part of a broader "Grading for Equity" push, is stirring concern among educators, students and parents over academic standards and college readiness.
The Context
Similar policies across other Bay Area districts—such as Dublin, Oakland and Pleasanton—have seen mixed results and strong community reactions. Dublin Unified attempted a pilot of equity grading in 2023, which included removing zeros for missed assignments and awarding a minimum of 50 percent for any "reasonably attempted" work.
That pilot, however, was met with outrage and resistance. Parents created petitions, formed WhatsApp groups and filled school board meetings to protest what they saw as a lowering of standards for their children. The Dublin school board eventually suspended the initiative, though individual teachers were still allowed to use the methods at their discretion.
The experiment in San Francisco comes amid — or despite — a broader rethinking of DEI initiatives after the election of Donald Trump, who ran on a platform of excising what he and many others said were "unfair" equity practices in the government and private sectors.
What To Know
Superintendent Maria Su's plan in San Francisco was not subject to a public vote by the Board of Education, drawing criticism for lack of transparency. The new policy, set to affect more than 10,000 students across 14 high schools, significantly changes how academic performance is measured.
Homework and classroom participation will no longer influence a student's final grade. Students will be assessed primarily on a final exam, which they can retake multiple times. Attendance and punctuality will not affect academic standing.
The plan was first revealed in the fine print of a 25-page agenda and reported by The Voice of San Francisco, a local nonprofit. The outlet reported that the district is hiring Joe Feldman, an educational consultant known for his book Grading for Equity, to train teachers this summer.
"If our grading practices don't change, the achievement and opportunity gaps will remain for our most vulnerable students. If we are truly dedicated to equity, we have to stop avoiding the sensitive issue of grading and embrace it," Feldman said in a 2019 blog post for the School Superintendents Association (AASA).
Feldman's book outlines how traditional grading can reinforce socioeconomic disparities and proposes alternative strategies for more equitable assessment. According to The Voice of San Francisco, the new system will be modeled in part on the San Leandro Unified School District, where students can earn an A with a score as low as 80 percent and pass with a D at just 21 percent. Under the forthcoming San Francisco policy, a score of 41 percent will qualify as a C.
Reactions Split
Supporters of the policy say it better reflects real student learning by de-emphasizing behavior-based penalties like late work or missed assignments. However, critics warn the policy could harm students who are already on track for college placement.
"Nowhere in college do you get 50 percent for doing nothing," said Laurie Sargent, an eighth-grade English teacher in the Dublin Unified School District, in a 2024 Mercury News report. "Nowhere in the working world do you get 50 percent for doing nothing. If I don't show up to work, they don't pay me 50 percent of my salary—even if I made a reasonable attempt to get there."
The change comes amid ongoing financial strain and declining enrollment across the district. While intended to address achievement gaps, critics argue the policy may only obscure the underlying academic challenges rather than solve them.
Such a drastic and dramatic change in the high school grading system merits greater attention and scrutiny than the school district has given it so far," wrote John Trasviña, former dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law, in an op-ed for The Voice of San Francisco.
Parents in San Francisco also have expressed frustration over being left out of the decision-making process. The school district's Office of Equity has not updated its public materials in nearly three years, and no broad outreach appears to have been conducted ahead of the rollout.
What People Are Saying
Katherine Hermens, a biology teacher at Dublin High School, told EdSurge in 2023: "It is time to emphasize learning over effort. Prioritizing learning is exactly what equitable grading does. It recognizes the individual journey of every student and acknowledges that we all learn differently—at our own pace and in various ways."
John Trasviña, former dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law, wrote in an op-ed: "Grading for Equity de-emphasizes the importance of timely performance, assignment completion, and consistent attendance."
What Happens Next
School board members in San Francisco were reportedly not given a formal vote on this policy, triggering internal governance disputes. If there is enough public pressure, the Board of Education may seek to review or override the superintendent's decision, though there is no suggestion as of yet that such a move is imminent.
