Pittsburgh Public School Board leaves grading guidelines up to the superintendent

The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board refrained from establishing new grading guidelines for the district Wednesday afternoon, leaving the decision up to Superintendent Anthony Hamlet.

In a legislative session Wednesday that was livestreamed, board member Cynthia Falls, of District 7, moved to uphold a long-standing policy that leaves all grading guidelines up to the superintendent. The policy was adopted in 1990 and last revised in 2012.

Before Kennedy’s motion, the board seemed poised to suspend the policy temporarily and pass new guidelines that would prevent any student from receiving a grade lower than a 70%. The new guidelines are now up to Hamlet to establish.

The choice to uphold the old policy caused some disagreement on the board. Sala Udin, from District 3, said the board was “letting down students” and “running away” from a responsibility to weigh in on the matter.

“I am so disappointed that we are shirking our responsibility as elected board members to provide policy guidance to the superintendent and administration of the school district during this coronavirus pandemic,” Udin said.

Board President Sylvia Wilson pointed out the guidelines are meant to be fluid, to adapt to the changing needs of the district. The board’s role, she said, is to uphold the existing policy.

“In all the years that I’ve been involved in Pittsburgh Public Schools, there have been many changes in the guidelines and the board has never voted on them,” Wilson said.

Falls said all board members had the opportunity to follow a procedure that could include workshops and change the policy – but no one had made any such progress.

“I feel bad that this was done at such a late time, but I also want to say that I think that with all the input that has come in, somebody has to own this [decision],” Falls said. “Our superintendent has that responsibility and must own it.”

The discussion came after Hamlet had invited public comment on the topic. In a virtual public hearing Tuesday evening, members of the school board read aloud testimonies from residents suggesting new grading policies they deemed more appropriate for distance learning.

Residents overwhelmingly called for relaxed grading policies for the district, eliminating “incomplete” grades and any penalties that would prevent students from graduating or moving on to the next level. Many of those who sent testimony to the board criticized the quality of both the district’s online tools and printed instructional packets, saying that traditional grading procedures would penalize students for disadvantages outside of their control.

Many testimonies warned that maintaining a traditional grading policy would exacerbate existing issues of equity within the district.

“Children with disabilities and students of color will be disproportionately hurt by a policy like this,” wrote Moira Kaleida, a former school board member.

Wanda Henderson, who chairs the district’s equity advisory panel, testified that covid-19 “compounded and uncovered” inequities within the district. She urged board members to remove barriers wherever possible, suggesting extending the school calendar, programming and after-school tutoring.

Kaleida wrote that she and her husband have had to sit with her children and work with them to navigate Microsoft Teams – something that quickly became impractical and frustrating. They chose to switch to printed instructional packets distributed by the district, but still worry whether their children, who have special educational needs, will get the necessary support.

“While we are technically at home with our children, the idea that we can sit with them all day and walk them through each step is not only unrealistic, but will hurt those students whose parents may be essential workers or who for various reasons are unable to use the Teams website,” Kaleida wrote. “Two fairly competent adults were unable to figure out how to successfully navigate Microsoft Teams, let alone could our first and fourth graders do this on their own.”

The printed instructional packets were also criticized at the forum, with multiple testimonies complaining of blurry pages that were impossible to read, or assignments that were far above grade-level. One resident said there was second-grade-level math in her kindergarten student’s packet.

“If students don’t have all the tools they need, then we cannot hold them to a higher standard,” the resident wrote.

At Wednesday’s legislative meeting, Chief Academic Officer Minika Jenkins said the blurriness of the packets has been addressed and there should be no issues moving forward.

Questions on the district’s grading practices have floated around for weeks. In a virtual news conference with reporters two weeks ago, Jenkins said grading policies would likely become less punitive as students transitioned into the new system.

In the resolution that the board was prepared to pass before Falls’ motion, kindergarten through fifth-grade students would have automatically pass and be promoted to the next grade. Grades for the fourth-quarter will reflect a “P” for passing.

All courses for sixth through 12th-grade students would be credit-bearing when applicable, according to board documents, but students will not be able to receive lower than a 70%. For the fourth-quarter, students would either receive their third-report grade or their actual fourth-report grade – whichever is higher.