By Chloe Voke
For returning students, grades this year may look very different from the past. Those who tend to slack on homework and never study for tests are probably doing much better in their classes than before, while the students who consistently try are getting the short end of the stick. The new grading system, which removes homework from overall grades and allows for unlimited test retakes, was designed to help struggling students, but in reality, it hurts the students who actually put effort into their education. The idea behind “evidence-based grading” sounds good in theory—supporters argue that homework shouldn’t count because it’s just practice, and that students should have multiple opportunities to show what they know. When homework doesn’t count, many students stop doing it altogether, resulting in lower motivation, less practice, and more confusion when it’s time for a test. Retakes only make this worse, since students can rely on the chance to redo everything later, leaving little incentive to study or do well the first time. This system caters to the bottom third of students in hopes of helping them barely meet graduation requirements, while leaving everyone else frustrated and burned out. Students who used to work hard and earn high grades now find themselves grouped with classmates who skip homework and ace the test on the second or third try. It doesn’t feel fair, because it isn’t. Even worse, this new approach is changing the classroom environment itself. Learning used to be about more than numbers—it was about connection with the stories teachers told, the discussions that helped ideas click, and the relationships that made students actually care about the subject. Now, teachers are pressured to focus on measurable outcomes, turning lessons into rigid checklists. The fun, human parts of learning—the stories, side tangents, and small moments of understanding—are disappearing in favor of a corporate-feeling environment that values conformity disguised as equality. This system treats education like a business rather than a community. Teachers are being pushed into roles that make them seem replaceable, as if their only job is to collect data and record test results. Students, in turn, become collateral damage in the process, forced into a structure that values test performance over growth, curiosity, and effort. School should prepare students for the real world, where deadlines matter and second chances aren’t endless. In life, you don’t get to retake every test or ignore your responsibilities without consequences. By removing accountability, this grading system sends the wrong message: that effort doesn’t matter as long as you eventually get the answer right. Education should be about learning, connection, and hard work, not about finding shortcuts. Until the school board realizes that, students and teachers will keep paying the price for a system that mistakes fairness for laziness and progress for control.
Photo Provided By: University Of Rochester