Understanding Teacher Perceptions of Equity-Based Grading Practices

Background: Well-meaning teachers who strive to support students may sometimes include outside factors, such as implicit biases and evaluation of student behaviors, when determining a grade. However, when factors like discipline issues, tardiness, and even good behavior, are mixed with content assessments, the resulting grade may not express a student's understanding of the content. While a body of research supports the idea that biases impact education, and despite reforms intended to create more equitable learning experiences for all students, grading remains relatively unchanged. In response, some school districts are now implementing equity-based grading protocols. Since teachers play a key role in implementing those protocols, understanding their beliefs is essential to successfully implement grading changes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to acquire the perceptions of high school English teachers’ understanding of equity-based grading protocols. From the theoretical framework of Bandura’s social cognitive theory and an asset-based approach, the study answered the research question: How do teacher perceptions of equity-based grading practices influence its implementation in high school English Language Arts? Method: During this qualitative study, using narrative inquiry with elements of phenomenology, seven high school English teachers were selected through purposeful sampling. Each participant engaged in an individual semi-structured interview and answered questions about how they learned to grade student work samples and their opinions on equitable grading practices. Following Lester et al.’s (2020) suggestions for transparent, reliable data analysis, transcripts were hand-coded to discover and categorize themes. Individual member checks were conducted to check for accuracy within the data provided by the participants. Results: The following themes were discovered from a thematic analysis: (1) evolving perspectives, (2) fairness and empathy, and (3) desire for student effort. Conclusion: This study found that teachers have favorable views of equity-based grading practices because they desire to grade students for mastery of learning standards. However, the teachers revealed a tension with giving points they viewed as unearned. While they have had some professional development over the grading protocols, they desire high-quality learning experiences regarding grading practices to implement them with more certainty.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Professional Leadership, Education

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Montoya-Silva, Juanita Marie 1982-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hutchison, Laveria

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Keys-Hogelin, Kelly
• Hale, Magaret
• Thomas, Dustine

• Educational leadership
• Education--Curricula

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/20596

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/20596