In this chapter of Fair Isn't Always Equal it discussing six of the major grading issues. Included in these is the issue on whether or not to record a zero in the gradebook or to give nothing lower than a certain percent, such as a sixty. Personally, until I read this chapter, I didn't really understand why a student shouldn't receive a zero for any assignment not completed. However, once the understanding is made that any zero would result in skewing the final grade lower than the actual accomplishment of the student. In all actuality, using zeroes in the decreases the accuracy of the gradebook, and therefore practically defeats the purpose of using percentages in the first place.
Another issue that I changed my opinion on after reading this chapter was weighted grades. In all reality weighting grades doesn't really benefit the student, the teacher, the parents or the school. Weighted grades tend to be used in classes that are considered for more advanced. Although this seems logical at first, when considering a differentiated classroom and what grades mean in one, it isn't. Grades are meant to representative of mastery of material. If students are mastering the same amount of material but at a more advanced level, then that doesn't constitute for weighted grades. Weighted grades would only make sense in courses where students are learning a vastly larger amount of material, which wouldn't exactly be fair to any students. Just because students are working at a more advanced level doesn't mean that they should be expected to do more work, they should be expected to do the same amount.
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