Edmonton teacher suspended for giving 0s

[Nine]

76. yes, and just to clarify...

I wasn't suggesting that this teacher should adopt this grading practice. As I said, teachers have to follow school policy.
I was simply challenging the value of traditional grading practices at a philosophical level. To some, the teacher in this article is a hero, bravely fighting for a return traditional grading practices. Another view could be that this teacher is a reactionary, using blatant insubordination and media bullying to thwart the attempts of this school to move toward a more a progressive grading structure.

Many here assume they know exactly what this alleged "no zeroes" policy is and exactly how it works, but you'll notice that it's never really explained in the article; readers are left to fill in these details with their own imagination. People are accepting as fact that this school is forcing teachers to award points to students for assignments that were never even turned in. I still feel this story doesn't quite pass the sniff test. It just doesn't make sense to me that the school could have such a policy and that it could be kept a secret from parents. And I can almost guarantee that this story will soon be hitting the right wing blowhard circuit and their take will be that this school is practicing "grade welfare," rewarding students for sitting around doing nothing, all in some misguided liberal attempt to bring everyone to the same level regardless of effort and ability.

If the school really is asking teachers to award points for work that was never completed, I would agree that is unfair, illogical, and not conducive to learning. However, I don't think traditional grading practices are necessarily fair, logical, and learning-conducive either. It's a system badly in need of reform, and for a school to explore alternatives to it is not something that I think deserves mockery and knee-jerk criticism without any attempt to learn the real facts.