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Leaders strengthen math education by deepening teachers’ understanding of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and improving communication about math proficiency, enabling grades that better reflect students’ actual mathematical knowledge and skills.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/navigating-math-grading-reforms-key-considerations-for-educational-leaders/582232/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/navigating-math-grading-reforms-key-considerations-for-educational-leaders/582232.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Ophelia","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-14","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What role do mathematics leaders play in grading reform?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"School leaders support mathematics teachers’ implementation by helping them understand grading reform goals and providing guidance during the transition. This support helps ensure grades more accurately reflect what students have learned.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why is shifting from point accumulation to qualifying learning important?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Point accumulation often incorporates non-cognitive and achievement factors in ways that can make grades inconsistent across classrooms. Emphasizing qualifying learning helps produce grades that communicate students’ demonstrated understanding.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does grading reform affect student outcomes beyond the classroom?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Valid grades can influence decisions such as math course placement and college admissions, and they may also relate to predicting K-12 dropouts. Addressing grading deficiencies helps protect students’ preparedness for advanced coursework.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},582232,1792062559,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},7971461741311,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826","The Mathematics Educator 2025 Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 6-31  \nNavigating Math Grading Reforms: Key Considerations for Educational Leaders  \nMatt Townsley and Chad Lang  \nAs grading reform efforts such as standards-based grading and grading for equity gain popularity, school leaders play a key role in supporting mathematics teachers' implementation efforts. This paper describes what mathematics leaders need to know about grading reform and what mathematics leaders should do to support teachers in implementing grading reform. By developing teachers’ deeper understanding of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, assisting teachers in shifting mindsets from quantifying learning to qualifying learning, and improving math proficiency communication, leaders can better navigate grading reform in their schools. With proper support and guidance, teachers can assign grades that better reflect students'mathematical knowledge and skills.  \nIn their 1913 study entitled Reliability of Grading Work in Mathematics, Starch and Elliot asked 138 high school mathematics teachers to grade the same Geometry paper. The results were astounding: the median score was 70%, with a low of 28% and a high of 95% . While the study is over 100 years old, contemporary researchers continue to argue that teachers’grading practices are in dire need of improvement (Link & Guskey, 2022; Townsley, 2022) . Indeed, a comprehensive review of recent research suggests that K-12 teachers’ grading practices continue to be inconsistent from classroom to classroom and school to school (Brookhart et al., 2016) . An “A”in one math classroom does not guarantee a student has demonstrated an equivalent level of learning as a student with an  \nMatt Townsley, Ed. D. is an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa. His primary research focuses on the intersection of educational leadership and K-12 grading practices.  \nChad Lang, Ed. D. is the assistant superintendent of school improvement and human resources at Glenwood Community School District (Glenwood, Iowa). His research interests are grading, assessment, extracurricular school activities, and transformational leadership.  \nMatt Townsley and Chad Lang  \n“A” in a math classroom across the hall, within the same county or across the state.  \nIn this traditionally accepted and enacted model of grading, students accumulate points based on a combination of noncognitive factors such as assignment completion and participation and cognitive factors such as achievement. Townsley (2022) referred to this as a model of point accumulation learning in which points are assigned to nearly every instructional and non-instructional activity and then“points are totaled and often converted to a percentage to determine the final grade” at the end of the reporting period (p. 89) . This phenomenon has caused some educational measurement experts to describe divergent grading practices using phrases such as “hodgepodge” grading (Brookhart, 1991, p. 36) and throwing “everything but the kitchen sink” into the grade book (Cizek et al., 1995). A growing number of empirical studies support that teachers’ grading practices vary greatly (Brookhart et al., 2016; Cheng et al., 2020; Guskey & Link, 2018; Kunnath, 2017b) . For example, Guskey and Link (2018) surveyed 943 K-12 teachers in a southeastern state and found that anywhere from 10-20% of teacher-assigned grades comes from non-cognitive factors. While this percentage may initially appear to be small, Guskey and Link (2018) point out that including these non-cognitive factors results in the equivalent of a one or two letter grade difference for teachers using a typical percentage-based grading system. Among scholars who have studied teachers’ grading practices, they have historically done so within grade-level bands (e.g., McMillan, 2001; McMillan et al., 2002) and even when considering the subject area taught, there is “considerable variation among teachers” (McMillan, 20","cbCaidAVKA4gI59S","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidAVKA4gI59S","pdf",522966,25,"English","# Navigating Math Grading Reforms: Key Considerations for Educational Leaders\n## Leadership for Grading Reform","[{\"question\":\"What role do mathematics leaders play in grading reform?\",\"answer\":\"School leaders support mathematics teachers’ implementation by helping them understand grading reform goals and providing guidance during the transition. This support helps ensure grades more accurately reflect what students have learned.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is shifting from point accumulation to qualifying learning important?\",\"answer\":\"Point accumulation often incorporates non-cognitive and achievement factors in ways that can make grades inconsistent across classrooms. Emphasizing qualifying learning helps produce grades that communicate students’ demonstrated understanding.\"},{\"question\":\"How does grading reform affect student outcomes beyond the classroom?\",\"answer\":\"Valid grades can influence decisions such as math course placement and college admissions, and they may also relate to predicting K-12 dropouts. Addressing grading deficiencies helps protect students’ preparedness for advanced coursework.\"}]","Navigating Math Grading Reforms - Key Considerations for Educational Leaders | PDF",1792042867,63]