Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Craig Findlay

A Critical Analysis of
The Current No-Zero Policy

Tanner Bexson
09/05/2015

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
Currently ubiquitous in Canada is this new fad with the no-zero policy. The
idea is to ensure that students do not get a grade of zero for late, missing or
incomplete assignments. While honorable and seemingly more helpful towards
students, as it obviously releases a lot of stressful towards students, this policy is
facing a lot of criticism today and in some cases, complete failure. This essay will
evaluate current usages of the no-zero policy, what it tries to accomplish, what it
seems to be accomplishing now, current views on the subject in the professional
world and implications for further practice.
Immediately, the critics of the no-zero policy are met with the proponents of
the policy claiming it is backed up with research and evidence that show a positive
impact on student achievement. Proponents of this policy like Ken OConnor
typically use the 1992 study done by Deborah Selby and Sharon Murphy that
showed a negative effect on students correlated with using low grades. However,
when examined closely, this study uses a group of 6 learning-disabled children with
no control group and it is simply absurd to use it as a generalization for all students
across Canada. Additionally, the study is also using letter grades instead of
percentages. This is a huge factor to consider since this skews results in an ungodly
way. In the percentage system, a 49% and a 0% are worlds apart whereas, in the
letter grade system, the difference between an F and a D are only 1% away and an
F encompasses 0-49% ( 10% depending on the school). In a particular Chicago
school situation shown by Gina Caneva, a National Board Certified teacher and
Teach Plus teaching policy fellow, an F is considered anywhere from 0-59% and
therefore, the principal decided to try the no-zero policy in order to avoid the skews
towards the F grade that a zero provided (50 was the lowest a student could
achieve). Officially, the results were great: On-track graduation rates rose 30%.

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
However, this was not an achievement of the policy. When put in perspective, Gina
Caneva called the policy change an abysmal failure. She states, in fact, the ACT
scores of both groups were nearly the same, and equally abysmal-a 15.1 for those
with a 59% on-track rate, and a 15.4 for the group with the 87% on-track (Caneva,
2014). Of course, the policy

was able to make the school look much better on paper since its on-track rates skyrocketed. Yet, this is to be expected since it was nearly impossible for students to
fail anything. With respect to the students, Cavena stated:
Many students continued to fall into similar categories-the students who didn't do
homework still didn't do it, those who didn't do much class work still didn't do much
class work, and a few opted out of an exam. But there was one major change: The
kids who once worked hard to pass by attending tutoring sessions decided to forego
the sessions. (Cavena, 2014)

Even though it is clear that the policy did not accomplish what it was set out
to accomplish, what is truly noteworthy is that administrators still did not reverse
the policy after teachers wanted it gone. Since, as Cavena states, a major metric
for rating a school, the freshman on-track rate, had increased nearly 30%, it is no
wonder that the administrators kept the policy (Cavena, 2014). Therefore, not only
is the no-zero policy seemingly not helping students, it is being enforced simply to
make the school look better at face value. Now it is granted that this case is done in
the USA with a letter grade based system and in Canada we typically use a
percentage-based scale, however we still enforce no-zero policies for the same
reason as the case above and still claim that zeroes unfairly skew percentage
grades towards 49%, which is considered a fail in most Canadian schools.

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Craig Findlay

Tanner Bexson
09/05/2015

Conversely, the Alberta Assessment Consortium has some compelling

arguments to enforce the no-zero policy. In 2013, two articles came out stating why
it supports the no-zero policy. The AAC states:

A key research study, the Alberta Student Assessment Study (2009),

commissioned by Alberta Education speaks to the importance of the
Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices for Education in
Canada and the resulting implications for classroom assessment.
As part of its findings, the research team identified a set of
theoretical principles that would optimize classroom assessment
practices. Four of these principles support the tenets of a no-zero
policy.
1. Educators must know and understand the document
Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices for Education
in Canada (Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and
Evaluation, 1993).
13. Assessment must not be used to reward or punish.
14. Assessment of achievement is not aggregated with
assessment of behaviour.

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
17. No-zero policies support student-learning outcomes (pp.
134 135).
Among the resulting recommendations, two relate specifically the
issue of no-zeros. Assessment in Alberta will:
7. Be guided by the Principles for Fair Student Assessment
Practices for Education in Canada (Centre for Research in
Applied Measurement and Evaluation, 1993).

13. Report academic achievement, behaviour, and socialemotional development separately and accurately (pp. 145146). (AAC, 2013)
Another article from the AAC states:
Conversations on the topic of the use of zero often centre on only a
portion of the issue, and that is whether or not a mark of zero should
be used. The more important part of the conversation is in regard to
the premise on which the practice of not using zero is based. Simply
put, it is as follows: Students should not be given a zero for work not
completed; rather, they should be required to complete the work.
(AAC, 2013)
So, it seems that the AAC believes there is a dire misconception of what the
no-zero policy is actually trying to accomplish. As it is seen in the above quotations,
the AAC has found that the no-zero policy is to be used to instill motivation in

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
students in order to avoid getting zeroes at all. In other words, it is not that we are
not allowed to give a student a zero, it is that the student is not allowed to get a
zero. They must complete the work and achieve a grade above zero. It goes without
saying that this notion is simply not seen in the eyes of the educational community
(teachers, parents and students). However, the AAC has accomplished something
else here in that it is trying to avoid using the zero as a behavioural training tool in
assessment. In other words, using assessment to evaluate behaviour and not
academic achievement. As Thomas Guskey explains in his book On your Mark, we
notice that grades tend to be muddled up by assessing behaviour and academics
together through student bribery; students are told they will earn grades by
conforming to desired behaviour, i.e. limited cell phone use, limited bathroom
breaks and quiet during lectures (Guskey, ch.2). Yet, the no-zero policy always tend
to be criticized as they become apparent to the public eye. One recalls Edmonton
physics teacher Lynden Dorval who was fired for giving zeroes despite his school
boards no-zero policy. Dorval recently had the

Alberta Board of Reference rule that his termination was unjust and that he had the
professional right to challenge his schools policy.

Given all the information, research and attempts made to implement the nozero policy, the central themes tend to gravitate around 2 main ideals in education:
Accountability and professional discretion. Perhaps no-zeroes works for one teacher
but not the one next door. It should be up to the teacher, a trained professional, to
decide what works best in his/her classroom. The no-zero policy hubbub could have

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
been entirely avoided simply by teaching teachers how to make their students
accountable for their work and keeping high enough standards. Whether or not one
uses zeroes or not, Gina Cavena, Thomas Guskey and the AAC all agree, despite
opposing views on the no-zero policy, teachers must make students accountable for
their incomplete assignments and deficits in learning and we must have high
expectations for learning. Colleges and universities do not implement no-zero
policies, students are held accountable for their own learning, why should
secondary schools change this? It is no coincidence that some of the best
educational systems in countries such as South Korea and Finland do not have such
policies, they understand the importance of accountability and student expectation.
South Korea has, arguably, the best educational system in the world and its
students are put through rigorous examination, held to an incredibly high standard
and not given near as much assistance as teachers in Canada give their students.
But, they learn. That is a key point they make that I believe Canadian educational
institutions forget. Implementing a district-wide policy on no zeroes has caused
nothing but squabble and argument. However, teaching a teacher how to teach will
never fail to create a learning classroom. Whether or not I want to implement a nozero policy should be my decision as a professional, based on my assessment of my
own classroom not an ideal imposed on by ivory tower

academics. There are things that everyone agrees on, such as keeping behavioural
assessment separate from academic assessment, accountability and expectation:
These are the key ideas that revolve around not giving a student a zero. As said
before though, imposing dogmatic policies have caused nothing but chaos and
distress in the educational system in Canada.

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Craig Findlay

Tanner Bexson
09/05/2015

Works Cited:
Alberta Assessment Consortium (2013). Issues and Trends in Education. The Use of
Zero: Not the Real Issue. Retrieved from http://www.aac.ab.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/The_Use_of_Zero.pdf
Alberta Assessment Consortium (2013). What support is evident within Alberta
Education for a no-zero policy? Retrieved from http://www.aac.ab.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/No-Zero_Policy_Alberta_Context.pdf
Caneva, Gina (2014). For Students Sake, Say No to No-Zero Policy on Grading. The
Education Digest, 79.7, 52-54. Retrieved from http://0-

Issues in Assessment Paper

ED3604
Tanner Bexson
Craig Findlay
09/05/2015
search.proquest.com.darius.uleth.ca/docview/1506936530?pqorigsite=summon
Guskey, Thomas (2014). On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and
Reporting. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Selby, Deborah, & Murphy, Sharon (1992). Graded or Degraded: Perceptions of
Letter-Grading for Mainstreamed Learning-Disabled Students. B.C. Journal of
Special Education, 16(1), 92-104. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?
id=EJ450133
Zwaagstra, Michael (2015). Common Sense Education. No-Zero Policies Just as
Misguided as Ever. Retrieved from http://michaelzwaagstra.com/?cat=9
Zwaagstra, Michael (2012). Policy Series. Zero Support for No-Zero Policies.
Retrieved from http://michaelzwaagstra.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/08/PS140_ZeroSupportID_AG20F1.pdf