Detracking in Action in the San Fransisco Bay Area

• In Event: Celebrations and Challenges in Detracking Implementation Across the United States

Abstract

Our fifth participant taught for eleven years at a public school in the San Francisco Bay Area that was actively engaged in detracking. The school served a large number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students as well as English learners. In her first year of teaching, She taught the first class of students to take completely detracked ninth grade history. Over the course of her time at the school, multiple other subjects and grade levels detracked. She saw her IB junior level course expand as more students felt prepared to take it, and the demographics of that course shift to better reflect the student population. Her main professional interest has been in the systems of equitable grading. She piloted standards-based grading programs at her school and trained over a hundred other teachers in her district in how to construct grading schemes that are both fairer and more effective than traditional methods. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in history and American studies. She also holds a master's degree in history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a master's degree in education from Stanford University. She has studied in China as part of the Fulbright Groups Abroad, and her teaching has been featured in professional development materials created by Stanford professor Jeff Zwiers. She earned her National Board Certification in 2016. She will share her experiences in these detracking and equity-based programs with workshop participants and bring a practitioner’s point of view to the discussion.

Author

• Lydia Cuffman