'Equitable' grading earns Illinois high school a federal civil rights complaint

A conservative think tank led by former Department of Education officials has filed a federal civil rights complaint against an Illinois high school that announced it was implementing a grading system meant to equalize student outcomes by race.

In a Wednesday letter to the U.S. Department of Education, the president of the Defense of Freedom Institute Robert Eitel requested that the department's Office for Civil Rights open an investigation into Oak Park and River Forest school district near Chicago after it began instituting "equitable" grading practices at a district high school.

The district directed the school to eliminate "policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce or fail to eliminate different outcomes by race” when issuing grades, including penalties for late assignments and absenteeism.

In the letter to the department, Eitel said the school district's directive violated constitutional protections, as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.