Rumors that a high school in Oak Park, Illinois, will implement a "race-based grading system" generated a storm of national and local criticism thanks to social media users, but they aren't true.
"OPRF (Oak Park and River Forest High School) to implement race-based grading system in 2022-23 school year," reads the headline of a May 30 article from West Cook News, which presents itself as a local news outlet.
The article claims this new grading system "will require teachers next school year to adjust their classroom grading scales to account for the skin color or ethnicity of its students" and that students won't be penalized for missing class, misbehaving or failing to complete homework.
More than 7,000 Facebook users shared the article within a week. Another 2,000 retweeted a version of the story shared by the popular conservative Twitter account Libs of TikTok, which has 1.2 million followers.
But the article's sensational claims have no basis in fact.
Video and documents from the school board meeting reveal no mention of a race-based grading system or several other aspects of the West Cook News article.
The school said in a statement that it has not approved or considered grading policies that take students' race and ethnicity into account.
"OPRFHS does not, nor has it ever had a plan to, grade any students differently based on race," the May 31 statement reads.
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