For years I have been a strong advocate of not giving zeroes. I cannot think of single reason why giving zeroes is a good idea. As a classroom teacher I deal with behaviours all the time. I do not need to give zeroes in order to do it. Giving zeroes muddies the waters of assessment and renders the grades we give meaningless. There are better ways to motivate students to conform to our expectations, and even if there isn’t, we can’t say that a student is performing at a lower standard just to penalize them. It would be the same as giving someone a speeding ticket for driving a large vehicle. One thing has nothing to do with the other. I always appreciate educators who support and can explain why this is not a good practice. Garnet Hillman does a great job on her blog, link below.

http://garnethillman.blogspot.ca/2013/12/standards-based-learning-and-standards.html