UPDATED 12:45 p.m. Dallas ISD teacher reps will ask school trustees today to eliminate a district policy that prevents teachers from giving grades lower than a 50. Here's a copy of what one teacher rep from Alliance-AFT will tell board members at their 11:30 meeting.
This isn't uncommon in Texas districts, this policy that says a 50 is the lowest grade a student can receive. A 50 is still failing by a wide margin, but the teachers have a point: If a kid does no work, why can't they give him a big fat zero? Or a 20? Why must they hand out 50's?
Here's what the Alliance-AFT folks will tell the board today:
Currently, district policy EIA requires that the lowest grade a teacher may assign a student for any grading period is 50. Teachers tell us that this practice needs to change. In this new age of rigor, responsibility and accountability, teachers contend that grading policies must change to reflect these higher expectations. Your policy requires that grades be arbitrarily inflated. A student who submits not one assignment the entire six weeks grading period, is still guaranteed a final grade of 50. To assign actual grades earned by students, instead of grades of not less than 50%, is a vital part of raising the achievement bar. An education is not something a child is given. An education is something the child must work for and earn. Before the board today is a policy proposal EIA, local. If adopted, this policy continues the practice of assigning student grades not earned. What are we asking the board to do? Change your policy. Hold students accountable for their grades. Raise the bar. Increase student rigor. Allow teachers to assign students the grades they legitimately earned. Stop supporting for grade inflation.
The district's Chief Academic Officer said the policy is common in Texas, and it's meant to give kids who flunk early in the year a "mulligan," and a chance to pass if they get their acts together as the year goes on. If students receive a zero for the first six-week grading period, it's exceedingly impossible for them to pass the class. By giving the kids a 50, then they can still pass if they earn, say 80's, the rest of the way.
"The only reason this policy exists is to give kids a chance to recover from a short-term failure," said curriculum czar Denise Collier. "They might otherwise completely give up if they get a 20 during the first sex weeks because they know they can't pass."
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Comments
Posted by IWONDER32 @ 3:34 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
I agree with the Alliance - AFT. If you fail you fail. LIFE IS NOT FAIR PEOPLE. So if a student wants to get a good grade he will do the work off the top...if a student is having trouble and is really trying - let the teacher, school and parent decide, but to arabitrarily give a 50 is crazy to this parent...may as well say, no grade lower than 70 which is passing. In my household, nothing lower than 80 - no exceptions!
I WONDER #32
Posted by Tex @ 5:06 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
I highly recommend the article "The Case Against the Zero" by Doublas B. Reeves for anyone still holding on to the antiquated notion that a zero is fair.
The Case Against The Zero
by Doublas B. Reeves
Phi Delta Kappan
December 2004 v86 i4 p324
Posted by DISDMoM @ 8:04 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
Is it fair or equitable to give a student 200 points toward a minimum passing of 280? (3 six weeks + semester exam X 70) Does this teach them excellence? Does this prepare them for college?
I don't think so. . .
Posted by DISDMoM @ 8:24 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
I read The Case Against the Zero. My argument is that we should have minimum standards that are acceptable. In DISD that is a grade of 70. By earning a grade of 70, the student has demonstrated some level of mastery. A grade of 12 or zero demonstrates a lack of effort.
Saying that a zero is not fair for no effort is far from antiquated. It's realistic. A fifty is fair if one EARNS a fifty.
Posted by Jean Pierre @ 8:25 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
It seems that the better idea is to give the minimum grade of 50 to students who try hard and do the work but don't get a 50 on what they turn in. The students who don't turn anything should get a zero and given another chance to make up the work without being penalized. Why doesn't the district think outside the box on these policy matters?
Posted by John @ 8:54 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
"Lew Blackburn said the policy tells kids "you can come and do nothing and still get half your pay. ... A student who does nothing should get nothing."
Did he stop accepting his paycheck after W-HISD shut it's doors and he didn't even have to go to work some days?
Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 9:11 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
NEA-Dallas believes that a grade is a reflection of work done or skills mastered. If a kid got a 20, but you give them a 50, then Dr Collier's talk about "increasing rigor" in academic intruction is nullified. If the kid fails, then the best thing to do is have them take the class over. A "mulligan" is for golf, not life. Sometimes, you learn more when you fail than when someone hands you a falsified success.
Funny, the DISD won't do this for us. Could we ask for our CEI's to all be brought up to passing? We wouldn't want to get discouraged.
Posted by MCP @ 9:17 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
Tex suggests we read the article by D.B. Reeves before we demand zeros for missed work. Here's the link
http://www.ncpep.org/sail/Case_Against_Zero.pdf#search=%22%22The%20case%20against%20zero%2
It makes sense. I hope the board reads it, (and listens to Denise Collier ) before changing policy.
Posted by Steve Goodall @ 9:18 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
As a DISD teacher of 33 years, I would welcome the change. It would be useful as a positive or negitive motivational tool. Imagine the thrill for a student to improve a grade of 30 to an 80. Imagine the shock of falling from an 80 to a 30.
Under the current system a student could make 2 six week grades of 90 or higher, stop learning and earn a 50 on the 3rd six weeks and a 50 on the final exam and pass the class with a 70 average.
This also could potentially cost a teacher $6000 to $10,000!
That's a subject for a different discussion
Posted by park @ 9:20 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
I am totally confounded by Peters and Bollender coming to the board with this ridiculous proposal. This is not a work situation; it is a system whose sole purpose is to educate children. There is NEVER a need to punish a child with a six-weeks grade of less than a 50. This is not grade inflation. The floor is there so a child who improves has the possibility of passing the semester. Where would be the motivation to continue working in the class?
Posted by misdmom @ 9:54 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008
Wow! I bet my daughter wished she went to a DISD school instead of a McKinney High School. She didn't understand a homework assignment, went to her own teacher before school to get tutoring, completed the assignment and turned it in on time. Her grade was a 100, BUT she wrote her first name, LAST INITIAL (instead of full name), class name (Pre AP Geometry), and her period hour on her paper. It was not returned to her. After many attempts to get the paper back she finally did and the last initial (instead of name) was circled and she was given a ZERO for her grade! It was the beginning of this school year, and she is a Freshman. Just think, she could have skipped the whole assignment, and tutoring session and still be given a 50 in DISD. And all of these students compete against each other for college entry. Something not too fair there!
Posted by s. crawford @ 2:44 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
this is another example of people wanting something for nothng. no work , no pass. anything else only teaches kids to leach off others.
Posted by Rebecca Jensen @ 7:50 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Yesterday in my box at school, I saw a paper saying that there was to be a recommendation to the board to change the lowest possible six weeks grade to a 60! Imagine my surprise when I saw the paper this morning.
Let's not punish kids. A 50 can be brought up. But 60?????? It's crazy.
In the same paper was the proposal (I don't know if it's been voted on or not) to change the semester final to only 15% of the semester grade. It currently counts 25% of the semester grade. This brings up 2 points: CEI's are based on TAKS and semester tests. If grades on semester tests are important enough to give out bonus money, they should be important to students, too. And if we are working on college readiness, we should keep the finals at 25%. They would count even more in college. (Or let us keep them at 25% in AP classes and modify the percentage for other types of classes if it is beneficial in those classes to de-emphasize exams.)
Posted by louisianaraised @ 8:49 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Has any body at Ross Avenue HQ taken a "Testing and Measurement" course in college????
Grades should build up to the end of the course. That is to say a "0" on a test in September (beginning of course) should not sink you as far as a "0" on a test in May. The information in a course should be building. A child failing in the beginning of the class should have a chance to pass the same as a child making stellar grades in the beginning of the class should still have a chance to fail.
Design a curriculumn for pete's sake!
Posted by Jon @ 9:10 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
We deal with this in Plano. I'm not sure if its "board policy" or not (and God Forbid in Plano if the Central Office doesnt dictate EVERYTHING)but the giving of a 50 is a common practice. I think its just a good idea for TEACHERS to give the 50, but I think its also good for teachers to have the discretion to give lower. If the kid has a decent attitude, give the second chance. If its a bad kids - give em lower. This is really about control. Teachers should be the final authority on this - not the board, but teachers would be wise to go ahead and give the 50.
Posted by ArlingtonCitizen @ 9:25 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Wow! This is a perfect example of how the educational system is just getting worse by the day. The better idea would be to allow the student to go back and redo the previous six-weeks work where he did NOTHING, with the highest grade he can receive being a 60. By doing this he would learn that you have to work HARD in life to rectify your mistakes. He would also have a mathematical chance to pass the semester with this idea. If he chooses not to do this, he can keep his 15 for that six-weeks.
I do believe that a student should not receive a grade if he sits and chooses to do nothing in class!
Posted by KDpolitic @ 9:29 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
I have had many students say why did you give me a fifty? And I have had to say DallasISD won't let me give you a 12, 24, 32 or 5. So I actually did "give" you some points to bring you "up" to fifty! When I was in school back when dinosaurs roamed the earth....we got what we earned. I think it should be that way again. There are penalties for not working.
Posted by Dr. Steve @ 9:34 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
As many of us I'm sure can attest, in college you can make less than a 50. So too in the outside world. You can get zero. If the district's mission is to prepare students for college and the workforce, let us prepare, not delude, them.
Posted by park @ 9:47 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Wow! A Geometry teacher in McKinney caught up with complete trivia! I'll bet your daughter "learned" so much from this experience--like how ridiculous adults with power can act. Isn't this the same school district with cheerleaders gone wild?
It appears bonus money or low CEI scores have also driven DISD teachers to extreme acts. I can't imagine sitting in a class with a student for the remainder of the semester after I have essentially failed him for the semester in the first six weeks.
Posted by Marie @ 9:47 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
How about a compromise: no grade lower than a 50% the first six weeks. After that you sink or swim by what you earn. That way the first six weeks can't fail you for the year/semester, and you get in the swing of things. If you choose not to step up your game for the next six weeks- you fail with your rightful grade. Or maybe even have a graduated scale: 1st six weeks-50% lowest, 2nd six weeks- 40%, 3rd six weeks- 30%...etc.
Posted by sb @ 10:19 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Giving them a 50 is detrimental-
1) DISD and other districts have a way for the student who failed a class to re-learn and re-earn that failing grade if they do not pass for that semester. They attend a class that allows them to do their work on the computer, there is a teacher who oversees it, and they go at their own speed. The max grade they can get is a 70, but they have the chance for a do over. Isn't it important for them to actually LEARN the curriculum instead of just passing it? They can even do several courses one after the other in this class. So why not fail them, and let them EARN IT.
2) College entrance exams, SAT, ACT-They will not be prepared in the least for this. So in effect, although we are "giving" them the 50 now, since they haven't learned the curriculum, they will not make an acceptable score on any of these exams. You can get into college with low grades if you can show you have learned the curriculum. Maybe not your dream school, but hey, once again, that is the consequence.
3)GIVING A STUDENT A 50 DOES NOT PREPARE THEM FOR COLLEGE, VOCATIONAL SCHOOL, TECHNICAL SCHOOL, A JOB, OR LIFE.
4)It's a real diservice to the other students who are struggling but earning the grade, when it comes to class rank and GPA. If the district is going to have class rank (some don't), then make it on what the kids really EARNED. It is lying to say they made a 50 when they did not.
I was appalled when I was told that my child made a 48 for a six weeks grade, and that they were given a 50. They tanked some tests, didn't take it seriously, in a class where there were not many graded assignments. They should have received the 48! They ended up with better grade by year end, because they worked hard, but if they had not, they should receive what they worked for.
Posted by Fitz @ 10:22 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
This is a very simple problem to solve. Allow only grades higher than 50 for the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th six weeks and during the 3rd, and 6th six weeks the grade can be anwhere from 100-0. This makes the final grade much more accurate and allows kids a chance to do better if they mess up in the beginning of each semester grading periods. This works excellent in our district (Duncanville ISD).
Posted by j @ 10:47 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Why don't schools just use an 18 week semester grading system?
Posted by Chad @ 11:22 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Heaven forbid that someone actually be held responsible for their own actions. If you were an employer, would you pay someone a half day's pay for not showing up at all?
Posted by Kent Fischer @ 12:19 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Columnist Steve Blow, over on our metro blog, weighs in:
The minimum grade controversy
9:50 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Steve Blow
This policy of giving students nothing lower than a grade of 50 is one that my wife and I have debated. She has just about won me over.
I'm a hardliner and a big believer in personal responsibility and all that, so it rubs me the wrong way to give a 50 to a kid who has earned a zero. But my wife, the school teacher, says kids don't always live up to our ideals. They're still kids.
The way to really see a student turn south, she says, is to let them know they have no chance of passing. And with a few zeros, that becomes the mathematical reality in a hurry.
The ones who are determined to fail are going to do that regardless. But with enough encouragment, she says a few will suddenly get in gear if shown they still have a chance to succeed.
Posted by DW @ 12:26 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
For heaven's sake!!! There's nothing magical about a 0-100 scale. You can grade on a scale from 1-10, or 50-100, or 0-50, or (like most colleges), 0-4.
Most college teachers these days DO use a 100-point scale for their own grade calculations, but individual assignments are usually weighted, so that(say)one quiz may be worth 15 points of a total 100 that can be accumulated for the course. When grades are posted, a student will get a grade somewhere from 0-15 on that assignment.
But the final course grade (which is often curved from the 100-point scale)is F=0, D=1, C=2, B=3, and A=4. So if you're going to equate the college GPA system (as opposed to the way professors may calculate coursework grades)to a 0-100 scale, a C would be 2/4, or 50%.
I agree with the article several have linked to. If a 14-year-old doesn't do his homework, then detention, or making him go to homework help after school instead of basketball practice, is a much better way of dealing with the situation than giving a 0.
I know of one teacher who has excellent results with "next-day detention"; if the kids don't turn the homework in on time, a letter goes home to the parent, and if they don't bring their work in the second day, along with the parent's signature on the letter, they get detention.
Posted by RAY @ 12:35 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
Call it for what it is . Its catering to race. Minorities have always had a difficult time as a (whole) in applying themselves to pass subjects. Thier mindset is on athletics. You got to school and get an education not a pro career that has a 1000000 to 1 shot of succeeding. Some may read racism into this because they refuse to sit down and look at facts. Better support at home, qualified teachers,better discipline and the scores will soar. It worked for decades until some whined and cry it was unfair,when it was plenty fair. There are very few countries that a free education provided and over all good facillities to match. Quit catering and disguising the problem. Sit in the classroom, pay attention,speak english and learn. 'nuff said.
Posted by Kathy @ 12:45 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
The current policy is not fair to the students that are "earning" their grades. My daughter who works hard to pass should feel a sense of accomplishment. Those who don't work shouldn't. It set up the students w/ false expectations that won't happen in college or in the workforce.
In the real world - you don't do your job you get counseled, then fired. In school you don't do your work - you should get a grade reflective of this. This should open their eyes to encourage them to "earn" their grades.
Posted by Aimee Bolender @ 1:17 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
These are impressive and thoughtful comments. Using our collective brainpower, we are expanding our thinking on this issue. Thanks to DMN for the blog opportunity and exchange.
Posted by just an old lady @ 4:51 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008
How embarrassing that a teacher could admit that he/she could not teach a student above a 50% average. Could that be a reflection on teaching? Perhaps we are testing the wrong side of the desk.
Posted by Jo Brown @ 1:41 PM Sat, Jan 19, 2008
I attended DISD years ago. Back then, whatever grade you were given was reflected on your assignments.
I do not blame the child for not trying, if he/she is not penalized for failing, then why make the effort?
Parents can no longer whip their kids, if they disobey the teachers or the parents.
I blame the judge, the police, the social worker and etc. that tell parents that they cannot whip their children. Put the belt back in the home, then the taxpayers will not have to spend millions of dollars building jail houses.
Posted by wjs @ 12:50 AM Sun, Jan 20, 2008
Let's not forget the changing of grades so that students can play sports at Roosevelt.
Since SOC was investigated for their basketball program. I am surprise that the football and basketball program at Roosevelt has not been investigated.
Teachers at Roosevelt are told and sometime pressured into changing grades for students who have failed in classes. This is a common pratice at Roosevelt that needs to be stopped.
Students who don't pass in the classroom should be allowed to pass a ball on the field or on the court. What happen to No Pass/No Play. Only at Roosevelt you get No Pass/Still Play
Stop Giving Students Grades They didn't Earned...
Posted by teacher @ 7:13 AM Sun, Jan 20, 2008
Just a comment to the "Just an Old Lady" poster: usually when a student has a grade below 50 it is due to the students failure to turn in work. As a teacher in the DISD I know what difficulties we face in teaching children who, many times, have not been prepared for school at home. I have been in students' homes who had not a single book, but a plethora of dvds and video games. I am not saying media or poor parenting choices are at the root of all problems, but the research indicates that children who are read to at home will be more successful in the classroom.
As a parent I know how tired "I" get of telling my honors student to turn off the Wii and do his homework! Yet, I hold my child accountable for his choices and grades. This is not a new concept.
Does it make me embarrassed when a student has earned a 50 or less? No, it makes me sad. Sad that a child has so little concern for his own future, sad that his parents, many times, are not instilling in him the commitment to work hard, and sad that I'm working so hard for someone who just doesn't seem to care.
Posted by JR @ 10:43 AM Thu, Jan 24, 2008
I firmly believe that poor grades are a result of variables such as: poor core curriculum, poor instruction, or misalignment to the assessment, poor classroom and behavior management.
When instruction is worksheet-based, the results you get will be poor. Students need concepts presented to them in different forms (Differentiated Instruction) which takes a different type of planning by the teacher. Also using the principles of Universal Design, the teaching and learning cycle would be more effective.
Just because something is "taught" or "covered" does NOT mean it is learned by the students. Low motivation you say? Then find a way to tap into the STUDENTS' interests. Times have changed. Are we trying to teach using outdated methodologies or worse yet- unethical methods? Teachers need to ACTIVELY monitor student learning instead of sitting and grading papers, on the computer, or doing other paperwork that should be reserved for conference time. Also examine any biases you might have for linguistically and culturally diverse students. They don't all learn the same way! Examine your subgroups and see who is benefiting from your instructional practices and who is not.
Like I said, poor grades are a direct result of inadequate instructional practices and lack of student progress monitoring, and poor classroom and behavior management.
Did this message strike a chord? I hope I gave you something to think about...
Posted by teacher @ 8:56 AM Sun, Jan 27, 2008
Obviously, you went to "WOW" trainging? Many teachers design engaging lessons and still have kids not care and fail.