Dallas schools plan to ease grading standards angers teachers

[Scooter24]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/081508dnmetdisdgrades.48e6cc22.html

Dallas schools plan to ease grading standards angers teachers
12:36 AM CDT on Saturday, August 16, 2008

Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.

The new rules will be distributed when teachers return to their campuses next week. But many who have already seen the regulations say they are too lenient on slackers, and will come at the expense of kids who work hard.

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student's overall average will be thrown out.

...

District records state that the changes are part of a switch to "effort-based" grading and are designed to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate that they've mastered class material.

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Coming to a school district near you!

[JeanGrey]

1. Well, public school continues it's slide into the dump.

Geesh......................

[d_b]

2. "pretty soon

all you're going to need to get into college is a fucking pencil!" -- George Carlin

[jody]

3. Students who learn those bad habits at an early age are not viable employees. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. It's a yoyo issue

Back in the 80s districts did this. We also couldn't retain kids unless the parents agreed. Then the accountability movement kicked in and we started holding the kids accountable and we could retain them even if the parent disagreed. Now we are bouncing back to going easy on them.

Give this a few years and we'll be back to the way it was before. :crazy:

[Mind_your_head]

5. It's "Texas", no surprise ......

It could have been Flori-duh, though....

The DUMB states.

[Hangingon]

6. Look at the good side....

More students for private and parochial schools. More middle class flight to sane school districts. Good teachers going leaving for jobs in the suburban districts.

[CRK7376]

7. I used to teach in a pilot

program my system ran for a few years in the 90's for high school kids. I was the first teacher to leave the team. Too wishy-washy for them I guess.....I agreed to give kids extra work, plenty of time to make up missed assignments, redo tests and quizes etc...all the stuff they thought would help the kids master the work. What a total failure! All it did was tell the kids they didn't have to work and would still get promoted, graduate etc....I believe in teaching tough, hold my standards and expectations high. I did not buckle to the teams wishes, so I left the team. Good riddance too. Like the people and most of the kids, but some figured out the system, knew that nothing would happen to them if the assignment was not turned it...Glad I'm no longer part of that world. I miss teaching and will return to it someday, but for now...I'm glad I'm not having to lie through my teeth or have my grades changed just to make a student feel better....

[LWolf]

8. I guess it depends on what the grade measures.

If the grade measures demonstrated mastery of standards, that would be fine. As long as students who have not demonstrated that mastery get the "F." Of course, what to do with them then? And, of course, as long as there is a reasonable deadline in place before the end of the term.

Usually, though, grades are a combination; they measure what the student has learned, and that includes work and study habits. You know: the skills that directly affect success or failure in the workplace.

It's not exactly a picnic when a large number of slackers decide to dump a term's worth of "evidence" on a teacher the day before report cards are due.

Do you really think we're going to do some sort of marathon with no sleep to try to evaluate that evidence in time for the grade?

Deadlines are reality.

[Ka hrnt]

9. Geez.....

The school I used to teach at basically does this already in a "Credit Recovery Lab", aka "Graduation lab." Having a student utterly fail and then "make up" the class with a "C" in 1-3 weeks was not uncommon. My theory was the idiot administrators wanted their graduation rate to look good, damn the consequences. (These were the same administrators who handed me FCAT materials and told me to my face, "You are to teach to this test."... :eyes:

Grade inflation, graduation inflation. On the one hand, it's sad and disgusting. On the other, that's the way our "accountability" system is now rigged; you gotta have high graduation rates. As far as the people running (too many? Most? ALL?) our schools, it appears that getting a degree is more important than earning one.

[jody]

10. "ease grading standards" is the only option for students who won't or can't learn if graduation is

the only measure of a school's success.

That's just one more step toward the U.S. becoming a second world country.

[Goblinmonger]

11. OK, I'll be devil's advocate

What is the purpose of an assignment? For the student to demonstrate that they have learned something and/or that they can do a specific task? Or is it for the student to demonstrate that they can do something at a specific time?

I think it is ridiculous to say that this comes "at the expense of kids who work hard." How is that true. Are you going to bring down the grade of the student who "works hard"? No. You are just giving opportunities to the other students to demonstrate understanding of standards.

Our school has instituted an academic detention. If a student does not hand in an assignment, they have to spend time after school each day working on that assignment until they get it done. Seems reasonable to me. What is the alternative? Give the kid a zero and have them flunk so they can do it one more time? What if a kid gets a zero on a major assignment early in the quarter and they then know that their quarter is pointless? Is that kid going to be more motivated to learn than under a "you can still get it in" system? No. They are going to quit working. No student that doesn't get assignments in gets a zero and then says, "Oh my god, I got a zero. I now see the light and shall never do that again."