Notable quotes: No minimum grades requirement

"I don't believe a teacher should be required to give a student a grade above that which the teacher believes the student has earned on anything -- assignments, tests, or report cards." -- Texas Sen.

[40yearsateacher]

The grading process is a method of evaluating what portion of a curriculum a student has mastered during a term. Without grades, students can loaf along, pulling a 60 (in FWISD)regardless of what they do or don't do and then ask for all of their makeup work during the last cycle of a term.

Teachers have dumbed down their curriculum to the lowest common denominator to the point that students who apply themselves can easily achieve a grade of 90 for this third cycle and a passing average for the term is easily achievable. Teachers are actually expected to participate in this farce with a straight face and their integrity put away somewhere.

What's wrong with schools these days? In a word...administrators. Teacher didn't set up this nonsense. Administrators who would rather turn out an inferior product than insist that students excel at their studies or do the course over in the summer are responsible for this.

And this is not a new grading policy...this has been going on since the 70's. No wonder Johnny can't read and colleges need remedial courses.

Good luck getting this really changed.

[Cool Breeze]

"No Child Left Behind" slogan is being replaced by:
"Impossible For a Texas Child To Be Left Behind"

[Loco Local]

But how will EPISD obtain grants and gov't handouts without giving students who don't speak English minimum grades?

[doglover3]

Wait a minute... This policy that is being debated is not new. It has been around for years, and also is quite common. As the parent of a student who really struggles in school, I appreciate its point. If you give a kid a 0 in the first grading period it is mathematically impossible for that student to recover. Do the math - 0, 100, 100 = 200. 200 / 3 equals 66....And that's assuming a perfect 100 in both of the ensuing grading periods.
Policy is there for a reason - like it or not. This policy is a fail safe provision to "stop the bleeding." You want to know the definition of a lazy, uncaring student? How about a kid who messed up the 1st six weeks and figures out he has no mathematical chance of passing for the semester... Good luck with that student.

[40yearsateacher]

Kids who struggle in school should have a failsafe. However, it should be in the form of a final exam. A student should ONLY be given a passing mark if they can PROVE they have mastered the material...in the case of Texas curriculum, the relevant TEKS for that course. Anything less simply becomes part of the problem...not part of the solution.

My own son had trouble with testing throughout most of his public school years. He went on to achieve a PHD in Internation Finance and teaches at a University.

Students can have difficulty in a class, or subject, or year of school for many reasons. Giving them a pass for that material solves nothing. Get them a tutor not a Kings X. A free pass shouldn't be used in school and isn't used where schools are serious about preparing students for WHAT COMES NEXT.

[doglover3]

If a kid gets a zero the first six weeks, even with a tutor, he will fail for the semester. it is basically mathematically impossible for him to raise his grade to pass. I don't understand what all the fuss is about this policy. I would ask for the logic of desiring a system in which a student could reach a point where he could not pass no matter how hard he tried. it's one thing to whoop and holler about "teaching responsibility," but it is quite certainly another matter when you look at individual cases where students mess up and desire to turn it around - they should be given the opportunity. Besides - what's the harm in all of this?? A 50 is a horrid grade. Giving a 50 is quite a failure in and of itself. Many of the writers in this thread are acting like a 50 is 70. It most certainly isn't. It is a very low, failing grade. Again, I just don't see the problem with this policy....

[40yearsateacher]

And I wouldn't either, doglover,...if the 50 were earned. However, in all of my 40 years in the profession I have NEVER observed a student fail MISERABLY (below a 50) if they were truly trying...NEVER! Unfortunately, the general rule is this...there exists many students who, due to homelife, or life in general, decide to do absolutely nothing for a cycle or more...or so close to nothing as to make no measureable difference. Summer school was designed for those students who needed another shot at one or more classes in order to move on in school with their class...for whatever reason. Summer school should be used, today, for just that purpose and supplemented with tutors, both live and on line.

The old saying that a horse can be led to water, but can't be made to drink is still true today. And students must be given the OPPORTUNITY to obtain a world class education. An education still requires active participation on the part of students. That's why charter schools work, for the most part...the students and their parents WANT the educational opportunity they are being offered.

And the final grade should still be an objective measure of the student's mastery of the course work...not a gift to the child who cannot or will not master the subject matter.

[EP Teacher]

It does not say that a student who does absolutely nothing gets a 50. If a student has not turned in 30%(or 1/3) of the grading period's work, then the 50 no longer applies. This rule is only for the students who did some work, but didn't do it well enough. Also, if a student misses more than 4 class periods in one semester, they automatically lose the semester credit for the class regardless what their average is by the end, so if this rule actually helps someone, then great. But for a majority of the "do nothing, skip class" students, it doesn't even help. So you are only talking about a fraction of the kids anyway.

The 50 is still failing which is going to require that the student earn no lower than an 80 for the remainder of the semester to earn a 70 by the end of the semester. Each 6 weeks is 30% and the final exam is 10% to create the semester average. Again, more than 4 absences in the entire semester causes them to lose credit anyway.

Not sure what the issue is. Failing is failing and too many kids drop out anyway. It would be nice to help those who truly need it.

[40yearsateacher]

In Fort Worth ISD a student who misses most or all of an entire cycle (six weeks) will still receive a 50 during the first two cycle of a term. And students who miss...who SHOULD fail to get credit for a term due to absences...still manage to get credit...somehow. When it is more important to the district to eliminate the appearance of failure, or TRY to eliminate the appearance of dropouts, or whatever crosses their minds...rules are only made to be broken or to be so severely bent as to make the rules totally useless.

And yet, in the face of all this, teachers remain remarkably positive and still strive for excellence or at least some measureable improvement each and every day.

It is a remarkable and noteworthy thing to behold.