View Full Version : Not all Cumberland County teachers like minimum grade policy for failing students
Not all Cumberland County teachers like minimum grade policy for failing students
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012/01/22/1151627?sac=Local
What's the lowest score Little Johnny can get in the CC Schools during the first grading period? 60% - of course.
"Some teachers have mixed feelings about a new Cumberland County schools policy that sets a floor for students' grades in the first half of a course.
Under the policy, students in elementary and high schools can get no lower than a 60 in the first two quarters. Middle school students can get no lower than a 65......"
Come on we have set up a system or better a society that only knows it is a winner. Everyone wins when they are playing Rec Baseball or Soccer. So why not take that idea straight into CCSD great education system?!?!?
Why not just give every kid a 75% as passing. Why make it a 60%.
Under the policy, students in elementary and high schools can get no lower than a 60 in the first two quarters. Middle school students can get no lower than a 65......"
In this digital age we need to think binary,, 1's & 0's ,, pass & fail..
In this digital age we need to think binary,, 1's & 0's ,, pass & fail..
That was a math class I had to take in the early 80's. Saw 1's and 0's in my sleep.
It's pretty bad when even Myron Pitts thinks it's a bad idea. He's thoughts were in this morning paper but I couldn't find it online yet.
Its been a while but I'm fairly certain when I was in school 70% was the pass/fail line.... what happened?
I used the following grading system with great success.
I wouldn't give a student a grade lower than 50% (unless they cheated on an exam or plagiarized a paper) for the following reasons:
Many things happen in student's lives, and school is not always the most important thing going on and they cannot always get things done IAW your time schedule. Learning to prioritize tasks and balance your life is an important life lesson.
A 50% is still a failing grade and a student, with diligent effort, can generally work to overcome such a grade over an average grading period, if desired.
A lower grade accomplishes little to nothing more and generally has the opposite desired effect on students - a sense of "Why should I now even try because it won't matter anyway."
For one such grade per grading period, I would allow a student to re-do an assignment for the opportunity to earn a maximum of a 70% and replace the 50% for that one assignment.
I saw many students who could do outstanding on their classwork, homework, and papers, who could sit and talk in depth about the course's material during classroom discussions and in one-on-one conversations, but for any number of reasons (test anxiety, processing speed, etc) would 'bomb' an exam and fail a grading period anyway. Giving a 50% (vice a, e.g., scored 35%) on an exam to a student who you know has mastered the material throughout the term shows your understanding of the many issues involved, appreciation for the hard work it took for the student to accomplish what they did during the term, and an understanding that such efforts and the knowledge gained is of value and worth awarding them a low but passing grading period average (I found it usually wound up being somewhere between a 70-80% for the term).
When meeting with parents over grades, I would show them a 50% and tell them that the grade represented my efforts in attempting to allow their student to achieve a 100% - and if their student had done his/her part, that grade would have been higher and we wouldn't be having the discussion.
I was skeptical of such practices at first, but soon found such a grading system was a more developmentally appropriate practice and a far more positive of a motivator for most students, and actually encouraged many students who had suffered little but failure in the perceived 'traditional' grading system to work hard to learn how to learn and to want to do well in school.
And even with such a grading policy, I saw students earn a failing grade.
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
................someone a 60% that they did not earn it belittles the work a poor student did who worked his butt off but could only earn a 62% or 64%.
In the article a number of teachers who disagreed with the new policy were in favor of extra work and make up assignments for students who were failing. Then, at least, the students did at least earn that grade.
It's funny but when D1 and D2 were in public school many was the time a teacher would offer an extra credit assignment. And just about as often the ones who needed it the most din't do it.