Post by ashinyla on Aug 5, 2013 10:13:59 GMT -5
I wasn't sure where to put this topic. I do NOT have thick skin, so I'm avoiding those threads. I know, I know...I'm working on it. 
For the last 2 years, I have been under a new principal since our original school was split in two. He was awesome, and I am so lucky that he was there to stick up for me to parents, to handle my crying jags in his office, and support my educational decisions. I will miss him now that he has changed schools. I loved everything he did for our school, except one thing...
He implemented a grading policy that said no child could receive less than a 50% on any assignment, even if they didn't even do it. As long as they put their name on the paper and turned it in, they got a 50%, even if it was blank. I have major issues with this policy, but I'm a wuss and a coward. As much as I liked this man, I was afraid that something bad would happen to me if I spoke up.
I submitted some anonymous questions through our FAC box, and saw an email he sent to the school regarding the topic. He attached some articles to back up his position, but apparently not many teachers were willing to speak up to him about it, although I know many of them had an issue with this policy. This seems to be the norm for teachers that I know. We don't want to say anything out of fear of something happening to us, even when we probably could have with this man. I eventually submitted this concern to my union, just to see if other schools were doing this, if this was a new county policy I didn't know about, etc. My union didn't do anything at first, and then months later I got an email from the union pres. asking me to send in my staff handbook page (anonymously) with the grading policy on it. Apparently it wasn't a district policy, but more and more schools were doing it and she wanted to file a Class Action Grievance against it. I was scared, and backed out. If my principal had stayed this year, I was going to "man up" and submit data I had collected for the last 2 years to him for review on this topic. Now I just have to wait and see what my new principal will do.
1. What does giving a 50% for nothing teach a child? Nothing in my opinion. You can't get something for nothing in our society, so why do it in school?
2. Why do this? Despite the articles the principal passed on explaining the reasoning, which were more relevant to HS than Elem., why do it? I still can't figure it out.
3. Since the implementation of this policy, I kept 3 grade books. One was Easy Grade Pro on my home computer with the actual scores the child earned based on the normal 0-100 grading scale. The second was the old fashioned paper copy of actual scores, just in case. The third was the online grade book the district required with any grade below a 50% adjusted to 50%. I noticed that the change in some grades made up to a 5% difference in overall grades, and not always for the better. I can't explain why the overall grades would sometimes be worse after adjustment. But this adjustment made the difference between Ds and Cs, or Cs and Bs, and so on.
4. I had one extreme case that particularly bothers me to this day. The boy was an adorable sweetheart, but very low academically. He shouldn't have passed second grade, but that's a whole other can of worms I won't open right now... I was teaching 90 minute blocks, 3 classes a day. I was in charge of Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. L.A each day, Science 3 days a week and SS 2 days a week. By the time of the first report card in science I had 9 grades, which was the accepted policy of 1 graded assignment per week. Would I have wanted more? Sure, but we all know how that goes sometimes... Despite as much help as I could give this poor boy, he still had 2 very low Fs and his average overall was a 55%. Of course, those low Fs had to be made into 50% on the grade book used for the report card, and his overall grade went up to a C. Such a drastic difference!
Thoughts?? I may not have explained everything clearly enough, so let me know if you need more clarification.
For the last 2 years, I have been under a new principal since our original school was split in two. He was awesome, and I am so lucky that he was there to stick up for me to parents, to handle my crying jags in his office, and support my educational decisions. I will miss him now that he has changed schools. I loved everything he did for our school, except one thing...
He implemented a grading policy that said no child could receive less than a 50% on any assignment, even if they didn't even do it. As long as they put their name on the paper and turned it in, they got a 50%, even if it was blank. I have major issues with this policy, but I'm a wuss and a coward. As much as I liked this man, I was afraid that something bad would happen to me if I spoke up.
I submitted some anonymous questions through our FAC box, and saw an email he sent to the school regarding the topic. He attached some articles to back up his position, but apparently not many teachers were willing to speak up to him about it, although I know many of them had an issue with this policy. This seems to be the norm for teachers that I know. We don't want to say anything out of fear of something happening to us, even when we probably could have with this man. I eventually submitted this concern to my union, just to see if other schools were doing this, if this was a new county policy I didn't know about, etc. My union didn't do anything at first, and then months later I got an email from the union pres. asking me to send in my staff handbook page (anonymously) with the grading policy on it. Apparently it wasn't a district policy, but more and more schools were doing it and she wanted to file a Class Action Grievance against it. I was scared, and backed out. If my principal had stayed this year, I was going to "man up" and submit data I had collected for the last 2 years to him for review on this topic. Now I just have to wait and see what my new principal will do.
1. What does giving a 50% for nothing teach a child? Nothing in my opinion. You can't get something for nothing in our society, so why do it in school?
2. Why do this? Despite the articles the principal passed on explaining the reasoning, which were more relevant to HS than Elem., why do it? I still can't figure it out.
3. Since the implementation of this policy, I kept 3 grade books. One was Easy Grade Pro on my home computer with the actual scores the child earned based on the normal 0-100 grading scale. The second was the old fashioned paper copy of actual scores, just in case. The third was the online grade book the district required with any grade below a 50% adjusted to 50%. I noticed that the change in some grades made up to a 5% difference in overall grades, and not always for the better. I can't explain why the overall grades would sometimes be worse after adjustment. But this adjustment made the difference between Ds and Cs, or Cs and Bs, and so on.
4. I had one extreme case that particularly bothers me to this day. The boy was an adorable sweetheart, but very low academically. He shouldn't have passed second grade, but that's a whole other can of worms I won't open right now... I was teaching 90 minute blocks, 3 classes a day. I was in charge of Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. L.A each day, Science 3 days a week and SS 2 days a week. By the time of the first report card in science I had 9 grades, which was the accepted policy of 1 graded assignment per week. Would I have wanted more? Sure, but we all know how that goes sometimes... Despite as much help as I could give this poor boy, he still had 2 very low Fs and his average overall was a 55%. Of course, those low Fs had to be made into 50% on the grade book used for the report card, and his overall grade went up to a C. Such a drastic difference!
Thoughts?? I may not have explained everything clearly enough, so let me know if you need more clarification.
I can see your perspective on things, but I still can't get behind changing the grading scale that the overall district uses, that most of the state and country uses. The 0-100 system has been in place for YEARS. My parents used it, and my grandparents a little bit (although they didn't go past 8th grade...) The way it was used for us is that a kid could doodle on his paper all year and turn it in, but then try on a few items of more importance and still pass with a C. A C in the community where I work is awesome to these families, so no big deal. But fast forward these children to their adult lives. A boss asks them to have something turned in to them by the end of the week. They only put in a little effort, because hey, they skated by in school so why not? How could real life be that much different? News flash: boss hates it and little Johnny gets berated. He is now on the radar if layoffs need to occur, or could be skipped over for bonuses. 
