Dallas changes in grading policy

[patriot45]

I remember the good old days of trying to hide or change an f on my report cards! A was good, F was bad.
Read this article and roll your eyes

Creating DUmmies

!Dallas school superintendent Michael Hinojosa and two trustees defended new classroom grading rules Friday, and urged teachers and parents to learn more about the requirements before dismissing them as misguided.


DISD plan to ease grading standards angers teachers
Teachers have derided the new rules as being too lenient on lazy students by requiring teachers to accept late work, give retests to students who fail and force teachers to drop homework grades that would drag down a student's class average.

But Dr. Hinojosa asked teachers and parents to consider that in the long run the rules will help more students succeed.

Here are the new rules.

•Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."

•Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.

•Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.

•Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make "efforts to assist students in completing the work."

•High school teachers who fail more than 20 percent of their students will need to develop a professional improvement plan and will be monitored by their principals. For middle school the rate is 15 percent; for elementary it's 10 percent.

The dumbing down of America continues.

[Gingersnap]

This is amusing. I'm guessing the superintendent has been locked into a union job slot for years and so has little or no experience with the business world.

In my world failure to complete assignments adequately and on time results in dismissal. We don't give "do-overs" because we don't have the time or money for it and it would annoy our clients. You don't get to drop items from your performance review that reflect badly on you.

For every employee that I ever fired, I've had well over 100 applicants for that job as soon as it was announced. Employees may have to live with workplace standards and rules but employers don't have to live with temperamental, lazy employees.

This is something schoolteachers may not understand anymore.

[lacarnut]

This could be a type of school Eyelids graduated from or aspires to teach at. :eek::eek::eek:

[Chuck58]

Sounds like some of the teachers understand the new policy. It's getting ridiculous.

I was evaluated yearly, and if up for promotion received an additional evaluation and then another at 6 months into the promotion. If they'd been bad, bye bye promotion and maybe job.

A lot of today's kids are shocked when they hit the real world. Employers aren't and can't be lenient. I think kids go into the world thinking they're going to change it to fit their needs.

It's a helluva shock to suddenly discover that you just don't waltz into a job, unless daddy owns the company. You compete against other applicants and, in some cases, just how you fill out an application counts. You'd be surprised how many kids can't even do that right, or do it legibly.

[NonConformist]

WTF?

Do they think chances like that will occur in College or in Work.

[noonwitch]

Do over tests are okay under certain circumstances, so I wouldn't want a school district to have a policy that forbid them, but it is not good to have the opposite policy, that gives every student a chance to retake any test he or she fails.


I had an 8th grade english teacher who gave the spelling test 2 times-once on Wednesdays and once on Fridays. If you got 100% on Wednesday, you didn't have to take the test on Friday. That was just her policy-she figured if you had to take it twice, you'd remember it better.

I would have loved the homework policy-it only counts if it raises the overall grade. Who is going to do it, then? The high achievers will find other things to do with their time, and the kids who are having problems and most need to do the assignments won't do them, since it won't change their grades.

Here's my suggested policy, as opposed to only giving a 0 with parental permission-let's only promote kids after their parents have either attended conferences, or discussed the kid's progress with the teacher at a meeting or on the phone.

[enslaved1]

This is amusing. I'm guessing the superintendent has been locked into a union job slot for years and so has little or no experience with the business world.

In my world failure to complete assignments adequately and on time results in dismissal. We don't give "do-overs" because we don't have the time or money for it and it would annoy our clients. You don't get to drop items from your performance review that reflect badly on you.

For every employee that I ever fired, I've had well over 100 applicants for that job as soon as it was announced. Employees may have to live with workplace standards and rules but employers don't have to live with temperamental, lazy employees.

This is something schoolteachers may not understand anymore.

Sorry this is not amusing it is disgusting. I had a teacher last year call me and tell me that my 8th grader hadn't turned in an assignment. I said "and the problem is?" "Well, I don't like giving out zeros, and wanted to know how we can take care of this." He had been given the assignment, reminded of the assignment at home and school, even given more time to turn in the assignment. He did not. And this stupid teacher didn't want to give him a zero. I told her to give him the zero and he had to accept the consequences of his actions.

I have seen and heard enough of this garbage, lowering standards, emphasizing teamwork and process over getting the right answers, building self-esteem at the cost of actual education and all the other liberal manure that is rampant in our schools. These are the kids who will be our nurses, doctors, police officers, politicians, ect when we get old, and personally I don't want any of those or a hundred other positions that will have some form of power over my life in the hands of some little idiot who was given a dozen chances to pass a test, not given less than passing grades because it wouldn't encourage them to try anymore (another part of this plan that wasn't quoted) or allowed to pass because they played well with others, not because they got any knowledge out of their schooling.

Sorry, I have four kids, and my wife and I have to work very hard to undo much of the garbage they are fed at school. And yes private or homeschooling would be preferred, but we haven't been able to come up with the funds.

[CLibertarian]

Do over tests are okay under certain circumstances, so I wouldn't want a school district to have a policy that forbid them, but it is not good to have the opposite policy, that gives every student a chance to retake any test he or she fails.


I had an 8th grade english teacher who gave the spelling test 2 times-once on Wednesdays and once on Fridays. If you got 100% on Wednesday, you didn't have to take the test on Friday. That was just her policy-she figured if you had to take it twice, you'd remember it better.

I would have loved the homework policy-it only counts if it raises the overall grade. Who is going to do it, then? The high achievers will find other things to do with their time, and the kids who are having problems and most need to do the assignments won't do them, since it won't change their grades.

Here's my suggested policy, as opposed to only giving a 0 with parental permission-let's only promote kids after their parents have either attended conferences, or discussed the kid's progress with the teacher at a meeting or on the phone.

My son is in 3rd grade and they have the same policy for spelling tests. If they have an excused absence on a due date, they will accept the work a day later or allow make ups for quizzes/tests given on that day. Otherwise, they have to meet the standards and due dates.

Your last paragraph sounds good but, uninvolved parents probably wouldn't pay any attention to it anyway. If they actaully have a crappy teacher with tenure, that teacher could exploit such a thing to their crappy advantage. However, it simply blows me away that some parents wouldn't try to be involved. My wife and I both attend parent/teacher meetings twice per school year that are regularly scheduled. You even stated alternatives to having a face-to-face meeting in the event that the parents have reasonable obligations that wouldn't allow for such a meeting.

I guess that there is a part of me that resists the state imposing such things on a family. A few years back, I remember reports that some Chicago schools were actually planning on issuing parent grade cards. Of course, one would have to remind the school personnel who is working for who. Of course, the teachers didn't like the idea of parents being able to return the favor and fill out grade cards for the teachers.

Back to the OP. Such policies are just too rediculous to believe but, it is happening and the results will not be inprovement.

[CLibertarian]

Sorry this is not amusing it is disgusting. I had a teacher last year call me and tell me that my 8th grader hadn't turned in an assignment. I said "and the problem is?" "Well, I don't like giving out zeros, and wanted to know how we can take care of this." He had been given the assignment, reminded of the assignment at home and school, even given more time to turn in the assignment. He did not. And this stupid teacher didn't want to give him a zero. I told her to give him the zero and he had to accept the consequences of his actions.

I have seen and heard enough of this garbage, lowering standards, emphasizing teamwork and process over getting the right answers, building self-esteem at the cost of actual education and all the other liberal manure that is rampant in our schools. These are the kids who will be our nurses, doctors, police officers, politicians, ect when we get old, and personally I don't want any of those or a hundred other positions that will have some form of power over my life in the hands of some little idiot who was given a dozen chances to pass a test, not given less than passing grades because it wouldn't encourage them to try anymore (another part of this plan that wasn't quoted) or allowed to pass because they played well with others, not because they got any knowledge out of their schooling.

Sorry, I have four kids, and my wife and I have to work very hard to undo much of the garbage they are fed at school. And yes private or homeschooling would be preferred, but we haven't been able to come up with the funds.

Fortunately, our local elementary school is still controlled by the parents. The teachers and parents tend to be fairly conservative and believe in promoting success while not promoting failure. They will also work closely together to avoid student failure. That's the way that it should be. Is it perfect? No. However, it works better than the anti-family socialist school system just to the north of us.