View from the Corner Room

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday September 23, @11:26PM
from the think-of-the-children dept.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials have enacted a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work. District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester. The district and teachers union issued a joint memo to ensure staff members’ compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. At this rate, it won’t be long before schools institute double extra credit Mondays and Fridays to ensure students don’t take three day weekends.

So where are we headed?  Would this policy work at your school or district or classroom?

Does it make sense in the long term or is it a short term fix for students who are not meeting the goals of the school?

Are there not other ways get students to invest in their learning that might be more meaningful?

What is the “value” of a grade?     Especially if it is artificially set!

I personally don’t like the solution that they have arrived at but on a district wide, urban setting I certainly see that the options are limited. School size and class size playing a larger part I am sure. As I sit here with my class of 18 students I realized that we are fortunate to have a setting where we can avoid a policy like this. Our situation allows us to intervene in a more personal basis and that is the bottom line. If we can get to a personal 1to1 or small group setting the issues of students giving up due to grades is greatly reduced.