A for Effort

Dallas ISD has introduced new rules for teachers to grade by -- rules that require teachers to give extra opportunities to submit late work unrelated to an absence, that allow students to retake all flunked tests with the higher grade being recorded, and that limit the lowest grade given to a 50 (even if no work is turned in).

The idea behind the new rules is that students who make a grade lower than 50 lose their motivation to improve and end up dropping out of school. By putting the emphasis on mastering the content of classes, rather than punishing students for poor behavior (the behavior here being a lack of responsibility in getting work in on time and a lack of discipline in studying), administration hopes to reduce the number of students dropping out of school.

Keeping kids in school is important goal, but simply renaming "fail" to "pass" doesn't better prepare students for anything.

Sources:
New Grading Rules Memo (pdf file), on the Dallas Morning News Education Blog
"DISD defends changes in grading policy", Dallas Morning News, 16 Aug 2008
"Teachers give Dallas ISD's new grading rules an F", Dallas Morning News, 15 Aug 2008