50 is the new 0
Is 50 is the new 0?, writes Kate Stoltzfus on Education Week Teacher. Schools in Maryland and Virginia are implementing “no zero” policies to make it harder for students to fail, reports the Washington Post. Often, the minimum grade is 50...Yep.
Making 50 the minimum grade lowers the drop-out rate and keeps struggling students from giving up, argue advocates. Students are evaluated on learning, rather than behavior.
However, some teachers hate the idea. Say “no” to no-zero grading, argued teacher Gina Caneva in Catalyst Chicago.
When her high school made 50 the minimum grade, attendance at tutoring sessions plummeted. The F students had become D students. “Since few students were truly failing, hardly anyone thought they needed to work hard to improve,” wrote Caneva. The school’s rating rose because more students were on track for graduation, but students’ test scores remained low.
When homework goes wrong
When homework goes wrong, parents should remember three rules, writes K.J. Dell’Antonia in Medium.Double yep.
If it seems like an unreasonable assignment, consider the possibility “that the reading assignment was given last week, not last night, or that the project was discussed in the first week of class,” writes Dell’Antonia. Or your kid got it wrong.1. It’s not yours.2. What kids learn from homework is rarely on the worksheet.3. You don’t want to make tonight’s homework better. You want to make ALL the homework better.
These two columns define my life in a nutshell. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make sure that I don't assign unnecessary busy work. I have pared down my 1600 page Art History book to the critical topics that I know will be on the AP test in May. I've designed all kinds of collaborative projects to mitigate the low grades they get on tests. The problem is I can't get them to read-and this includes about 40% of my kids who are identified GT. Since other classes smooth the path through a variety of gimmicks and games, the idea of actually reading and writing about a topic is as alien to them as if I had asked them to perform magic. What is worse, parents will actively campaign against teachers, never admitting that maybe their child is wrong. Just today our best AP Spanish teacher-one who has had 100% pass rate for six years-had to call a parent because her son had written answers on his thigh which was covered by his shorts. He actually had to get the student on the phone to tell his mom he cheated because she didn't believe the teacher when she received the email. There was a time when parents didn't automatically lawyer up and deny what another adult is telling them about their child. Those days are gone.
ReplyDelete