No-Fail" grading policies may be flunked
Conservative prognosticators in Austin have been wondering for at least a month why Republican Rob Eisslers House Public Education Committee has been hearing so many liberal-leaning bills and passing them up to the House floor for adoption.
Granted theres certainly been items already accomplished by Chairman Eissler & his Committee thatll improve Texas education but today finally it appears House Public Ed is set to hear what is shaping up to be one of the most impactful pieces of legislation this Session Senate Bill 2033 by Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville).
Senator Nelson as a former State Board of Education (SBOE) member & now Senator has long been one of the states leading education champions and with SB 2033 is bringing to light what many parents and voters thought was an already deceased practice the passing on of kids from grade to grade even after they had not passed their TAKS tests.
Earlier this year Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott asked a conference of teachers how many worked in schools with what are known as minimum grade policies".
I was shocked" said Scott recently in testimony before a Senate committee. Half of the hands in the room went up!"
Imagine that a student turns in a homework assignment and its a blank piece of paper with only a name on it. What grade does that student deserve? In several school districts across Texas that student would receive no less than a 50 60 or in some cases 70 because of policies that restrict a teachers grading authority.
As a former teacher Nelson says I was appalled to learn how widespread these policies have become in our state. Dallas Fort Worth Arlington Plano Azle and Wichita Falls school districts are among a growing number of districts with such policies in place. At individual school campuses teachers report that their principals have instituted unwritten rules that prevent them from giving failing grades to students."
Minimum grade policies" undermine the authority and professional judgment of Texas teachers. They reward underachievement. They send a terrible message to students that as they grow into adulthood they will not be held accountable for their actions.
The Dallas Morning News recently did a commendable job of explaining Minimum grade policies".
Austin should flunk no-fail grading Consider three students from the same 8th-grade English class given the same reading comprehension homework: The first kid flops in front of the TV goes out with friends and finally just blows off the work. The second kid forgets until the morning its due copies a few paragraphs from Cliffs Notes and submits it as his own. The third student reads the assigned chapters struggles with much of it and despite writing and rewriting turns in a substandard essay.
Does each student deserve the same grade? (No this is not a multiple-choice question.)
Yet thats where some Texas school districts including Dallas and Plano are heading. Instead of a blown-off assignment or plagiarism going down as a zero these districts are setting minimums of 50 (even 70!) as the grading floor.
Supporters insist a zero puts a student so far in the hole that he has little chance to bring up his overall grade to passing and that failing classes only leads more students to quit school. Its de-motivating one said. The goal they say should be to give as many kids as possible every reason to stay in school although even proponents have no evidence that no-fail grading lowers dropout numbers.
Concludes the Morning News editorial: Another way to look at it: Higher dropout numbers hurt school accountability rankings and thats bad for the adults who run school districts."
SB 2033 would end no-fail grading policies in Texas and require each school district to adopt written grading policies so parents know how their children are being evaluated. It also prohibits policies that prevent teachers from assigning grades below an artificial minimum. These policies are detrimental to public education & need to be reversed.
The Texas Senate unanimously approved SB 2033 recently with the full support of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association the Association of Texas Professional Educators American Federated Teachers Texas State Teachers Association and the Texas Association of Business.
Said Senator Nelson If school districts wont do away with no-fail grading the Legislature must step in to do it for them."
And as for those wondering about the nature of all the bills being brought out of left-field for consideration on the House floor these days said The Lone Star Times Paid Volunteers? Good grief. I thought the Texas House had more Republicans than it apparently does. Whats with all of the Democratic sponsored bills passing?"
