Earlier this week, my school admin announced a policy that teachers are no longer permitted to input a grade below 70 for any assignment for the rest of the year. They are saying that this requirement comes from district leadership, but the manual they cite as a source says nothing about requiring a minimum assignment grade. I wish they would just come right out and say "We will socially promote all of our students regardless of their actual achievement." Opinions on a minimum grade this high?

I realize you work for them too and this isn’t meant to be a slam on you or their educators in that area but really? That’s ridiculous they’re trying to enforce that. It’s like they are trying to make the school look better or in other wards stating our students succeed therefore our staff are excellent at their job. Don’t get me wrong some students and parent don’t really seem to care about their child’s education but some children have issues learning because they aren’t taught in a way that makes a specific learning actually click in their head. I’ve worked in many different and challenging school systems in various counties and have learned to do what is needed and put that child’s learning 1st. Doing as the leaders in that corporation are asking is only going to harm those children’s future achievements if they are already getting off on a bad foot because they do not fully understand a specific material that continues on with even more difficulty the following year. They aren’t doing those children any favors and if my child were in a class such as that and I was told they did well at a specific learning when they may not have even had a clue… It would eventually come out and those parents who really cared but it had slipped past their child and later caused them to be even more confused or lost in the system would make me as a parent and an educator lose all faith in my own local school system. No child should be left behind and that type of policy does leave those children behind with every false grade recorded.
Sorry if this is harsh but I think you can understand too.

They just want their numbers to look good instead of actually being fair or helping the students. Nobody (hopefully) wants to fail anybody on any assignment, so if someone gets below 70 that’s sad for us too and it’s for a good reason.

So if we continue the “participation” awards through high school, at what point in life will they really learn the expectations of adulting? Are high schools becoming “diploma mills,” publishing certificates not worth the paper upon which they are printed? If you show up at a job but do not produce or work in real life you don’t get paid and/or get replaced by somebody who will. Add this to the list of things that public education has messed up and will take two generations to fix (if it can be fixed).

I don't give grades, the kids earn their grade. If they don't turn in the work, they get a zero. If they do a poor job, they get a poor grade, do good work, they earn a good grade.

If our school ever instituted this policy, I'd get written up for sure. I will do whatever I can to help a student earn a good grade, but I will not teach a child that poor performance earns a reward. To me that insults the student as well as myself.

Personally I would not comply and let them change the grade. If it is not in the policy then why do it. If the students are not turning and earning at least the grade you give then they deserve a 0.

Ugh! How infuriating. That happened to us once. We changed the grades and handed over our integrity. It was horrible. It didn’t happen again though- only once. Perhaps the powers that be will see it is not effective.

The pressure to make sure graduation rates meet the quotas set by the state are very real. There are arguments to be had that "class promotion, compensates for deficiencies earlier in the education process." Others argue that "we aren't helping students by class promotion we are only setting them up to fail." In the end some districts argue that "if we don't get the number up no one will graduated from this school for it will be closed down." There are those arguing that if the public school system fails then only the rich will get an education. As for me, I think the quote by Ray Stevens says it all, "I just sing my little song do my little dance."

I also own a business outside of working for a school. If I had an employee who delivered substandard results, and refused to put the effort in to improve, that employee would be let go because they are more of a liability to the company's existence than if they were kept on. If the employee just could not handle the assigned tasks, but was trying their hardest to learn to do the job right, I'd put more effort into helping them achieve the skills needed to be the performer that they want to be. The real world has consequences for how much effort you put into your job. School must prepare kids to understand this.

Tell us the name of your school, please. 😄