If Dallas is the one to start this then where will it go from here? They started the school year of 2008-09 by implementing a “crazy new grading system” which most definitely sends out the wrong message to students.
The school board has decided that it is not fair to punish the students for some of the following:
- Turning in late papers or refusing to accept them
- Not allowing them to retest when they fail
- Keeping homework scores that cause their grades to drop
These are just a few of the things that teachers are not allowed to do now. In fact, the district is saying that students should not be punished for these things because the homework is “busy work” so it is not fair to fail them for that.
They are even saying that they believe students will now definitely succeed because they have the opportunity to not fail and students can get it right. So, there will be consistency of these rules implemented across the district to every student therefore parents can expect the same from all of the teachers. The expectation is that it will provide stability to those who find themselves changing school mid-year.
The idea is that these new rules are aimed at the alarming failure rate especially among the ninth-graders and the fact that roughly 20 percent of them fail to advance to the 10th grade. In fact, they are also basing this on the research that ninth-graders who are failing two or more classes in the first six weeks of high school are almost doomed to become dropouts.
The teachers are protesting because they say the above statistics has nothing to do with them dropping out, they say it has to do with their reading skills. In 2007, 80 percent of them scored below the 40 percentile mark however the promotional rate for them passing from eighth grade for that same class was 98 percent. So, there is definitely something wrong with the picture.
The problem is this: while we can go on making all of the allowances and excuses in the book for them to turn in everything when they feel like it, not do homework if they don’t want to and just retake the test if you fail, at the end of the day…they still have to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test (TAKS).
So, how will they get around that one?
About the author
Wynelle Burns is a motivational speaker, mentor, trainer & empowerer of youth leadership helping them discover their purpose in life and for over 35 years has been a missionary to youth in Latin America & the Caribbean. She has appeared on networks of television shows including TBN and Enlace (Spanish Christian TV). She received an award for the “Most Outstanding Woman of the Year” in 1988 for her ministry to youth.
Wynelle speaks, reads & writes fluent Spanish serving as a translator for the Juvenile Courts of Texas which enabled her to be more effective with the youth of today. Wynelle is now hosting her own television program for young people in both Spanish and English.
