Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/11437
A grading system without D’s High schools in Temecula got rid of D’s about a decade ago, and have A, B, C and F grades only. The decision was made by the school board without any teacher input, says Larry Thompson, a member of the Temecula Valley Educa- tors Association. And the reasoning be- hind the decision, s ays t he English teacher, was extremely flawed. “The school board said, ‘By God, we’re going to raise the bar and the stu- dents will work harder and scores will go up,’” he recalls. “They thought ev- erybody would beat a path to our door because we set a new standard. But nothing like that happened.” What did happen was an exodus of some s tudents b efore g raduation. “We’ve had an explosion in our alter- nat ive e ducation p rograms,” s ays Thompson. “I think much of it can be laid directly at the doorstep of the no- D policy.” The di strict i s n ow considering bringing back the D and is asking for teacher input t his t ime. Thompson serves as a member of the “D Commit- tee.” Students, for the most part, would welcome back the D with open arms. “I’m in favor of bringing back the D,” says 12th-grader Karissa Simmons. “We have to face the fact that not all stu- dents are going to college. Some are struggling with high school, and some will go to a vocational school or into the workforce. Some students I know have quit school over this.” Thompson says that some students have tried harder to avoid failing, but the policy mostly caused grade infla- tion, with a C b ecoming the new D. “There was no data that I can see indi- cating that D students magically be- came C students.” Grade inflation also occurred when a middle school in Beaumont eliminated D’s, says Jenn Latzke, now an English teacher at Beaumont High School. “It became almost like pass/fail,” says Latzke, a BTA member. “I often felt con- flicted when grading. I felt that students were not doing well enough to be given a C and not doing poor enough to be given an F, so I had difficulty deciding which grade to give them based on their RIGHT: English teacher Jean Latzke at Beaumont High School; Temecula Valley Educators Association member Larry Thompson. a student who received the following grades for assignments in this order: C, C, MA (missing assignment), D, C, B, MA, MA, B and A. The educators surveyed gave the hypothetical student final grades ranging from A to F because they used different criteria for grading. Getting educators on the “same page” with grades is challenging but possible, says Jessica Breed, a 10th-grade English teacher at Beaumont High School, where department members jointly decided that teachers should all grade on the same criteria. “There were big differences among teachers on how many points timed essays were worth, how much homework was worth and whether late work should be accepted,” says Breed, a member of the Beaumont Teachers Association (BTA). “Some teachers were accepting late work until the final day of the quarter and some wouldn’t accept work that was even an hour overdue.” After lots of meetings, a uniform grading policy was implemented for English and math teachers. In the English Department, for example, teachers decided major assignments were worth 90 percent of earned credit the first day late and 50 percent of earned credit the next four days. “I think it’s fair when teachers grade the same,” says 10th- grader Kaitlyn Nelson. “Nobody has easier or harder teachers this way and everybody knows what to expect.” “Before, if one teacher accepted late work and another didn’t, it would turn into a big thing,” relates classmate Krystal Johnson. “It’s a pretty good system now.” Breed says teachers are more empowered when they are unified. But she doesn’t foresee a universal grading system happening in California anytime soon. “It was such an effort just getting 15 people to compromise in our department,” she says. “I can’t imagine getting agreement on a consistent grading policy statewide.” MAY 2010 | www.cta.org 13