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| Are students getting a free ride? As districts grant students 50-point 'gifts' on report cards, local unions raise concerns 
June 2 , 2004 Syracuse teacher Don Little, adviser to Nottingham’s National Honor Society, meets with students, from left, Zufar Shahren, Margaret Agyepong, Yucif Altheblah, Sheena Oglesby and Justin Lynch. Thirty miles west of Syracuse, Auburn teachers are challenging a newly imposed district policy that gives students a minimum grade of 50 regardless of their attendance, test scores, class participation or lack thereof. Auburn, with some 5,200 students, joins the ranks of Syracuse and Niagara Falls — other districts that this year have implemented policies that guarantee students minimum grades. Teachers are already under pressure to play a numbers game since high-stakes tests can determine whether a student repeats a year or whether their school lands on academic probation. "We know the rationale behind the district advancing this policy, but it literally destroys the trust between the student and teacher of honest assessment," said Sally Jo Widmer, president of the 670- member Auburn Teachers Association. Some educators worry the 50-point minimum granted to every student in grades 7-12 gives kids an excuse not to work. And teachers in several districts with minimum grading policies say they've witnessed students "coasting" on the gift 50. "At the end of the first marking period, we had dozens of students who received a grade of 50 who had never turned in any homework, never taken a test or been present for a class, and could not have been accurately assessed by the teacher," Widmer said. And "we have students who have successfully completed the first three marking periods and they are, with pen and pencil, calculating how little work they can do and still receive a passing grade." The union is pressing an academic freedom grievance through arbitration after the school board rejected its argument that the 50-point gift violates a contract provision giving teachers responsibility for setting grading standards. "These new standards would prevent teachers for the first five marking periods from giving students an accurate assessment of their work," Widmer said. Superintendent's edict In the large western New York district of Niagara Falls, a minimum 50 policy was imposed in the middle of last school year. "This was just an edict from the superintendent," said Joe Catalano, president of the 1,300-member Niagara Falls Teachers. After the local objected to the change, the administration compromised by requiring the 50-point minimum for only the first half of this school year. In the third and fourth marking periods, students receive the actual grade earned. The practice, touted by some administrators as a means of motivating low-achieving students to stay in school, may do the exact opposite. Several teachers said it strips them of a major part of their role in the classroom — honestly assessing students. "We don't think it sends an accurate message to parents or students about what the child is actually doing," said Kate McKenna, president of the 3,600-member Syracuse TA. Syracuse has long had a middle-level policy saying students may not receive a grade below 50, McKenna said. In September, the policy was extended to high school students. An asterisk on the report card informs parents that the student's actual grade may be below 50. The policies may create another problem — teachers feeling pressured to bump up a student's grade to passing. "At the middle school level we were under great pressure to pass the students," McKenna said. "Now high school teachers may find themselves under the same difficulty." At Syracuse 's Henninger High School, "that's the slippery slope that we've been fearing," said Val Carr, an 11th-grade social studies teacher and building rep with the Syracuse TA. "(Some) administrators are asking the nontenured teachers to consider bumping it to a 65 in the case of a student who is really trying." NYSUT First Vice President Antonia Cortese said, "As New York state challenges students to meet the highest academic standards in the nation, we must be vigilant in defending the integrity of grades and the central role of teachers in assessing student progress," she said. "A minimum grade policy should only be adopted when teachers support it." Where it works Many of the state's more than 900 districts have some type of minimum grading policy. Several educators New York Teacher interviewed said their policies are not problematic because they are limited and work as a wake-up call. Some examples:
"About 71 percent of kids are involved in sports or extracurricular activities," Dabill said. "Last year we had a 90 percent Regents graduation rate. One of the things that helped was an 'academic ineligible' policy. If you're failing two classes, you are ineligible to participate in extracurricular sports. It really motivates the students." Passing at the high school is 65. At the middle school, where passing is 70, students who are failing are not allowed to attend dances or participate in extracurricular activities like ski club. "A certain number of students are kind of in between and that motivates them to stay off the ineligible list," said Sylvia Smyntek-Gworek, a seventh-grade English teacher. "I do like the policy. Part of it is it doesn't close the door," Smyntek-Gworek said. "The truth is somebody can pull himself out of a tremendous hole."
Local policy The State Education Department leaves most of the decisions on course grades, including whether to use number or letter grades or minimum grading policies to each of the more than 900 school districts statewide. "Grading is indeed a local policy decision," said Anne Schiano, assistant director of SED's Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Instructional Technology. "The department does not prescribe, recommend or review local grading policies." An exception, Schiano said, is with the use of Regents Exam results. "We have indicated to districts that passing a Regents test does not automatically mean a student passes a course. We've made it clear that students cannot 'coast' for a year, take the Regents, and then claim to have passed the course if they pass the Regents," Schiano said. "They can get Regents credit, yes; but they don't automatically get course credit ... that remains a local decision." Current high school seniors must score at least 55 on five Regents exams in order to graduate. In New York City there is no citywide minimum grade, though some high schools have such policies in place, said Frank Volpicella, United Federation of Teachers' high school vice president. "The key thing is that it's not a mandate coming from the department of education," Volpicella said. Policy vs. practice Superintendents in Auburn and Niagara Falls have said the rationale behind the minimum grade policy is to motivate students who might think their situation is hopeless. Receiving a grade below 50 — even if it is justified — "puts them so far in a hole they can never see themselves making enough progress to climb out of that hole and pass the course," Auburn Superintendent John B. Plume told The Post Standard. Carmen Granto, superintendent of Niagara Falls schools, told the Buffalo News, "The whole idea is you can't bury the kid in a hole he can't recover from." But teachers report unintended consequences from the 50-point gift. Auburn 's John Patterson sees the results in his 11th-grade English class: "I've had students come right out and tell me, 'I don't have to work very hard, at least for the first couple marking periods.'" Ron Barstys, dean of students at Niagara Falls , said he sees increased behavioral problems, including more students wandering the halls and skipping class. "I literally have kids take 10 weeks off from phys ed," Barstys said. Morale Patterson, a 31-year veteran and member of the Auburn TA, and Ric Marasco, a Niagara Falls social studies teacher, both said student morale becomes an issue. "There is a certain amount of resentment from students who honestly come by a 50 by putting forth the effort toward somebody who goes through the motions and doesn't care," Marasco said. Similarly, "I had two kids who just weren't very good at spelling or vocabulary. I went out of my way to make certain they realize that I understand the effort they were putting forth," Patterson said. "I just don't want them giving up. I make sure they realize it's a school policy, not my policy. Marasco, a 14-year veteran and member of the Niagara Falls TA, said the policy takes a powerful bargaining chip away from teachers: "If a student fails miserably the first 10 weeks, as a teacher I can pull that student aside and say, 'If you show me improvement I can change that first grade.' That gives them some incentive to improve." Don Little, a social studies teacher at Nottingham High School in Syracuse , worries about the message the policy sends to parents. "Kids who didn't do anything before the 50 don't do anything after the 50. You cannot make a grade motivate a kid," Little said. "I almost feel like it's a lie. A 50 says you're halfway to perfection but that 50 could be a 6. As cold and hard as a 6 is, a 6 tells a parent how little their child is doing." In Val Carr's classes at Henninger High School in Syracuse , the policy has helped one student this year. "She failed the first two marking periods, she got interested and did well the third marking period, was quite successful the fourth marking period and is doing well the fifth marking period and is going to pass," Carr said. But Carr said that had she been able to exercise her own judgment as a teacher, the student still would have passed the course. "That's what upsets teachers — that it's a requirement now and the teacher's judgment in the use of a minimum 50 is completely discounted. We have no choice now." Widmer of Auburn and Barstys of Niagara Falls agreed. "We believe that no teacher attempts to set up a student for failure," Widmer said. "I haven't ever come across a teacher that used grades as a punitive factor; it's quite the opposite," said Barstys. "They use grades as a motivating factor to give the kid the chance to make up the work. Now that's not an option." As Auburn presses its grievance, there's also movement in Niagara Falls , where Superintendent Granto in late May submitted to the school board a recommendation by the high school teachers to end the practice of required minimums. Syracuse 's McKenna relates the situation to a question posed by the late Al Shanker, legendary president of the American Federation of Teachers: "Does it count?" "If we keep telling kids that attendance doesn't count and doing your work doesn't count, how do we expect them to be successful?" said McKenna. — Clarisse Butler
"The union position is grading should be up to each teacher." • Joe Catalano
"A student who comes every day might get the same grade of 50, without the asterisk, as a student who never comes to school." • Kate McKenna
"Educators are between a rock and a hard place when developing promotional policies. Neither social promotion nor retention is without its drawbacks." • Michelle Bodden
What students say Some Nottingham High School students discuss the new policy in Syracuse awarding a "minimum 50" grade: Jackie Stone: It doesn't make any sense. Generally if you do the work you will at least get a 70. Maxwell Akuamoah-Boateng: It's not fair because if you do that someone could just work for the first marking periods and slack off. Desiree Halbert: Is the point of the 50 to have more kids pass? If you really get a 50, then your other grades are not going to do that well, anyways. |
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