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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"Could anyone expain the 50% rule?"

I'll do you one better, I'll show you the actual language that is in the MCPS Grading and Reporting document:

"Assigning a grade lower than 50 percent to a task/assessment [is prohibited].  However, if a student does no work on the task/assessment, the teacher will assign a zero. If a teacher determines the student did not attempt to meet the basic requirements of the task/assessment or the student engaged in academic dishonesty, the teacher may assign a zero"

Source: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

"If my child took a math test with 10 problems to solve and finished all but only got 5 correct answers, shoul$ he receive 50% for this rest?"

He should, and would.

[/quote]

My issue with the 50% rule is the zeros for work that is less than 50% attempted.

I’m going to use an actual example for this past school year without identifying the student.

Student never completed a homework assignment. It was either not attempted at all or about 20-30% attempted. The parent was aware of this all year and took the position that homework was the student’s problem. MP 1-3 final grades were Bs and Cs. MP 4, Student blew the final project. Then the parent wanted to protest all the zeroes for quarter 4 homework. Parent wanted them all bumped up to 50% trying to eke out a C from a D.  Under the old system, I could have entered the actual grades of 20, 25, 30 percent and we wouldn’t have even wasted time discussing this on the last day of school. In the end, my admin supported the D because I could document ten months of homework-related emails to the parent. [/quote]

So you are saying this kid was harmed because his 20% became a 0 because s/he did not attempt every problem?[/quote]

Well, that explanation is almost impossible to parse. I really wouldn't want to spend a year with that teacher.

I think the scenario is the homework scores were 0s and 50s (including many incomplete assignments which were only bumped up to 50, because of the 50%-rule).  The parent then wanted to argue that all the homework scores should be at least 50%, but admin let the 0s stand.  If the missing homework had been bumped to 50s, the final homework score wouldn't have been low enough to drag the course grade down from a C to a D for the forth quarter.

So top PP, did this student make progress on learning the objectives of the class?  Sounds like your goal is to make homework completion as punitive as possible.  I mean fine, if that's your bag, but aren't you [b]the same PP that said the problem with the 50%-rule is it discounts what "the student is actually learning."  [/b] How did this student manage to get test scores higher than their homework score, if they didn't learn something?  Are you sure your homework assignments are actually valuable?  Or, perhaps in the end, the student did complete the homework just to study for the test, even though it was then too late to get homework credit.  What's your beef exactly?  Yay, a student with B/C level understanding gets a D for the quarter, 'cause they didn't get there your way.  I'll go out on a limb and say this is a student who will find college much more rewarding than HS.[/quote]

I was the teacher who had the issue with the parent. Not the prior PP in bold.I was posting after day drinking. Sorry, I don’t do that during the school year. We just got really good health news yesterday.

The student never completed at least 50% of homework. All the homework grades were zero. Homework is set at 10% by my department head. I can’t change that.  I can’t give 50% for homework that is 20% attempted. I’d actually rather put in all of the 20 and 30% grades than zeroes. I’m not allowed to.

I think a student who has a non-homework average of a low C would probably benefit from completing homework.

I’m a career changer and was not an education major. Even in college, my freshman year classes required homework and lab reports that had to be completed or it dinged you grade by 10-20%. In my first Econ course, you read two chapters a night and took the chapter quizzes on a scantron that you turnedcin the next lecture. Those were worth 25% of the semester grade. Another 25% was two papers. Then there was a midterm and a final. If you were happy with a C tops, you could blow all the homework off. [/quote]

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