Reply to 50% rule question - do different schools interpret it different?

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Reply to "50% rule question - do different schools interpret it different?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The 50% rule officially reads: The following grading practices are prohibited: Assigning a grade lower than 50 percent to a task/assessment. 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.

I have taught at schools where we could never give below a 50%.  Others that say that we can give a zero if we had two way communication with the parents about a missing assignment.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf [/quote]

What is written above is the official BOE policy. A few years back, Central Office staff decided that parents should be contacted if a student is to receive a zero. That is when the rule of two way communication was started. However, this was not an official MCPS policy as dictated by the BOE. It was a "rule" decided upon by the Central Office staff who cannot actually make policy without the BOE's consent. As a result, different schools and even departments within a school have different procedures in place.

I do wonder -- is there a difference in passing rates, student engagement, student achievement, etc between schools giving zeros and schools with the mandatory 50%?[/quote]

Can I ask a very basic question? I don’t recall any teachers contacting my parents about any assignments ever. Yes this was 30 years ago and in my case I am sure I turned in all assignments on time. But why do teachers need to involve parents in two-way communication? Can’t they just speak directly to the students? It’s much more efficient to stay on top of grading, and post in the portal if parents are interested in knowing. If the students are chronically absent, then obviously the school should be in touch to determine root causes/barriers. But why on earth would a teacher need to notify parents about every missing assignment? That’s so much extra paperwork. [/quote]

Yup. You are correct. My school administrators want us to spend all our time on kids who are failing + EML kids. They don’t care about bright kids who are doing well. We have very little planning or grading time because they want us to call parents of kids who are chronically absent and other kids with major issues [/quote]

I'm hoping there's a point where the education community begins to realize this is a fool's errand. Some people just don't value education and you can't make them. You have to meet kids where they are and respect their values even when they differ from yours.[/quote]

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