Teachers give Dallas ISD's new grading rules an F

Dallas Morning News ^ | 8/15/2008 | Kent Fischer

[Oyarsa]

Teachers give Dallas ISD's new grading rules an F

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, August 15, 2008 By KENT FISCHER / The Dallas Morning News / The Dallas Morning News Tawnell D. Hobbs, Stella M. Chávez and Karin Shaw Anderson contributed to this report.

Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.

The new rules will be distributed when teachers return to their campuses next week. But many who have already seen the regulations say they are too lenient on slackers, and will come at the expense of kids who work hard.

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student's overall average will be thrown out.

[Oyarsa]

Remember: this wave of thought is increasingly more common in the field of education. Check out your child's school for any similar policies; they may be implementing a similar policy this school year.

[mysterio]

Sounds like the teachers are right. A teacher has every right to put a deadline on assignments.

Additionally, in before the teacher haters.

[freespirited]

Well whaddya expect? They are just taking the cue from Harvard Medical School.

[nmh]

The insanity continues.

Irresponsibility is as good as being responsible with these “rules”. How will those who are responsible be “rewarded”?

[Dilbert San Diego]

We don’t want to hurt the self-esteem of the students. We also don’t want to traumatize them by setting deadlines for homework or other work. We don’t want to train them to be organized or meet deadlines because they will have to be that way as adults in the “real world”. We would rather create a cocoon so that school doesn’t prepare them for the world in any way, shape, or form.

[Abathar]

When you couple money to the improvement of grades and graduation percentages then all bets are off by the school administrators who have to deal with things like budgets.

Flunk a kid or hold him back because of grades so that he leaves and you lose the financing?? No way.

[B4Ranch]

Soon, employers too will be expected to accept employees who blow off instructions or miss assignment deadlines. Coming to work on schedule will no longer be required.

[Abathar]

*snicker*

I see you’ve never worked in a union shop....

[untrained skeptic]

As someone that often turned in homework late if at all, I have to strongly oppose this policy and agree with the teachers.

I needed to be taught to be more responsible, manage my time better, and get things done by their deadlines.

It is something I still struggle with, but I can only think I would be worse off if I had escaped responsibility for not getting work done on time when I was young.

I can understand the point that if you can do well on the tests, the homework is often just busywork. However, mush of life is full of necessary busywork, and learning good work habits is an important part of school.

If college professors want to make homework optional, I have no problems with that. People often go into college classes with vastly different levels of knowledge and experience, and they are paying for the college to certify that they know the material as much as being taught.

However, in our primary and secondary schools, homework should not be optional, and turning in assignments late should be penalized.

[LetsRok]

"Soon, employers too will be expected to accept employees who blow off instructions or miss assignment deadlines. Coming to work on schedule will no longer be required. "

I can see that happening in the future. The liberals will pass some "Title IX" type legislation that says that employers have to model their work environment after the government school standards. Employers who attempt to punish or fire employees for missing or not completing work will be sued.

[B4Ranch]

It’s just another reason to elect OB. He’ll bring communism to us two years before McCain will.