Posted on 12/12/2021 10:05:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
As high school students transition out of distance learning imposed by pandemic restrictions, several California districts are dropping the use of “D” and “F” grades in an attempt to reengage students in school and boost entry into the state’s public colleges.
Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, and San Diego Unified are among the districts phasing out “D” and “F” grades for high school students.
If students fail a test or don’t finish their homework, they will be given another chance to retake the test or receive an extension on submitting assignments.
“Our hope is that students begin to see school as a place of learning, where they can take risks and learn from mistakes, instead of a place of compliance,” stated Nidya Baez, assistant principal at Fremont High in Oakland Unified, according to statements obtained by Bay City News.
“Right now, we have a system where we give a million points for a million pieces of paper that students turn in, without much attention to what they’re actually learning,” Baez said.
According to Bay City News, if students do not pass the final exam or finish homework by the end of the semester, they would earn an “incomplete.” The news outlet reported that the aim is to encourage the learning of course material without compromising students’ ability to enter the University of California and California State University should students receive a poor grade.
Advocates of such “competency-based learning” suggest that assessment should be based on what students have learned instead of how they perform in tests.
The announcement of grading changes come after some public schools in California gave students the option of changing their letter-based grades to pass/fail grades.
Sam Davis, board director of Oakland Unified School District, told ABC News that the “D” grade should be dropped but students should still be given the appropriate grade if they fail.
“D grades are not valid for college eligibility at UC and Cal State but obviously if students don’t master the material, they shouldn’t be getting credit for the class, then they would be getting an F,” Davis told ABC in a Dec. 9 interview.
According to reports obtained from educators, ABC pointed out that many students sitting at a “D” only work enough to avoid getting an “F” grade.
In an interview with ABC, Alix Gallagher, director of strategic partnerships and policy analysis for California Education, emphasized the importance of “rapid specific feedback” to help students improve.
Gallagher told Bay City News that grades vary “from teacher to teacher,” and that instruction, rather than grading, is “what leads to learning.”
In the same report from Bay City News, math and science teacher Debora Rinehart said that “not reporting Ds and Fs is the equivalent of lying about a student’s progress.”
“I will work with any student before or after school or even on the weekend to help them learn. However, I will never lie about their knowledge level,” Rinehart stated.
What a fraud.
Just graduate them and get it over with.
Boost entry into colleges (with fake grades).
What they really mean is they want those classroom chair emptied for the underclassmen to fill.
Move em in, Move em out!
Keep them Dogies movin!
Translation: Yes, let’s not be sure 12th graders are prepared to go to college. Let’s just not spoil their chances of them getting into college by giving them the poor grades they actually earned.
The dumbing down process in K12 has long been in the process. This is nothing more than another ‘cog’ in that dumbing down.
Looks like leftists can “fix” the issue with failing students the way they “fixed” the supply chain / container ship issue. Just hide it.
Just imagine how worthless a California-based college degree will be in 5-10 years.
University faculty should sign the useless things with crayons.
It’s no longer about education, but rather, the money that comes to you in the name of education.
New grading designations for the old D and F. D variant and Fauci variant. Coming soon to a school grading system, the Omicron variant for those who don’t show up for class.
Seems like a money grab so the uni’s can harvest a few years of tuition and coddle them along until they finally fail.
At some schools a grade of D is considered passing. Had a friend who was told this once by his son’s school. He replied “not to me.” Same here.
Growth in the undereducated work force should make it easier to keep employers in California, even in the face of rising taxes imposed by a despotic single party state. /jk
Why not stop all the dancing around and just make them all co-valedictorians? After all you wouldn’t want the low achievers to get their feelings hurt by rewarding those who worked harder or were smarter or both.
Even less incentive to try and learn.
Even the completely liberalized schools can’t deal with the disintegration of society.
Flunk them until they don’t fit in the desks, then send they home to work on the farm. It’s the way it’s always been done.
Back when I was an engineering manager before I retired, I used to get resumes from colleges and universities from all over and there were a few where I just trashed canned them.
THIS is probably a case where I’d be doing that for the whole state of California, I’m afraid because the higher level institutions will no doubt follow suit in some manner.
This is analogous to the shoplifting law there, in that both remove penalties for bad behavior, and will have similar effects on life in the Golden State.
I am against "grade-inflation" as much as anyone, and despise attempts (by school authorities, etc.) to dilute academic standards - but in the wake of a disruption of school instruction of this magnitude (as unjustified as it was), I am nonetheless inclined to give some of the weaker students a little slack.
Eliminating "Ds" and "Fs" might not be the optimal way - but some allowances (special summer programs, etc.) should be made.
I agree that it would be wrong to simply ignore there academic deficiencies and shuffle them all off to college.
Regards,
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