Critics lambast coddling schools for eliminating ‘D’ and ‘F’ grades

I

ipatent

Critics lambast coddling schools for eliminating ‘D’ and ‘F’ grades

They’re giving this “woke” initiative a failing grade.

New York City public schools aren’t the only ones getting lambasted over so-called “lax” standards. California school districts are being accused of coddling students after eliminating “D” and “F” grades in an attempt to reengage pupils amid floundering test scores during the pandemic.

“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,” Nidya Baez, assistant principal at Fremont High in Oakland, told Bay City News of the new measure, which has been dubbed “mastery” or “competency-based” learning.
In accordance, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified and other California districts are gradually phasing out sub-“C” marks for high school students. Meanwhile, pupils who flunk exams or fail to complete their homework are offered extensions or the ability to retake the rest.

And if students neglect to complete aforementioned assignments by the end of semester, they earn an “incomplete” rather than failing letter grades.
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More dumbing down to hide shortcomings of certain groups of students.
 
Large California school districts eliminate ‘D’ and ‘F’ grades

Critics are blasting the plan, saying all it does is lie about students’ progress. Some call the grading system idiosyncratic.

“One teacher takes homework assignments late, the other has extra credit, one curves scores on tests, so there is a clear and objective unfairness to students if they get one teacher versus another,” said Alix Gallagher, with Policy Analysis for California Education.

Critics argue that bad grades serve a purpose, letting students know that they haven’t learned adequately. There’s also concern over more grade inflation.
 
ipatent said:
LA Times: Faced with soaring Ds and Fs, schools are ditching the old way of grading
More...

The irony, about a dozen people here (active members) in the Political section screamed last year that kids need to be in school at all costs because the Pandemic was a threat to their well-being if they were not in school or falling behind.

Be careful of what you wish for (it's just a morality tale by Aesop's Fables). :rolleyes:

It's ok because our population was getting dumber long before the Pandemic. In fact, a pass/fail grading system has been around in many schools for several decades...including in University courses.

Further, most Universities will allow a student to drop a class up to a certain date prior to the class becoming part of their GPA. In other classes, they will drop your lowest test score from the average of your class GPA.

Some students learned to manipulate the system on the University level. If they were getting low scores (bad grades) prior to tuition deadline...they didn't pay tuition...automatically dropped due to lack of payment.
  • Student then register's the next semester and retakes the classes again...like a do-over. :D
Yet, some colleges caught on to that tactic by making tuition deadlines very close (within a week) of the start of classes.

My point, the country has been using many different ways to help students move on to the next grade level, get their diploma and get their degrees for many many years.

wrbtrader
 
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