Teacher/Academic question- grades

[TennNole17]

This came up on a parent discussion board lately. Does handing out zero's for missing assignments make it nearly impossible for students to recover grade wise? Does it make more sense to give the equivalent of a 60 (or whatever grading scale version of an F is?)

Even if (like these kids school) they have weighted percent buckets for classwork, homework, quizzes, etc- a Zero in any category is going to hurt the average right?

(sure sure, don't miss work, but you know, kids are idiots )

 

[stanzithemanzi12]

Hand out the 0, if they turn it in eventually, start the grading scale at A = 60, B = 50, etc.

 

[Tom Paris]

This came up on a parent discussion board lately. Does handing out zero's for missing assignments make it nearly impossible for students to recover grade wise? Does it make more sense to give the equivalent of a 60 (or whatever grading scale version of an F is?)

Even if (like these kids school) they have weighted percent buckets for classwork, homework, quizzes, etc- a Zero in any category is going to hurt the average right?

(sure sure, don't miss work, but you know, kids are idiots )

In our district we have what is called "The Power of I (Incomplete)". This is the equivalent of turning your work in at your job whenever the hell you feel like it without consequence. We hated it when it got dropped on us because suddenly, for children only, deadlines meant NOTHING. They could turn a 1st quarter assignment in the following May and teachers were supposed to give them credit for it. This is the kind of crap where schools do not prepare kids for the real world. Hell, there are a ton of elementary and middle schools where grades don't matter anyway...the kids just social pass onto the next grade.

In my opinion, if teachers are grading on a point system, and the kids are told that an assignment is worth 20%, for example. of their grade, it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to turn it in. It sounds like some parents are asking teachers to give a kid 58 free points out of 100 when their child didn't do the work. (I say this understanding that there are circumstances outside a kid's control that may cause them to miss an assignment, and extra time to get it turned in is fair.)

 

[ISUBryce]

This came up on a parent discussion board lately. Does handing out zero's for missing assignments make it nearly impossible for students to recover grade wise? Does it make more sense to give the equivalent of a 60 (or whatever grading scale version of an F is?)

Even if (like these kids school) they have weighted percent buckets for classwork, homework, quizzes, etc- a Zero in any category is going to hurt the average right?

(sure sure, don't miss work, but you know, kids are idiots )

IMO keep the zeros. With all of the resources available to kids to keep on top of their due stuff, there is just zero excuse.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

Hand out the 0, if they turn it in eventually, start the grading scale at A = 60, B = 50, etc.

I seldom agree with you, but this is spot on. Accountability matters and it has to be taught in childhood. By the time kids are adults it is too late.

This reminds me a story a buddy of mine just told me: they hired a young professional straight out of college this summer. Apparently on their first day of work the mom of the new employee showed up to talk to the boss about their kid. Holy shit, talk about failing as a parent.

Kids need to f*ck up at an early age and learn from it. Coddling doesn’t do anything except make it much worse when they actually encounter real life challenges.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

An assignment was worth a particular number of points. Turn nothing in - no points - no discussion. Turn in a 100 point assignment complete and 50 was a base score - it could only go higher. I could work with that, clear up any misunderstandings and let them resubmit for a better grade (but not 100).

I'd also drop a lowest grade so an isolated zero wouldn't affect them. It was a tech class my last 11 years so I could pull up everything a student had done - or not done - and print it out. Lay that out for a parent and I was, as I always warned my students, done. Then it was on them to explain it. Only had one parent who, unbelievably, hinted that I might have gone in and downgraded his son's work. I laughed and assured him that wasn't possible. Everything they did was saved including the dates and times they logged in and whether or not they were working or "idle"...as in logged in but off chasing Youtube videos.

District policy did require that we put in a 50 on the report card regardless of what they had done in class. I just shrugged and did it.

Don't miss it at all.

 

[EagleHawk]

Our school has standards-based grading. If you totally get it, you get a 4 down to a 0. Algebra class if you get lower than a 2 on the standard, you can retake the test a few days later to improve your score. Teacher is frustrated as hell because 90% of the class gets a 1 or 0 on the first test because they know it doesn't matter, and then most end up with 3.5 or 4 on the retake. You have to do a review worksheet before taking the retest, but if he feels like you aren't working on it, he will give you the retest whenever he feels like it. It's a frickin joke.
Although I would have loved to have had this when I was in school.

 

[goldmom]

When I taught high school and kids didn’t hand in homework or an assignment they got a zero. I repeatedly reminded them to get it in before the six weeks was up and that I’d give them a D if they got in in, but at least they’d have a shot at a decent average. I also noted any zeros in their progress report to the parent(s) so no one could come in screaming that they weren’t informed of the situation.
I usually got all the work. I think it was a sign that they had a parent whose style was nagging and that’s what it took on my part.