Schools may make 61 the lowest score

Fairness questions arise in Chapel Hill

In a move that would make zero a grade of the past, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district is considering making 61 the lowest grade for a failing assignment.

The goal would be to assure that a single test-day disaster doesn't ruin a semester. Some teachers, students and parents say the change would coddle failing students.

"The system for years had talked about raising expectations for all children in the district, and I don't feel that demonstrates raised expectations for everybody," said Beth Ann Ghio, whose son is an East Chapel Hill High junior. "I don't think that's fair for children who actually submit the work -- even if it's not passing quality -- that they receive the same grade as a student who doesn't submit anything."

Sherri Martin, the district's director of high school programming, said the revised policy would increase consistency throughout the schools within the district, and ensure that students' grades truly reflect their efforts and understanding.

"There is little or no evidence that repeated failure makes people more responsible," Martin said at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education meeting Thursday night. "The threat of a low grade is more likely to motivate high-achieving students than low-achieving students."

Homework would not count for more than 20 percent of the quarterly grade, according to the proposal. Other proposed revisions include giving students more time to make up incomplete assignments while offering more support strategies, making it easier for them to pass.

"Students [would] have a chance to recover," Martin said. "Getting a bad grade or having a bad day does not mean you are a failure. This is about hope."

Elsbeth Grant, a junior at East Chapel Hill High School, said the board members are meddling.

"It's not fair to limit teachers and how they should be able to grade," Grant said. "It seems they would know better than the school board what's going on in the individual classes.

"If you're getting an F in class, you're probably not putting that much effort into it anyways. So a 61 seems like you're just getting rewarded for not putting in much effort."

At Thursday night's board meeting, several parents asked the board to postpone the idea until the 2009-2010 school year.

Superintendent Neil Pedersen agreed. But he said, "I would urge that we not simply put this off and that we study this all of next year. I think we mislead ourselves when we think this is an exact science."

Frank McBride, 14, an eighth-grader at Phillips Middle School, said the new grading policy "would be exploited greatly by students. Students are very intelligent and would use that opportunity for escaping work."

Chris Gelpi, parent of two students in the district, said the integrity of the grading system in the district would be compromised. Students would get credit for knowledge not earned. "It seems it closes the achievement gap through an accounting trick," he said.

School board member Jean Hamilton and several colleagues agreed that the board needs to take its time with the policy and get more feedback from teachers and parents.

"I want us to really get at the deeper cultural issues ... and at why students are failing," Hamilton said. "The grade is a signal for what that student has mastered. ... Having a 61 floor is providing a disservice to our students."