Grading Policy was wrongheaded then -- now it violates state law

Friday, August 21, 2009

Grading Policy was wrongheaded then -- now it violates state law

Senate Bill 2033 is now Section 28.0216 (District Grading Policy) of the Texas Education Code. The law was passed to protect the grading authority of teachers.

Texas Education Agency officials have emphasized that the new law "clearly applies to all types of grades."

Dallas ISD appears to be violating the Texas Education Code - again.

The state legislature has spoken with a clear and overwhelming voice of disapproval of minimum grading policies in Texas.

The Dallas ISD policy must be changed to comply with state law.

Click Here - DMN - "Our interpretation is that our policies do not need to be changed" - August 18, 2009

Dallas Morning News Friday, February 1, 2008 by Kent Fischer - Click Here

"Trustees voted 8-1 to keep the minimum 50 grade in policy. Trustee Carla Ranger was the lone dissenting vote.

"She cited the recent case of South Oak Cliff High School, where a principal forced a teacher to boost the grade of a basketball player to keep that player eligible under the state's "no-pass, no-play" rule. The district announced recently that the grade change would result in South Oak Cliff forfeiting a state basketball championship.

"Mrs. Ranger said she couldn't see how a school could be penalized for wrongly increasing the grade of an athlete, while the district sanctions the whole-scale awarding of unearned grades to failing students everywhere.

"What's the difference?" Mrs. Ranger asked. "For me this is not just an academic question, it's an ethical question."

A Teacher's Creed

"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."

Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog

Friday, August 21, 2009

Grading Policy was wrongheaded then -- now it violates state law

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