Assignment Deadline Grading

We as adults sometimes do students an injustice when we really think that we are helping them. We tend to think they have too much going on so we give them a little leverage here and there. Most of the time they don't have too much going on, we have them in too much and/or we give them excuses to fail. We don't allow them to make a choice between singing and dancing. We don't allow them to choose between football and basketball. This carries over into their everyday life. They begin to think they don't have to choose-they can have it all. You and I know that is not the case. We tend to make adjustments in their young lives that will not assist them in their lives as adults. We try to make life easy going.

Recently the Keller Independent School District of the great state of Texas announced a plan at their school board meeting that some board members thought had to be a joke or even better; they thought they were being punked. They immediately started to look for the cameras when the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction told them of the plan to stop teachers from marking down on late assignments. She informed them that the goal was to do away with the "punitive" side of grading-the punishing side of grading. You know the side where points are taken away because you did not follow directions, and you did not turn in your assignment at the appointed time. You did not make your deadline.

Keller Independent School District has decided that there is no need for deadlines or deadlines as the rest of the world seems them. They say that there are to be no deduction of points for work that is only a few days late (no explanation of what denotes a few days). A week late could cost the student 10 points, and two weeks could cost the student 20 points.

Their reasoning for this approach to grading in their words is that "Grades are supposed to be given for mastery of a subject area." I agree with them, but when is the teacher going to be able to see if the students have mastered the subject when they have not had a chance to go over their work? When can they move to the next level?

Keller Independent School District has the students living in a fantasy world. I wish creditors would be so lenient. I wish that employers didn't have deadlines to have projects completed or time cards. Teachers wish there would be no deadlines for turning in grades and reports. The world would seem more like school if we didn't have to make deadlines--at least school in Keller, Texas.