Controversy Errupts After Dallas Schools Announcement of New Grading Policy

Dallas Independent School District is implementing a new grading policy this fall that makes homework essentially optional for students and gives high school students a chance to retake major tests and keep the higher grade. But some teachers and parents think the new grading policy is watering down education.

The Dallas Morning News summarizes four key points of the new grading policy:
Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."
Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.
Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.
Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make "efforts to assist students in completing the work."

The changes are explained to parents in an August 7th letter.

Dallas School officials defend the policy as a way to give students more than one chance to demonstrate mastery of a subject and ensure that all teachers in the district are grading the same way. The new grading policy was designed by school officials and did not require approval by the school board. Dallas School District officials hope the program will improve its dropout rate by giving students more chances. DISD has the the second highest dropout rate in the state at 25.8 percent. Only San Antonio's dropout rate is higher at 26 percent.

"It's like we're sending the message to kids that deadlines don't matter, studying is optional, and no matter how little you do, you're still [going to] pass all your classes anyway," said Ray Cox in a Dallas Morning News Article. Cox teaches languages at Franklin Middle School.

Dale Kaiser, president of the teachers' group NEA-Dallas agrees.

The intent may have been to create a uniform grading policy, but the result was to lower standards, he said.
The school board and superintendent, Kaiser continued, "talk about elevating standards and holding high expectations for kids, but we're telling the kids that whether they do the work or not is irrelevant."

School Officials believe the program will focus teachers on learning for students rather than testing.

"The purpose behind it is to ensure fair and credible evaluation of learning - from grade to grade and school to school," said Denise Collier, the district's chief academic officer in the same Dallas Morning News article.

But some parents think that the policy doesn't teach the accountability that students need after they graduate.
"These kids have already gone too far in not being held accountable," says Tracy Dotie-Hill in a Wall Street Journal article. "When you go into the work force, if you don't meet the standards or deadlines, you have to reap the consequences.

Some parents like the changes and think it will help with the dropout problem.

"We're going to have to come up with some concepts [to keep] a child in school," said president of the parent-teacher association at Skyline High School Ola Allen in a Wall Street Journal Article.

Dallas ISD's complete grading policy is available online in PDF format.