Teachers disapprove of new grading policy

Teacher reactions have been largely negative in response to voluntary implementation of the new grading policy, which MCPS will make standard for all high schools by the 2005-2006 school year.

English teacher Dr. Judith Smith conducted an experiment with the new grading policy in which she contrasted failing students' first-quarter grades with what they would have gotten under the new system.

"For students not passing, I entered a 50 percent for each assignment that earned an E,” explained Smith. "I found that for students with an average of 36 percent, their grades would rise up to a 60 percent"a passing grade.”

The reason for this, according to Smith, is that normally a zero percent in assignments, coupled with a 70 percent in tests, would average out to 35 percent. Under the new grading policy, however, that zero in assignments would become a 50 percent. With a 70 percent in tests a student would pass with an average of 60 percent.

"As a classroom teacher, I know this policy provides disincentive for working,” said Smith. "Students will sit out the difficult papers. I think it would be a dereliction of my duty and a waste of MCPS' money to teach under a system where students are able to ignore assignments and pass.”

Smith said that she e-mailed the central office of MCPS to bring this problem to their attention but never received any word back.

Smith said that MCPS has not tested the new grading policy thoroughly enough to see its flaws. "People in Central Office are too far away from students to know how students behave and what a disincentive this would be to do assignments.”

Another complaint from Smith was that there is not a computer program that can use the five-point system of As through Es required by the new MCPS policy. Currently, she said, the only programs available grade based on the percentage point system. "There are no computer programs to do that, and to my mind it seems that the system is untested and untried,” she said.

System didn't work

Earth/Space Systems Science teacher Janice Blitz has also experimented with the new policy, implementing certain aspects of the new system into her personal grading system. She said that she worries that the weighted category system, which grades assignments using five different categories, As, Bs, Cs, Ds and Es is too complicated for students to understand.

"It's not a point system,” said Blitz. "Everything is scored by a rubric, and I have to weight it"there's no way around it. But students don't comprehend the rubric, and students don't use the rubric. They don't understand the 5-point system versus the percentage points, and they don't understand category weights.”

Physics teacher Karen Hillmer has also implemented specific aspects of the new grading policy, and said that she worries homework that is not worth any points will be neglected and students will lose practice time. "We don't give credit for an assignment that is practice,” explained Hillmer. "It's checking to see if they can actually do them.”

Hillmer also took case against the section of the policy that prohibits teachers from counting assignments that introduce new material outside of class. She said that the new grading system will make for slow progress in the curriculum and poor scores.

"The kids who struggle more need the practice and the feeling is that if they don't get credit for an assignment they won't do it,” Hillmer said. "They're not getting the practice they need.”

No room for individual teaching styles

Hillmer also objected to the strict conformity demanded by MCPS in implementing the new grading policy. She said that teachers who use unique teaching methods will be disappointed next year when they will be forced to discontinue their personal systems. "The county is trying to micromanage the teachers, and they're forgetting that different teachers have different ways to teach their students,” said Hillmer. For instance, she said, before the new policy was implemented, she had her students organize their assignments and notes into notebooks that they could then use to study for the final exams.

"I used to collect [and grade] notebooks and they were gorgeous,” said Hillmer. Now their quality has deteriorated because she does not grade them. "I have no idea what many of them are going to study with for the final because their notebooks look like trashcans.”

Some positive results

However, a few teachers have discovered favorable aspects of the new grading policy that they hope to see in the standardized form of the grading policy next year.

Algorithms and Data Structures teacher Dennis Heidler of the Blair Science Magnet Program, who considers himself "neutral” in his opinion of the grading policy, implemented a particular aspect of the grading policy in which students were given a rigid grace period after an assignment due date to hand an assignment in for reduced credit. The date after the due date by which students can no longer hand assignments in for credit is called the deadline.

"They're more cognizant of the deadline,” said Heidler. "Before, you'd be getting things eight to ten days later. Now the deadline is all or nothing. That, I think, has been really effective to get students motivated to catch up.”

Heidler said that the deadline is customizable. For example, the deadline for small homework assignments may be two to three school days after the due date, while the deadline for a large project may be significantly more lenient.

Blitz said that she agrees with some portions of the grading policy. "Students are coming away with a better assessment of the content, provided they learn how to use the rubrics, " she said.

"I think the policy will change,” said Heidler. "I am hoping people won't rush to judgment.”