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Hypothetical scenario: You are a core subject teacher and have been asked, by a SpEd teacher, who in all honesty knows the student better than you do, to pass a special ed student who is failing, in part, due to lack of effort. The student is a senior and will not graduate if you fail him. He has an athletic scholarship to attend a small university that is on the line. Getting him to do anything is like pushing a rope because mom and dad have fixed everything for him for years so he's used to someone cleaning up the mess. You honestly do not feel he will not learn any more next year in your class than he did this year. Failing him will result in loss of his scholarship and possibly him never graduating. What do you do?
Debate away...
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 01-26-2012 at 03:59 AM..
What's his current grade?
What's the handicapping condition?
Is his low grade truly lack of effort or is what you perceive as lack of effort truly all he can do (with some kids a 40% is their best)?
What are his grades in other classes?
Have you followed his IEP and differentiated instruction? Can you document that in a quasi-judicial proceeding?
If you fail him can you document all your strategies and provide proof that you implemented the IEP. Can you provide more documentation? Can you document that your documents are accurate?
Ask yourself: what greater good or lesson will be imparted by failing this student? Will he pass the class in summer school?
Seven years ago at my old school one of the SpEd kids in my class was failing and in danger of not graduating. His parents sent in the army recruiter to pressure me to change his grades do they could force him to enlist (this was not what he wanted to do). When I refused to and complained to my principal she changed the grade. He graduated. Right aroun the holidays the next year we heard that this kid who did not even want to enlist had been killed in action.
Seven years ago at my old school one of the SpEd kids in my class was failing and in danger of not graduating. His parents sent in the army recruiter to pressure me to change his grades do they could force him to enlist (this was not what he wanted to do). When I refused to and complained to my principal she changed the grade. He graduated. Right aroun the holidays the next year we heard that this kid who did not even want to enlist had been killed in action.
Let their grades stand.
Tragic story.
As for the OP I can't say. How low is the student's grade right now?
Maybe his wakeup call is college, not HS. Most states are "no pass, no play" so that scholarship may just be the incentive to get him to work. It's too easy for parents to be able to get grades changed in K-12..complain enough and it's changed. College though, is another ball game.
I'd pass him. From your post it doesn't sound like failing him will do any good to either him or his parents.
This might be easy for me to say because I'm not a teacher. But, I wouldn't pass him. If the principal wants to change the grade, that's his/her call. This is, of course, assuming that you've followed all procedures with regards to his specific disability.
Your job is to teach and grade this kid on Chemistry, not to plan his life out for him. If he is so close to a "D" that an extra credit assignment could bring his grade up, then I might consider assigning him some extra credit work. But I just can't see passing a kid who doesn't know the material at all....
Plus, handing this kid a "D" wouldn't be fair to the students who did work their tails off just to earn a "D".
Last edited by springfieldva; 01-26-2012 at 08:10 AM..
Passing kids because of sports or scholarships is happening all to often in the country. What ever happened to accountability? If this kid doesn't even show the slightest effort in HS what makes anyone think he will in college? And don't High Schools also have the no pass no play rule? The money spent on this kid for a scholarship could be better spent on someone who cares about their education.
I say fail him and if the principal gets pressured to change the grade and does, at least you did what was morally right.
Imagine what could happen if you did pass him. He'll be able to go to college on his sports scholarship. Maybe he'll study hard and rise to stardom in his sports career.
Or maybe he'll get into college on a sports scholarship. He'll find the academics too tough so he'll never attend class. To top it off, he suffers a sports ending injury during his first game. What then?
And don't High Schools also have the no pass no play rule?
I cannot speak for other states but in FL a student must maintain a 2.0 unweighted GPA to be eligible for athletics. If a student fails one class that is not enough to keep them from playing. Schools are permitted to require higher GPAs than the state (ours requires a 2.5).
By lack of effort, do you mean that he's not getting a passing grade because of the homework part of his grade? Does he seem to know the concepts?
You probably have a syllabus for the class that explains what the students are expected to know by the end of class. Test him against that. Talk to him, see if he knows what he is expected to know. Does he understand the basics of chemistry, even if he didn't turn all of his assignments in?
If he knows enough about chemistry to have at least a layman's understanding of the basic concepts then I'd pass him even if he didn't do all of the assignments to get there. If he just flat out doesn't get it then fail him. And let the Special Ed teacher and principal know why.
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