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Being a former teacher, a student could receive an F with credit if they completed the assignments (or most of them) but didn't do well on them or put in a minimal effort.
A student would receive an F w/out credit if they just didn't do any of the assignments and did poorly on tests. And there are students that are like this--they just don't care. And unfortunately, the parents usually don't care either because they don't get involved.
Okay, I get it now. But, I don't think any credit should be given for minimal effort. And, if it is, I thought that was what the D was for. I feel that if they can't even make a D, they need an F with no credit and a stint in summer school or, if the parent(s) can't afford summer school or won't pay for it, the kid repeats the entire grade. But, that's just me.
Public education is so dumbed-down that it's not even funny. I don't care whether you are in South Carolina, Mississippi, California, or New York - it's true. Unless someone is mentally challenged or has a severe learning disability, there is absolutely no reason why they cannot graduate from high school. Seriously, just showing up to class and doing assignments will get you a C or D even if you never study for a test. It's amazing how many students fail to get their high school diploma. It's no wonder considering how many kids go home to parents (or a parent) who place no importance on schoolwork. Yet we have politicians who want to blame teachers for not doing a good enough job. Incredible.
NCLB has made graduating from high school more about greasing kids through the door than actually making sure they have learned anything. As a current teacher in GCS it is common practice that as long as a kid has passed their HSAP that we do whatever it takes to make sure they walk across the stage at graduation on time. Grant it under current SC legislation a child must attend a certain number of days to receive true credit that is the only real limitation that administrators face.
for those that are not aware in South Carolina if a child is taking say a semester long class under a block schedule situation they may not miss more than 7 days of that class without an excuse. if they miss 10 days but 3 of those days are covered by a medical note then they are fine. there are tons of attendance situations i could throw out to you but I'd spend my entire day doing it sadly.
i should point that under current GCS policy for items such as progress reports and final exam grades we can still put down a "0" if thats what the child received. however when it comes to their final grade as has been mentioned we can go no lower than a 61 and no lower than a 50 for 9th graders (although that may have been changed recently. i don't teach 9th graders so i don't worry about it).
Finally at many GCS high schools if not all I believe, it is mandated that teachers give re-takes to students who fail tests until the child passes the test. This new policy went into effect last year. I would imagine it will stick around for a while for now.
Although I should point out that this above mentioned policy is common place in many North Carolina districts as well. I have a buddy who teaches up in Charlotte Meck who said they do the exact same thing when it comes to testing. Test the kid til he or she passes. So its not just GCS its in a lot of places sadly.
NCLB has made graduating from high school more about greasing kids through the door than actually making sure they have learned anything. As a current teacher in GCS it is common practice that as long as a kid has passed their HSAP that we do whatever it takes to make sure they walk across the stage at graduation on time. Grant it under current SC legislation a child must attend a certain number of days to receive true credit that is the only real limitation that administrators face.
for those that are not aware in South Carolina if a child is taking say a semester long class under a block schedule situation they may not miss more than 7 days of that class without an excuse. if they miss 10 days but 3 of those days are covered by a medical note then they are fine. there are tons of attendance situations i could throw out to you but I'd spend my entire day doing it sadly.
i should point that under current GCS policy for items such as progress reports and final exam grades we can still put down a "0" if thats what the child received. however when it comes to their final grade as has been mentioned we can go no lower than a 61 and no lower than a 50 for 9th graders (although that may have been changed recently. i don't teach 9th graders so i don't worry about it).
Finally at many GCS high schools if not all I believe, it is mandated that teachers give re-takes to students who fail tests until the child passes the test. This new policy went into effect last year. I would imagine it will stick around for a while for now.
Although I should point out that this above mentioned policy is common place in many North Carolina districts as well. I have a buddy who teaches up in Charlotte Meck who said they do the exact same thing when it comes to testing. Test the kid til he or she passes. So its not just GCS its in a lot of places sadly.
I hated the public school system whenever I was in it.
But it seems ludicrous to me to give a student a 61 if they truly earned a 46.
Of course... at my school, that would 61 be passing (10 point grading scale). Then again, we don't have mandated rules about how students must pass or be given unlimited opportunities to pass. If a student struggles with a subject and asks the teachers for help, then the teacher may allow the student to retake a test for partial credit... but not always.
I always thought that the bad thing about public schools was that they took the classroom out of the teacher's hands. Teachers are the ones inside the classrooms. They should be the ones to have control over grading policies (allowing retakes and what-not). Sadly though, teachers are stuck with the bureaucratic system.
I hated the public school system whenever I was in it.
But it seems ludicrous to me to give a student a 61 if they truly earned a 46.
Of course... at my school, that would 61 be passing (10 point grading scale). Then again, we don't have mandated rules about how students must pass or be given unlimited opportunities to pass. If a student struggles with a subject and asks the teachers for help, then the teacher may allow the student to retake a test for partial credit... but not always.
I always thought that the bad thing about public schools was that they took the classroom out of the teacher's hands. Teachers are the ones inside the classrooms. They should be the ones to have control over grading policies (allowing retakes and what-not). Sadly though, teachers are stuck with the bureaucratic system.
another current theme in GCS, in fact all across the state and to an extent the nation is having teachers follow district and statewide pacing guides for all subjects, primarily core ones though. for instance if a US History teacher is doing a lesson on the civil war one day, then a US History teacher at hillcrest should be / needs to be doing the exact same less on the exact same day. GCS wants to create a level of uniformity due to the fact that kids in this district do switch schools so rapidly sometimes. which isn't a bad thing. the bad thing is that as a teacher now we are more or less completing a list of "check offs" each day as opposed to actually teaching. i've become more quality engineer than educator. maybe i can get a job at BMW ha!
the sad truth is that teachers and administrators are forced into a corner by the state and are told "graduate your kids or else". well when its put that way to us, we're going to graduate them regardless of real academic achievement. it dilutes the true meaning of receiving an education. some might fault the educator for simply "greasing" the kid through. but the state has given us no real choice. and its every state not just SC. now a teacher or administrator could take the moral high ground and make it a mission to treat education and graduation with the respect it deserves but sadly those educators will find themselves unemployed. that right there is the real downfall of our educational system. we've reached a point where we're afraid to challenge our students because they might fail and thus we might be out of a job.
the sad truth is that teachers and administrators are forced into a corner by the state and are told "graduate your kids or else". well when its put that way to us, we're going to graduate them regardless of real academic achievement. it dilutes the true meaning of receiving an education. some might fault the educator for simply "greasing" the kid through. but the state has given us no real choice. and its every state not just SC. now a teacher or administrator could take the moral high ground and make it a mission to treat education and graduation with the respect it deserves but sadly those educators will find themselves unemployed. that right there is the real downfall of our educational system. we've reached a point where we're afraid to challenge our students because they might fail and thus we might be out of a job.
I was a teacher in MA so it does happen everywhere, not just SC. The education system has some serious issues. I was often made to feel uncomfortable by administrators for holding the students to a higher standard. And the parents of the students were no better; threatening emails from parents happened more often than I would like to admit. My principle even forced me to changed a final grade because of complaints he received from a parent. Unfortunately, our education system cares more about political correctness and public relations then the actual education. It's a shame.
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ha!
