SB 2033 - Texas

anonymous said

In response to Anonymous on 8"21"09, that is exactly what I AM doing! My district has decided that no student can have less than a 70 for a grade at the end of the nine weeks; stdents MUST redo a paper or test if less than 70; has "threatened" teachers with "consequences" if we have more than 10% (2 students) fail a subject; more consequences if more than 3 fail for the year in a grade level with 330 students in the grade; all redos must be in a different format than the original assignment; students making ANY grade may ask for a redo within 10 days of receiving their grade; etc. When do you think we do most of this"""

anonymous said

You're going to get what you asked for with this bill. The fact of the matter is that there truly is a sincere lack of work ethic on the part of our students; however, you geniuses don't seem to be taking into account that these are values WE are imbedding in our students. We can have all the "get tough" at school initiatives and proposals that we'd like, but until we start changing our own values and the way we are generally raising our kids we're asking them to be fully accountable for a mess that we adults have created. In the last twenty years, we have made everything so easy and attainable for them - yet we're going to do an about face at school and expect that to resolve our problems"! Here's what we're going to get - higher drop-out rates, lower completion and graduation rates. This is a sorry excuse for a band aid to gushing wound. By the way, why do we give people multiple opportunities to pass driver's license exams" Why do we give TEACHERS multiple opportunities to pass state certification exams" Why isn't it "one and done" with the adults" Who is more accountable, the person who tries and fails but keeps trying until they accomplish what they set out to accomplish or is it the person that fails to succeed and walks away" When someone fails to pay their rent, does the mortgage company tell them not to worry about because they didn't pay it on time - or does the mortgage company persist until they get payment" We're teaching our kids how to quit. We're teaching them that the experiences learned from failure mean nothing. If we applied that logic Ronald Reagan would have never been president. Edison wouldn't have persisted with the light bulb. So now, we've raised a generation of children bred on instant gratification and hollow praise and now we're adding the art of quitting to the mix. WAY TO GO TEXAS! We should be telling them "You can't quit. You will learn because that's what we EXPECT YOU TO DO."

anonymous said

The whole bill just tests my moral and ethical boundries. When did school become about testing and passing the kid on whether or not they know material based on "effort". I am not able to prepare our children for the real world and college if I can not hold them accountable for the grade they earn (or don't earn). I was so excited when I first heard of this bill and now I feel like I am srowning in quicksand. Maybe I am in the wrong profession!

anonymous said

This is too vague. What is reasonable? If I retested every paper over and over and over, I would NEVER TEACH! Schools are interpreting it as retesting till they pass. Teachers are saying, give them the 70 so we don't have to do that or dumb down the test. How about the Special Ed? They qualify only by failing and now we can't let them fail. How about the student that does no work or doesn't study? Is it fair to allow them to retest or turn it in late with no consequence? My school is allowing a person with a 69 to retest and take a new grade of a 100, but the person who made a 70 must stay at a 70. That is a law suit waiting to happen.

Sarah said

I'm with the person who posted on 6/13. I worked in a previous Austin area school district and when we were opening a new school we were told we would have to be able to give the students a "reasonable" amount of time to prove if they had mastered a certain unit or area of material. Different people have a different definition of reasonable, and having a student make up work from the 1st 6 weeks during the 4th 6 weeks is not in my definition of reasonable.

The intent behind this bill is good, but it needs to be worded much more carefully and clearly. It's almost as bad as some of the TEKS when it comes to how ambiguous it is!

anonymous said

Well, the ISD I work in just found the loophole! The intent of the bill was noble but the end result is flawed. We thought it was a great breakthrough when it was announced by admin on our campus that there would be no minimum grades (the computer magically brings grades up to a 50 if the average is lower) due to the bill. 'Just got an email from admin that, oops!, the bill just applies to "assignments" not the grading period average which is what ultimately "counts". I'm not interested in making kids' lives miserable. The truth is allowing minimum grades just rewards those who exert little or no effort. :-(

anonymous said

As a teacher in a school district that practices minimum grades, I am for this bill, but with some concerns. One... It is time that students must be held accountable for their work. Too many high school graduates are leaving schools to go into the work force or higher learning with the idea that work ethic doesn't matter and/or they will get several chances to do the job right (instead of doing it right the first time). Two... This will only work if districts stop basing a teacher's ability on his/her passing rate. Schools are not businesses, and sometimes it does a student more good to fail a class and wake up to their own reality. Three... I am concerned that if a student has a bad six weeks grade, he/she will give up thinking there's no hope for passing the semester.

When people talk about the drop out rate for colleges, the failing ability of US students to match up with other countries and/or the lack of a skilled/knowledge based work force, it should not only be the information taught in schools, but also the accountability for one's actions and a decent work ethic that's important.

anonymous said

Let us say a student negeects to finish a reading assignment. The teacher assigns a timed essay (as those given for AP lit or lang preparation). He will more than likely not do well. So other students who finished their reading and performed adequately (let us got a 78 or 80) can't redo the assignment but the neglectful one who made a 50 or 60 on his essay will have the opportunity to redo and perhaps get a better grade than those who met the initial deadline. Or a teacher has a discussion how well will the neglectful one do to contribute to the discussion (and, yes, you can grade discussions called seminar, inside/outside circle). How do you redo for that neglectful student? What if a student doesn't take a test or deliberately fails a test to redo, do you give a 70 or do you give the second grade? How fair is that to those who passed.

This law may address minimum grades but it has opened up a can of worms that teachers are not going to like. Be prepared. I am from a South Texas school district and we have fought this battle for years. Here we go again.

maverick said

Grades should reflect a student's level of effort. No effort should equal zero for the grade. Lyn is probably right, though. The local school districts will find loopholes to continue whatever grade welfare policies they can get away with.