Every teacher has a story about a smart kid who failed because she just refused to do even the bare minimum to pass. Well-intentioned teachers also learn the hard way that lowering expectations and letting shoddy work slide by only makes things worse. The moral is apparently lost, though, on some school districts. Across New York State, districts are enacting policies that give students an automatic minimum grade of 50 for the quarter, regardless of attendance, test scores, class participation, etc. Proponents say the policy will motivate low-achieving students to stay in school and give them a chance to pull themselves up by their bootstraps even after abysmal performance in one or more quarters. Unfortunately, the minimum grade policy may do the exact opposite. According to Sally Jo Widmer, president of the Auburn (NY) Teachers Association, "We have students who have successfully completed the first three marking periods and they are, with pen and pencil, calculating how little work they can do and still receive a passing grade." What's worse, some fear that minimum grade policies will exacerbate high-school grade inflation. Once you start giving kids who are doing nothing a 50, how can you justify giving a kid who works extremely hard, but has not mastered the material, the same grade? According to Val Carr, an 11th grade social studies teacher in Syracuse, such fears are already being realized. "[Some] administrators are asking the nontenured teachers to consider bumping [grades] to a 65 in the case of a student who is really trying." Don Little, a social studies teacher in Syracuse, argues rightly that you cannot motivate a student by giving him a grade he doesn't deserve. "A 50 says you're halfway to perfection but that 50 could be a 6. As cold and hard as a 6 is, a 6 tells a parent how little their child is doing."
"Are students getting a free ride?" New York Teacher, June 2, 2004, http://www.nysut.org/newyorkteacher/2003-2004/040602grading.html