The Iffy Fifty

After dealing with the 50 Rule for some time now, we learned at our staff development yesterday that change is on the horizon. At first we couldn’t give a kid less than a 50 on an assignment no matter how they did on it. Sure they would have to at least make a run at completing the work, but that’s about it. For example, all of a student’s answers on a quiz could be Poop and that qualifies as sufficient, as would any word synonymous with Poop—Feces, Excrement, Doody, Pooh-Pooh, Dookie, Turds.

The district, though, after hearing the pleas of teachers, decided to reevaluate the policy and create change. Huzzah!

That new policy gave teachers the ability to grade assignments without the 50 minimums. Students get the grades they earned. We just didn’t get to give them less than a 50 on their grading period average. I know. It’s the same situation, just dressed up in a different whore-ish dress. Sadly, that didn’t do much for morale. It was like the professional equivalent of “I’ve Got Your Nose” but you’re a grown-ass adult. It’s your thumb between your two fingers for goodness sake!

Thankfully, we learned yesterday that the state has jumped in and intervened. They’ve said that we can only give a student what they—earned. Can you believe that? I guess pumping out a bunch of screw-ups into the state population will make you reconsider some things.

They would never say that, though. They argued that a teacher must “assign a grade that reflects the student’s relative mastery of an assignment.”

In other words, “Duh.”