West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia has decided that kids should no longer have the option to fail. As Fairfax County’s assistant superintendent for instructional services asked the Washington Post, “”If we really want students to know and do the work, why would we give them an F and move on? I think the students who are struggling should not be penalized for not learning at the same rate as their peers.”
Instead, teachers will work more afternoons and weekends, helping students who received incompletes catch up and learn the material they’re not getting. If that doesn’t work, summer sessions will offer a last ditch chance to make up the material. The new policy will offer some benefits to those who aren’t struggling as well – missing tests or quizzes will result in a NM, or “No Mark” grade. If the instructor feels that the student in question has demonstrated an understanding of the material, they won’t be asked to make up the test.
West Potomac is far from alone in its decision to let letter grades, a system that critics point out are rarely consistent between schools and so is an unfair standard to begin with, slide. From major universities like Stanford to other high schools like the Rhodes Island Big Picture Schools non-traditional grading has been shown to be a successful learning tool.
Critics of the new policy are concerned that it is unfair to students who do hold to deadlines and study enough to pass tests on the original testing date. ”I think giving Fs has a purpose, and that is to demonstrate we have standards [students] have to meet, and if they don’t meet them, they don’t pass,” Michael J. Petrilli, executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an educational policy think tank, tells the Post. “Kids need to know that if they don’t turn in an assignment or they blow a test, there are going to be consequences . . . We’re trying to prepare young people for the world of adults.”
But the experts behind West Potomac’s new policy think that, in fact, I’s create a more challenging learning environment for students by not allowing them to simply give up on something once they’ve failed. Rick Wormeli, a grading expert who has conducted training on the new approaches in Prince William, Loudoun, Calvert and Anne Arundel counties, points out to the Post, “It’s far more demanding on kids. Now it’s, ‘Oh crud, I have to learn it.’ ”
What do you think?
