San Benito High School’s goal to decrease student failure by 40
percent has been met with some resistance from teachers, who worry
that the pressure to give fewer
”
F
”
grades may lead to inflated scores.
San Benito High School’s goal to decrease student failure by 40 percent has been met with some resistance from teachers, who worry that the pressure to give fewer “F” grades may lead to inflated scores.
The high school district’s board of trustees approved the objective of reducing the number of failing grades issued each semester. To achieve this goal, teachers who give 15 percent or more “F” grades during a grading period must meet with district administrators to justify the marks and identify strategies to increase student success.
This obligation has caused concern among teachers, who believe it places all the blame on them and may cause some teachers to feel pressure to artificially increase grades – especially for new teachers who might feel intimidated by the process.
Although the district’s trustees acknowledged there was some danger in this, they said decreasing failure rates is a critical step toward improving students’ achievement.
“I think it’s important that you do look at the failure rates along with everyone else, because if you’re failing a lot of kids, you’re not doing something right,” Trustee Steve DeLay said.
Cindy Cordova, the district’s director of educational services, said the goal is to help look at student failure rates – not to focus exclusively on teachers.
“The purpose is to make students achieve better,” Cordova said. “The purpose is to help teachers help students and for the school overall to help students.”
To achieve the goal of decreasing the overall failure rate by 40 percent, the district is examining the number of failing grades each teacher gives, along with testing and grading policies within each department.
Those teachers who give 15 percent or more “F” grades will look with administrators at ways to increase student success, such as talking with parents and allowing re-testing.
“It’s really a two-way conversation about what’s going on – why are kids struggling?” Cordova said.
Kristen Byler, who teaches drama at the high school, said the district needs to focus more on students and parents, and not just on teachers.
“I think they’re trying to solve a problem by placing the blame in the wrong spot,” she said. “The assumption is that if we have a high failure rate, then it’s all (teachers’) fault.”
Byler said she’s concerned teachers might feel compelled to artificially raise or inflate grades. This was echoed by several other teachers.
“It seems like there is this pressure to not cross this arbitrary line,” Byler said. “It’s particularly intimidating to new teachers who don’t have permanent status.”
DeLay said talking to teachers who had given out many failing grades was not intended as punitive.
If a teacher is giving 35 percent of students “F” grades because those students are not showing up to class or doing any of the work, then that’s O.K., DeLay said. The meetings are designed more to help teachers brainstorm solutions, he said.
“I think if a teacher is doing their job, they have nothing to fear,” DeLay said.
