The school board has finally agreed to stop these grading policies and return to a system of real accountability. This fight took everything I had left in me, but I am relieved that we reached the finish line. We need to stay alert to make sure these changes are actually …
April 30, 2016
Final supporters
(Please sign in support of this petition only if you are a resident of Virginia Beach, VA)
A group of concerned parents and teachers have come together to ensure that accountability in grading is not removed from secondary schools in the Va Beach School District. Practices such as "homework cannot be counted as part of the grade, points cannot be deducted for work turned in late, zeroes cannot be given, and test retakes are encouraged" have already been implemented in some Va Beach Middle and High Schools. This group wants those practices removed and is recommending that the following document on grading guidelines be adopted by the Va Beach School Board:
Some students may have extenuating circumstances in their lives which can impact learning. Guidance counselors or school psychologists should become involved in providing these students with extra support when needed. If a student habitually does not turn in work on time or achieves low test scores, the guidance department should assist the teacher in finding resources to help the student and get the parents involved to work toward a resolution. Exceptions should be made when necessary for special education students students and/or students on IEP, AT or 504 plans.
1. Extra Credit: Extra credit may be offered at the teacher’s discretion. If offered, it should be available to the entire class not just select students. It should also pertain to the topic of study. Extra credit assignments should not cost money (ex. bringing in supplies for the classroom).
2. Homework: Homework should have meaning and not be busy-work. Since it is a building block toward mastery, teachers should have discretion to count homework completion or accuracy as a portion of the grade. It should be limited to no more than 15% of the overall grade. In many classes, homework helps prepare the student for the next lesson; therefore, the student should be properly prepared to ensure that class time is meaningful for all students.
3. Late Work: Teachers will have the ability to deduct points for work not turned in by the assigned deadline. If a student is habitually late, the teacher should work with parents and the guidance department to change the behavior.
4. Zeroes: It is important for teachers to be able to enforce the completion of work by having the ability to assign a zero. A teacher may provide an opportunity for a student to make-up the zero through additional coursework or other remediation for partial credit. However, it is the student’s/parent’s ultimate responsibility to ensure work is completed on time.
5. Test Retakes: Retakes/reassessments are strongly discouraged and should be conducted when determined necessary by the teacher.
6. Cheating: If a student is found guilty of cheating, they should be given an unrecoverable grade of zero. It should be noted that many colleges expel students on their first offense of cheating.
7. Behavior: Behavior such as class disruption, talking in class, etc should not be a component of the grade. However, teachers should have the ability to include such things as class participation as a component of the grade.
8.Grading Scale: The current percentage grading scale as of school year 2015/16 should not be changed. Accountability factors should be a portion of the overall grade and not separated.
It is important to teach students the lesson of accountability and assess the overall student, and not just grade for mastery of material. Additionally, the Administration of the Virginia Beach School District should not have the ability to change or implement new or different grading guidelines without the approval of the School Board, even on a trial basis.
* It should be noted that alternative measures of enforcing accountability, such as detention, puts an undue burden on teachers. The idea that there should be a separate grade for accountability factors is not enforceable since the student would still be able to advance to a higher grade even if they have low accountability scores.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
March 22, 2016
Reached 100 supporters
March 11, 2016
March 10, 2016
The exhaustion is setting in but I refuse to walk away from this fight for our students. We are near one hundred signatures and reaching that mark will force them to acknowledge we are a force that will not be ignored.
172 Comments
These children are our future, to GIVE them everything,including a passing grade, when not rightfully earned, is demeaning to them as individuals and a slap-in-the-face to the teachers who work so hard to educate them!
I can not stand standards based grading, even in the primary grades. At 3rd grade and beyond there should be accountability in grades. Our fourth grader has no idea how she is doing in school because AP, P, DP, & N mean nothing to her.
This is VBCPS's attempt to get their pass rates and graduation rates up. As usual, catering to the weakest students by lowering expectations. Unfortunately, this will set them up for failure in the workplace and college and drag every other student down in the process.
This grading method is unacceptable. I will not have my daughter enter into college and be completely shocked and at a major disadvantage when she learns that she is actually expected to work and be accountable. Do NOT implement this atrocity.
It is imperative to keep accountability as part of the grade. I feel that part of mastery is learning to follow deadlines and having consequences when they are not meant. What is the incentive for students to do homework if it is not going to count.
I have been teaching for 15 years and this is absolutely ridiculous. The teachers know that this is going to be the worst decision the superintendent could make. We know that if kids aren't held accountable they won't do the work. When in life do you get retakes of tests because you chose not to prepare for it the first go round. If the kids don't learn responsibility then the work force is going to have the biggest bunch of incompetent babies applying for jobs. Common sense would tell you this is a horrible decision but what do teachers know. We just do all the work while the superintendent sits back and undoes everything.
I would have to ask "What the new Superintendent is trying to achieve with this initiative?" Has the school board directed him to reduce failure rates and dropout rates at the cost of SAT/ACT scores and college acceptance rates? Is mediocrity more socially acceptable? Mr. Spence is a product of the old VBCPS and must have benefited from the exceptionally high standards of that now apparently antiquated 20th century school system. Three decades ago we selected Virginia Beach as our home largely because of the school system. We still have grandchildren in the VBCPS today and are appalled by these proposed changes. Where do our children have to move to ensure an education for their children?
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The school board has finally agreed to stop these grading policies and return to a system of real accountability. This fight took everything I had left in me, but I am relieved that we reached the finish line. We need to stay alert to make sure these changes are actually …
April 30, 2016
Final supporters
(Please sign in support of this petition only if you are a resident of Virginia Beach, VA)
A group of concerned parents and teachers have come together to ensure that accountability in grading is not removed from secondary schools in the Va Beach School District. Practices such as "homework cannot be counted as part of the grade, points cannot be deducted for work turned in late, zeroes cannot be given, and test retakes are encouraged" have already been implemented in some Va Beach Middle and High Schools. This group wants those practices removed and is recommending that the following document on grading guidelines be adopted by the Va Beach School Board:
Some students may have extenuating circumstances in their lives which can impact learning. Guidance counselors or school psychologists should become involved in providing these students with extra support when needed. If a student habitually does not turn in work on time or achieves low test scores, the guidance department should assist the teacher in finding resources to help the student and get the parents involved to work toward a resolution. Exceptions should be made when necessary for special education students students and/or students on IEP, AT or 504 plans.
1. Extra Credit: Extra credit may be offered at the teacher’s discretion. If offered, it should be available to the entire class not just select students. It should also pertain to the topic of study. Extra credit assignments should not cost money (ex. bringing in supplies for the classroom).
2. Homework: Homework should have meaning and not be busy-work. Since it is a building block toward mastery, teachers should have discretion to count homework completion or accuracy as a portion of the grade. It should be limited to no more than 15% of the overall grade. In many classes, homework helps prepare the student for the next lesson; therefore, the student should be properly prepared to ensure that class time is meaningful for all students.
3. Late Work: Teachers will have the ability to deduct points for work not turned in by the assigned deadline. If a student is habitually late, the teacher should work with parents and the guidance department to change the behavior.
4. Zeroes: It is important for teachers to be able to enforce the completion of work by having the ability to assign a zero. A teacher may provide an opportunity for a student to make-up the zero through additional coursework or other remediation for partial credit. However, it is the student’s/parent’s ultimate responsibility to ensure work is completed on time.
5. Test Retakes: Retakes/reassessments are strongly discouraged and should be conducted when determined necessary by the teacher.
6. Cheating: If a student is found guilty of cheating, they should be given an unrecoverable grade of zero. It should be noted that many colleges expel students on their first offense of cheating.
7. Behavior: Behavior such as class disruption, talking in class, etc should not be a component of the grade. However, teachers should have the ability to include such things as class participation as a component of the grade.
8.Grading Scale: The current percentage grading scale as of school year 2015/16 should not be changed. Accountability factors should be a portion of the overall grade and not separated.
It is important to teach students the lesson of accountability and assess the overall student, and not just grade for mastery of material. Additionally, the Administration of the Virginia Beach School District should not have the ability to change or implement new or different grading guidelines without the approval of the School Board, even on a trial basis.
* It should be noted that alternative measures of enforcing accountability, such as detention, puts an undue burden on teachers. The idea that there should be a separate grade for accountability factors is not enforceable since the student would still be able to advance to a higher grade even if they have low accountability scores.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
March 22, 2016
Reached 100 supporters
March 11, 2016
March 10, 2016
The exhaustion is setting in but I refuse to walk away from this fight for our students. We are near one hundred signatures and reaching that mark will force them to acknowledge we are a force that will not be ignored.
172 Comments
i am a parent and i will be at the next school board meeting and i've spoken to teachers, counselors, principal and administration about some of these topics and I am dumbfounded at the lack of care and low expectations for these kids
These children are our future, to GIVE them everything,including a passing grade, when not rightfully earned, is demeaning to them as individuals and a slap-in-the-face to the teachers who work so hard to educate them!
I can not stand standards based grading, even in the primary grades. At 3rd grade and beyond there should be accountability in grades. Our fourth grader has no idea how she is doing in school because AP, P, DP, & N mean nothing to her.
This is VBCPS's attempt to get their pass rates and graduation rates up. As usual, catering to the weakest students by lowering expectations. Unfortunately, this will set them up for failure in the workplace and college and drag every other student down in the process.
This grading method is unacceptable. I will not have my daughter enter into college and be completely shocked and at a major disadvantage when she learns that she is actually expected to work and be accountable. Do NOT implement this atrocity.
It is imperative to keep accountability as part of the grade. I feel that part of mastery is learning to follow deadlines and having consequences when they are not meant. What is the incentive for students to do homework if it is not going to count.
I have been teaching for 15 years and this is absolutely ridiculous. The teachers know that this is going to be the worst decision the superintendent could make. We know that if kids aren't held accountable they won't do the work. When in life do you get retakes of tests because you chose not to prepare for it the first go round. If the kids don't learn responsibility then the work force is going to have the biggest bunch of incompetent babies applying for jobs. Common sense would tell you this is a horrible decision but what do teachers know. We just do all the work while the superintendent sits back and undoes everything.
I would have to ask "What the new Superintendent is trying to achieve with this initiative?" Has the school board directed him to reduce failure rates and dropout rates at the cost of SAT/ACT scores and college acceptance rates? Is mediocrity more socially acceptable? Mr. Spence is a product of the old VBCPS and must have benefited from the exceptionally high standards of that now apparently antiquated 20th century school system. Three decades ago we selected Virginia Beach as our home largely because of the school system. We still have grandchildren in the VBCPS today and are appalled by these proposed changes. Where do our children have to move to ensure an education for their children?
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i am a parent and i will be at the next school board meeting and i've spoken to teachers, counselors, principal and administration about some of these topics and I am dumbfounded at the lack of care and low expectations for these kids