If a student failed to turn in an assignment, I would venture to guess that most teachers would give that student no credit until they completed the work. However, this year in the very large district just up the beltway from here, that student will receive a grade of 50. The new grading policy requires a minimum grade of 50 for any assignment and includes several other changes that are "designed to ensure that grades are based solely on mastery of academic material and mean the same thing from one classroom to the next".

Among the other new guidelines for grading, teachers may not count effort or class participation in a student’s grade, may only include homework if it is graded for content, and may not award extra credit. In addition, teachers are "strongly encouraged" to assign letter grades to all assignments (with no plus or minus) rather than using percentage scales.

As you might expect, some teachers are upset with this new system.

I agree with some of their objections, including the minimum grade provision. The student who flat-out doesn’t do an assignment and the student who tries but only manages to learn half the material should not receive the same credit. I also disagree with the idea of assigning letter grades to every assignment. Maybe it’s because I was a math teacher, but I see a difference between 80% and 89% which, under this system, would both receive a grade of B.

Just about every teacher I’ve ever worked with has had their own system for grading students. Some of them were incredibly complex and some extremely subjective – to the point that students and parents had difficulty understanding the process. For that reason alone, I understand the desire to bring some standardization to the process. However, this system is not the right way to do it.