Dallas ISD's New Grading Policies ....

Dallas schools plan to ease grading standards angers teachers

12:36 AM CDT on Saturday, August 16, 2008
By KENT FISCHER / The Dallas Morning News
kfischer@dallasnews.com

Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.

The new rules will be distributed when teachers return to their campuses next week. But many who have already seen the regulations say they are too lenient on slackers, and will come at the expense of kids who work hard.

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student's overall average will be thrown out.

Dallas ISD defends changes in grading policy :

School officials said the new guidelines are needed to ensure that all district teachers operate under the same rules and to create a "fair system" for grading students.

"The purpose behind it is to ensure fair and credible evaluation of learning – from grade to grade and school to school," said Denise Collier, the district's chief academic officer.

Some teachers said the new rules offer kids too many loopholes.

"It's like we're sending the message to kids that deadlines don't matter, studying is optional, and no matter how little you do, you're still [going to] pass all your classes anyway," said Ray Cox, who teaches world languages at Franklin Middle School.

The intent may have been to create a uniform grading policy, but the result was to lower standards, said Dale Kaiser, president of the teachers' group NEA-Dallas.

The school board and superintendent "talk about elevating standards and holding high expectations for kids, but we're telling the kids that whether they do the work or not is irrelevant," he said.

The new guidelines were developed by district staff and did not require school board approval.

District records state that the changes are part of a switch to "effort-based" grading and are designed to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate that they've mastered class material. Requiring teachers to contact parents instead of awarding zeros is designed to increase home-school communications, according to district materials presented recently to principals. Retests and deadline extensions are meant to motivate students to do better after initial failure.

Some of the rules are similar to those in place in nearby districts, but many of the district's new rules appear to be unique.

For example, teachers in Allen ISD can give zeros at their discretion. In Richardson and Fort Worth ISDs, teachers grade homework without regard to whether it will lower a student's overall class average. In Grand Prairie, students automatically incur substantial penalties for turning in late work.

Last school year, Dallas' board of trustees reaffirmed a policy that prevented teachers from giving students a grade lower than a 50 in any one grading period. The reason given was that students who fall below 50 have no hope or motivation to bring up their grades and just give up.

During the discussion, trustees asked administrators to develop standardized grading rules for elementary, middle and high school teachers.

Those rules were finalized this summer and have been sent to principals. Copies of the new rules were posted on The Dallas Morning News' DISD blog Wednesday.

Teacher reaction was swift and overwhelmingly negative.

One recent DISD graduate commented that he thought the new rules would give students the wrong impression of how businesses operate.

"Babying the rules so that [students] have almost unlimited chances to pass, that's unreal," said Joshua Perry, a 2007 graduate of Skyline High School. "In the real world, you don't get a whole lot of chances or other ways to make something up."


Staff writer Tawnell D. Hobbs, Stella M. Chávez and Karin Shaw Anderson contributed to this report.

Key points in DISD’s new grading policy:

•Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."

•Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.

•Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.

•Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make "efforts to assist students in completing the work."

SOURCE: Dallas ISD records

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jacquielynn Floyd: Comments on DISD's New Grading Policies ....


New DISD grading policy, like, totally awesome

02:55 PM CDT on Friday, August 15, 2008

"Dude, you know what would be really cool? It would be so completely awesome if you didn't do some lame, like, world history report and you could just tell the teacher, ‘Chill, I'll get to it later,' and they, like, couldn't do anything to you!"

"That would be so excellent! You know what else would be, like, completely off the hook? If you got something like, a 12 on your language arts homework ... ."

"The rule says you can't get less than a 50, dog. Misty told me they changed the rules last year so that's the worst grade in the whole DISD."

"Who made that rule?"

"The principal, I guess. I dunno, maybe it was the mayor."

"You did get a 50 on your language arts homework. You left it in my car."

"Whatev. Anyway, what would be real awesome would be when you got a 50, they weren't allowed to count it in your grade! Those teachers would be so totally cheesed!"

"That would be so completely cool. Also it would be cool if, like, those clueless teachers …. "

"Except not Mrs. Schneider, she's hot …."

"OK, not Mrs. Schneider. But those other stupid teachers had to let you take a test again until you, like, passed it. Hey, quit hogging the bong!"

"Shut up. What if, like, when you didn't read that guy's book – that Steinbeck dude …"

"Chuck read it. He said it was good."

"Well, if you want to read books and do homework all the time like Mister Lame Pathetic Chuck, go ahead. Gimme a light."

"Listen, here's what else would be seriously, really, awesomely cool: If they couldn't give you a zero for anything. It would be completely not allowed! I could be, like, ‘Look at me! I didn't do any homework for, like, a very long time …. "

"Like from Halloween to Christmas!"

"Yeah, that long, and they couldn't give me a zero! Irregardless! So we could go, like, to some big college without doing any homework!"

"A party college!"

"Most def! Everybody would have really good grades so you could go to any college you wanted. Someplace in Los Angeles, like Princeton."

"That would be so cool! We could party at Princeton with movie stars' kids – they have the best weed."

"Yeah, and when you go to a famous college, you can be like, a bank president or a judge or some rich guy. And if they can't ever give you bad grades, you can go to any college you want!"

"Awesome! I could be a political dude like … a senator."

"A Texas senator or an American senator?"

"They're the same thing, fool. Anyway, I could be one."

"That would be so completely amazing! You could be on TV!"

"Or I could be like that science guy on TV. You know, he does experiments and stuff. And he's really famous! I saw him on a T-shirt."

"What did you get on your science report?"

"A 50. Mr. Farber said I copied it off Wikipedia."

"You should have written it in your own writing instead of giving him a printout."

"So what? Do you know one single person in the world who cares about viruses and bacteria? Like that's ever going to have anything to do with real life!"

"It would be so cool if all the stuff you don't need to know anyway – science and history …."

"And government! Government sucks!"

"…If none of that stuff counted on your final grades. So the stuff nobody cares about didn't count."

"God, that would be so totally awesome! Hey, let's order a pizza."

"You know what would be cool, dude? If pizza was free."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I often disagree with Ms. Floyd and her opinions .... however this one she nailed!! In fact, I might take it one step further andf ask if the people who created this policy might also have been sharing a bong???

Education and IQ

Freshmen in Texas Public schools this year, also known as the Class of 2011, are required to take and pass 4 years of Math and 4 years of Science in order to graduate. The 4 years of Math will be Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and one more class higher than Algebra II such as Pre-Calculus or Advanced Placement Statistics. The 4 years of Science will include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and one other Science. The State Board of Education would like to see the course called Introduction to Physics and Chemistry (IPC) NOT count as a Science credit. For now, IPC does count.

All of this sounds like a great step forward for Public Schools. To the outside observer, 4 years of Math, Science, English and History seem to be reasonable expectations. They certainly should be required for anyone planning to attend, and be successful in, college. But do all students who attend Public High Schools plan to go to college? What about the students who are in High School to get a High School diploma and then plan to learn a trade? Honestly .... do they really need Physics? Do they really need Algebra II? If YOU had to take and pass Pre-Calculus in order to graduate from High School, would you have been able to do it?

As I stated in my previous Blog, approximately half of all Americans have a below average IQ. I suppose it is possible that Texas High schools do not follow this pattern, but I find it highly unlikely. Do we honestly believe that EVERYONE needs to be able to do Pre-Calculus?? Do we honestly believe that EVERYONE needs to be able to do Physics??

Do I sound elitist?

Okay ... maybe I do sound elitist. But this worries me greatly on many fronts. By expecting everyone to be able to pass a solid Pre-Calculus class, one of two things has to happen. Either a large number of students will fail and have to retake the class, possibly more than once, thus extending their stay in high school to more than 4 years or causing students to drop out before completing their credits .... or math teachers will have to lower the standards of the class in order for more students to be able to pass. If teachers lower the standards of the class, it is no longer a solid Pre-Calculus class.

There was a time when only students who were planning on going to college and majoring in engineering or architecture or mathematics or physics or medicine actually took 4 years of Math and 4 years of science. There are a large number of college degrees and life professions which require little or no Math background.

Meanwhile, people cannot balance a checkbook nor keep track of credit card debts nor reasonably figure out a household budget. But they WILL be able to identify an equation as being that of an Ellipse, or a Parabola, or a Hyperbola, or a Circle. Life skills, for sure.

Is High School now just College Prep? What happened to teaching life skills? What will happen to the people who simply cannot pass those 4 years of Math and Science and who end up dropping out? What happened to the over 40,000 students who did not graduate from Texas Public schools last year because they couldn't pass the TAKS test? Where are they now?

Is it not public education's job to educate THE PUBLIC? And approximately half the public has a below average IQ!! Where are the people with an 80 or 85 IQ supposed to go? What are they supposed to do? Are we lifting a High School diploma out of their reach? Don't we want these people to be viable members of society ... able to work and contribute to our system? I am not talking about people with below 70 IQ ... they qualify for Special Education. I am talking about people with between 70 and 100 IQ who are actually functioning at their IQ level. Good people, wonderful people, hard-working people .... look around you in a public place ... half the people you see qualify. They do not qualify for Special Ed in any way. Special Ed is either for people with a below 70 IQ or for people whose functioning IQ is more than one standard deviation below their actual IQ. ((Special ED is NOT what the general public thinks it is. Look it up.))

I am a retired Math teacher. I am now a Private Math Tutor. I expect my business to grow leaps and bounds as this year's freshmen move through their math courses. I also expect my frustrations to grow equally. I love Math ... and I would like all people to enjoy Math. I just don't think everyone needs to learn Pre-Calculus to get a High School diploma.

America and IQ ....

My husband recently read the following quote in The Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Journal ... "Actually, studies have shown that a near-majority of Americans have below-average intelligence. But maybe they'll be dumb enough to believe Biden's flattery."

You can read the context of the quote via the link above. It's not the part about Senator Biden, nor the part about the Democrat candidates not trusting the American people which bothers me. The part of that quote which I find bothersome is ... "studies have shown that a near-majority of Americans have below-average intelligence". Really?? Oh My!! This must be because of Public Education!! Something must be done! After all ... don't we all live in Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon where ... "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."?

I firmly believe that most Americans feel this way. And there will be a number of people who won't read beyond the 2nd paragraph above before they'll go on a rant about how awful public education is and how we must fight this "below-average IQ epidemic!" In fact, a number of you who are now reading these words are probably shocked by the the FACT that a near-majority of Americans have a Below-Average IQ.

I capitalized FACT because it is a fact .... and will always be a fact ... no matter what party sits in the White House ... No matter what public education does ... No matter what mandates come down from congress .... No matter what anyone says or does, there will always be a near-majority of below-average intelligence people in America. Of course, there will also be a near-majority of above-average intelligence people in America, too.

After all .... just what makes something "average"? Think about that.

Ever since my husband came home with that quote, I have been tossing it at friends and family and acquaintances to check their reactions. All of them have been shocked. It seems that we truly do expect most Americans to be smarter than average. We can't imagine that fully 1/2 of our great country has a below-average IQ. But it is true.

I have also noticed that I have started paying attention to my interactions with people and mentally placing these people on the IQ Bell Curve in my mind. The results have been a bit depressing. Of course, myself, and my husband, and most of our friends are on the right side of the Bell Curve ... but during the Christmas shopping season, I encountered a large number of people whom I felt would test in on the left-hand side of the curve. I also encounter these people on the roads around Dallas-Ft.Worth, and often in the Editorial sections of the Dallas Morning News ... (but only if their opinions are different from mine.)

Where do YOU fit on the curve? Do you have any idea? There are a number of IQ tests available online, some serious, some just for fun. Since you are probably reading this BLOG online, go ahead and run a search for IQ Tests and take one yourself. Make sure you have lots of time as a good IQ Test might take an hour or more to do.

Instead of writing a big long article about IQ and its implications in our lives, I am going to write a series of shorter BLOGS with my thoughts and some research into IQ and Education policies, IQ and Racism, IQ and its competitor, EQ ... and anything else I come up with.

If you have any thoughts, please feel free to comment!

Lucinda Mackinnon is a retired Math teacher and current Owner and Chief Tutor of Math-Matters.

Texas Instruments ....

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a program at Texas Instruments in Dallas. It was FREE and on a Saturday and it had to do with the new TI calculator called TI-Nspire. Here is a link so that you can get an inkling of what the TI-Nspire does .... and that is about all you will get .... an inkling. This new calculator is amazing ... add the software and a laptop and lots of training and practice and the potential in unlimited.



The session ran from 1-4:30 .... and that wasn't near enough time to even begin to understand all the possibilities of this tool. In fact, I spent a great deal of the time simply lost when it came to making my borrowed TI-Nspire do what the instructor wanted us to do! But I sure enjoyed watching him and watching the overhead and listening to the people around me.



In fact, I recall thinking that I wished a reporter from the Dallas Morning News had been there to report on the state of Math Teachers in the area. There I sat, on a Saturday afternoon, with 25-30 Math teachers ... some who had driven 250 miles to be there. Saturday .... a day which most teachers have off .... yet these teachers were there for 3.5 hours of training on a calculator which many of them don't even own! TI supplied the calculators for us to play with .... but we didn't get to keep them at the end (although we did get a nice T-shirt advertising the TI-Nspire and Math!) In fact, if I were still a classroom teacher, I probably wouldn't have been there myself .... you couldn't have paid me to go to a workshop on a Saturday afternoon ... I was very selfish of my weekend time before I started my own business and gave myself Friday's off. But I had seen online ads for the Nspire and I wanted to see what it could do! The workshop was FREE and I had a Friday off behind me and a leisurely Sunday ahead of me .... so why not go?


I am fairly certain that I was the only retired Math teacher there, besides the instructor, who used to teach math, retired, and now teaches for Texas Instruments. I was absolutely amazed by the energy and the diversity of all these teachers. There were men and women, very young, very old, and all ages in between .... white, black, hispanic and asian ... Honors teachers and Credit Recovery teachers .... some from the suburbs, many from DISD, some from Private Schools, most from Public. It was a dedicated and energetic grouping of Math teachers. I was very impressed.


The questions flew .... conversations got off-task .... people played with the calculators and got more off-task .... we exchanged ideas ... talked about other TI products we enjoy using .... the instructor kept pulling us back to his lesson .... but we mostly veered off. Most of the questions we asked him were difficult for him to answer as our questions varied as widely as the demographics we represented. He did have a lesson planned ... but many of our questions had to do with something later in the lesson .... so he would say "I'll get to that in a few minutes." I'm not sure if he ever got to those answers because more and more questions were fired at him as we continued to play with the calculators.

But, for the record .... teachers are a difficult audience!

In the end, 3.5 hours wasn't near enough time for for us to learn the calculator, but we did get a glimpse into it's possibilities. A few days later I received an email inviting me to attend a 3-day conference in Dallas surrounding TI technology for the classroom and featuring the TI-Nspire. The registration fee covers the conference AND I will get my very own TI-Nspire CAS handheld and software .... along with lots of training! Here is some info about the Conference which is going to be held Feb 29-March 2, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. If you want to see what Math teachers around Texas are like when you get them together .... come check it out!

The Great Disconnect .... High School to College

I have been meaning to write this BLOG for weeks and weeks, but Steve Blow's column in Sunday's Dallas Morning News (11-11-07) finally brought matters to a head. Please take a moment to read Steve's column as he sets up the background for this Blog very well. Thanks, Steve.

So how is it that so many students who are required by law to pass Algebra One, Geometry, and Algebra II to graduate from High School still have to take remedial Math classes when they get to college?

First of all, only in the past year have students HAD TO take Algebra Two to graduate. Before this, students needed only to take 3 years of Math including Algebra One, Geometry, and one other Math. So ... by the time students got to college they were often 2-4 years removed from an Algebra Class. Regardless, they do need to know Algebra One and Geometry in order to pass the Exit Level TAKS test their Junior year. But come their Senior year, there is no Math requirement, and very few of your average students will opt to take Pre-Calculus. ((This year's HS freshman, however, will be required to take 4 years of Math and 4 years of Science to graduate.)) Ask yourself .... how much Algebra do you remember 2 years after taking the class?

Secondly .... and this is the crux of the disconnect .... Texas High Schools are required by law to teach the usage of and encourage the usage of Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators. TI-Graphing Calculators are required for the Exit Level TAKS Math test. Yet no caculator is allowed on the Accuplacer nor the THEA Tests .... the tests students are given for college placement. If the Accuplacer or the THEA think you might need a calculator to do a problem, one will pop up on the computer while you are taking the test ... a little 4-function calculator which is nothing like the TI-calculators these students have used for years.

Whether or not you agree with calculator usage in high school Math classes, they are a requirement by state law. Texas Instruments keeps creating newer and better versions of their graphing calculators ... the newest one being the TI-Nspire ... just click here and check out their ad. Try to understand what is going on in that ad. Calculator usage has been heavily integrated into mathematics textbooks and classrooms. Calculators are allowed on the SAT and the ACT and on all Advanced Placement Math tests. To tell a student they will not be allowed to use a calculator on a placement test for college math is to, if nothing else, put them at a psychological disadvantage. Having a calculator may not help them at all, but it is a form of security, a tool which they have been using for their 4 years of high school. I believe it is a major mistake to withhold calculators from students taking the Accuplacer or the THEA. And I believe this is a major reason so many students are placed into remedial Algebra classes.

Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, is the fact that the test is given on a computer. For some reason, people who take Math tests on a computer do worse compared to people who take the same test on paper. Every major test the students have taken up to this point ... SAT, TAKS, ACT, AP tests, etc .... have all been paper and pencil tests. I understand why colleges use computers to test and place their students, especially when the computer uses the results on previous questions to determine what question to ask next. Here is the issue .... students will not take the time to work out the Math problem on a piece of paper before clicking on one of the 4 choices. They think writing something down is a waste of time or a sign of weakness. They think they can do it in their head and they mess up. I know this because I am guilty of this very same thing myself. I get the SAT Question of the Day from College Board.com in my email every day. One day is a Writing question, the next day is a Reading question, and the next day is a Math question, then the cycle repeats. I ace the Writing and Reading questions without having to pick up a pencil or open a dictionary, but when I get to the Math problems I always have to dig out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and solve the problems by hand. If I dare to do them in my head, I often make a stupid mistake. And I have a college degree in Mathematics.

So how do we bridge this gap between what is taught in High Schools and what is tested on the placement tests? First .... let the students use a calculator on the tests. If they don't know what they are doing, it won't help them. If they are used to using one, they will feel more comfortable having one nearby. Second ... students need to learn how to take a Math test on a computer before they get out of High School. A good time to work on this might be during that 4th year of Math being required for all High Schoolers. Also during this class teachers might want to reinforce some basic Math Skills ... adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers and decimals and fractions BY HAND. By the time these students are Seniors they have been away from this type of Math for four or more years. It is also quite possible they never truly understood how to do these things while in Middle School, but with added age and maturity, they might finally truly understand.

Part 2 - The Unspoken "Elitism" of Mathematics ...

What is it about Math?

It often seems to be the subject that everyone loves to hate. And that attitude is generally acceptable to most people. The conversation goes something like this ...

Person #1 ... "I hate Math."

Person #2 .... "Oh yeah, me, too!"

Person #3 ... "Not me, I love Math!"

Persons #1 & #2 in unison ..."Ewwwwww ... what are you?? Some kind of GEEK or something?"

And everybody moves a little further away from Person #3.

Yet if you were to take Person #1 aside and ask him if he would like to be able to do Math and understand Math ... he would admit that, YES, he would LOVE to be able to do Math well. Same thing with Person #2. Same thing with almost everybody.

So where is the disconnect? Everybody would like to be good at Math, but not many people are. Think back .... when exactly did Math become a problem for you? Was it in 1st grade? 4th grade? Middle School? Was it Algebra or Geometry?

Almost every adult had to take Algebra and some form of Geometry while in High School. Very few took more than that. Why?

If you are one of those people who would like to be good at Math, but only took what was required of you in High School, I would like to hear from you. When did Math begin to be a struggle for you? Was it the Math or was it the teacher or was it because of issues in your life at the time? Maybe it was a combination of these things?

I have my own theories on this ... but I would like to know how things worked in YOUR case. Please feel free to comment on this post or you may email me at MathMatters@verizon.net.



(to be continued ...)

The Unspoken "Elitism" of Mathematics ...

Are you good at Math? How good at Math are you? How does the following question make you feel?


50. Which of these equations describes a relationship in which every real number x corresponds to a non negative real number?

A. y = 2x

B. y = 2x ^2 (2 times x squared)

C. y = 2x^ 3 (2 times x to the third power)

D. y = -2x

Does it make you want to sketch graphs and figure it out? Or does it make you want to run screaming into the closet?

It's okay .... come on out of the closet .... I'm not going to make you do this problem and I am not going to judge you in any way if you have no idea what it even says. I promise. (However ... if you do want to know the answer, please Click Here.)

My guess is that out of 100 people polled, at least 80 would bow-out or back away from this question. Roughly 20 would try it .... and of those 20 maybe 11 will get it right? Maybe?

But what I know for sure .... those who get it right would be PROUD. Proud of their ability to do Math. Proud to know more than about 89% of the general population. And many of the Proud would be Math Teachers.

Knowing how to do Math is a wonderful thing. In a way, it is kind of like knowing how to do magic. People who can do magic are very happy to perform it, but almost always unwilling to share their secrets. And sometimes the performance of a Math problem looks like Magic to many ... only not near as entertaining as, say, sawing a Math teacher in half and then putting him/her back together again.

How many of you have ever tried to do a Math problem, been unsuccessful, and then heard someone say, "I can't believe you don't know how to do this! You should have learned this in Sixth Grade!" Okay, Okay put your hands down. Now ... how many of you have had a Math teacher say that to you? And how many of these Math teachers looked smug/disgusted when they said it?

Okay ... Okay ... put your hands down. And please stop imagining your Math teacher being sawed in half.

Yes ... there is a feeling of pride in being able to do something that "most people" cannot do ... being able to do something that actually scares most people. And sometimes there is a feeling of wanting to keep your secrets close, so that you are one of the few who can do it and do it well.

Mathematicians are often this way. Maybe not intentionally, but many Mathematicians seem unwilling to share their special talent with the general public. You either know it, or you don't ... and if you don't, too bad for you. Or maybe many mathematicians are the type who can do it well, but are unable to teach it in a way the general public can understand?

Everybody knows somebody who can do Math really well, but who cannot teach it worth anything. Often it is your architect Dad, or your engineer Uncle, or your honors achieving Sister. They can do it ... and do it well ... but they simply cannot explain it to you.

Enter Math teachers. It is their JOB to explain Mathematics to you in a way that you can understand. It is their job to teach this generation of high schoolers Algebra One and Geometry and Algebra Two and Pre-Calculus and Calculus and so on! And teach it they do. And teach it and teach it and teach it.

Yet colleges are still complaining that students don't know any Math. And 40,000 students didn't graduate from Texas High Schools in 2007, mainly due to the TAKS Math Test.

What is it about Math?

To be continued ...