| Grading Standards Need More Uniformity For Fairness (5/05) | | Print | |
| Written by Conor Casey | |
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Lowell ranks academically among the country’s top public high schools.
When students bring home blue-ribbon-worthy test scores, their parents
praise the school and the teachers. But when these same students bring
home Cs for report card grades, their parents blame the student. Little
do they realize that some students are falling easy prey to the
inconsistent and unfair standards of some Lowell teachers. Most teachers here are wonderful. They employ innovative teaching methods and consistently challenge their gifted students. They realize that knowledge-hungry students come here for an education they could not attain elsewhere. They know that the majority of students are not lazy, as evidenced by their 4.0s in middle school and outstanding scores on countless standardized tests, and teachers recognize that students who show up to class every day, complete all of the work and improve their skills probably deserve no lower than a B. After all, as many agree, at almost any other school in the district, they would be earning straight As. However, it seems that the school has one bad teacher for every five good teachers. These teachers don’t teach, grade harshly and blatantly play favorites. They seem to derive pleasure from knowing that they have the power to put a blemish on an intelligent student’s transcript. To combat unfair teaching practices, the administration should more closely monitor teachers’ teaching habits, and check the grading policies of teachers whose grades average much less than a 3.0 for fairness. At another school, it might be appropriate to give the majority of kids Cs, but most students here strive for As and often deserve no less. Unfortunately, some teachers do not see it this way. I have had a few of these notoriously unfair teachers. Sophomore year, my math teacher failed about a fourth of the class. The seven or so kids in my class who received a final F were all smart kids who had tested into honors math, completed the homework every night and diligently in class every day. At the end of the semester, however, it was as if they had never shown up once for class. I am not the only one who has suffered at the hands of Lowell math teachers. The second semester of my junior year, I sat next to a brilliant honors math student who had scored an 800 on the math portion of his SAT I. However, despite obvious skill in math, perfect attendance and completion of all the homework, this student received a D for the final grade. Last semester, only 26.3 percent of Lowell students received As in math, according to a document from the curriculum office. Strangely, however, last year’s California Standards Test showed that 43, 33, and 47 percent of Lowell students are “Advanced” in geometry, algebra II and summative high school mathamatics, respectively. Such a gap between test scores and grades indicates a problem. Low math grades can have damning effects on a student’s high school career, keeping students from advancing along a math track, as well as from progressing to the next level of a science course. All honors and AP science courses at Lowell require a B minimum in the previous math course. Therefore, a low grade in math can limit many of a student’s options for the next semester. This unjust distribution of grades is not limited strictly to the math department, however. My freshman English teacher was not much better. She seemed to give out grades arbitrarily; if you asked her why you had gotten a low grade on a test, she couldn’t tell you. She wouldn’t give As because “nobody’s perfect,” she said. Many students who earned As and Bs in every other semester of high school English got a D from her. If Lowell wishes to maintain its reputation as a top academic school, it must do something about biased teacher who grade arbitrarily, or too harshly. These teachers not only blemish transcripts, they tarnish Lowell’s record. Lowell is an institution that prides itself on its academics. However, as a California Most Distinguished School honoree, it should also be an institution that prides itself on fair standards. It is time Lowell truly lived up to its reputation as a great school. |
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to listen.
