The Difference Between D and Fail

Hello everyone,

I was talking to a couple of Garfield administrators today about some of our earlier discussions on grades. We were talking about some of the finer points of when students deserve Fails, or when they should be given a "courtesy D."

On the outset, I must say that I'm opposed to "courtesy D's," but I must also confess that I'm as willing as the next guy to give someone a D instead of a Fail if there's any possibility that I can do it with a clear conscience.

So the question continues.

This is how it was proposed today: "Suppose you have a student who comes every day, does all the work, fails all the tests, and fails the class. Suppose you have another student who ditches all the time, does none of the work, fails all the tests, and fails the class. Should those students be classified equally?"

Before you answer the question in your head, consider what subject you teach, what the standards in that subject represent, what sorts of adaptations you will make for students with IEPs or who are ELL, and what you consider to be an appropriate assessment.

Some subjects are content oriented. I mean that someone may only be considered to have passed the subject when they have learned a certain percentage (usually 60%) of the material and have demonstrated that knowledge in some sort of assessment. Some subjects are skill oriented, and those who pass must demonstrate a minimum level of skill (harder to evaluate objectively). Some subjects combine content with skill acquisition.

Whether or not students know content is fairly easy to assess. Sometimes, however, teachers use an assessment that may require unrelated skills in place of content. Asking Steven Hawking to hand write the answers to a test may make him look like an idiot; a verbal assessment shows him to be a genius. If content is important to the assessment, allow for adaptations.

If skills are important, a single assessment is usually inadequate. If I am measuring a student's writing skills, I may use multiple essays (edited essays, rough drafts, research papers, essay tests), multiple modalities (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, variant narrators), and multiple media (illustrated, typed, handwritten, performed, spoken) to assess. I may also judge the process of writing. (The same idea applies in PE, I think; translate the skills and assessments for subject.) If, skills are important, give many opportunities for improvement in skills. Grade on skill practice as well as skill acquisition.

I used to promise my students that, if they completed all the work and came every day on time, I would guarantee that I would give them a passing grade. (Of course, students who do all those things rarely fail.) No student ever failed my class without failing first to participate and work. If students do everything, but the test scores cause them to fail, I might evaluate the percentage of my grade that is reliant on test scores. (I taught classes that measured both skills and content, so I could adjust to favor effort in skill practice.)

I would also consider giving an annotated grade. The student may receive a C in my class with the annotation that the grade reflects requirements of the student's IEP. That would ease my conscience about adaptations that could be perceived as unfair.

Still, when it finally comes down to it, if a student was 1% away from a D, I would allow error in favor of the D rather than a Fail. We're not talking about an A here, or admission to Harvard or a UC. We're also not talking about someone who is significantly far away from passing or who failed at every facet, including effort. We're especially not talking about the nice student who politely does nothing. We're talking about someone who tried, partially failed, and made honorable attempts.

Let the RSP student have alternative assessment; let the hard worker get a bonus for doing everything; let the honest student have credit for taking the real score and not cheating. The difference between a D and a Fail in this case is reasonably ruled by your good judgment.

Jeff Combe