Norwalk: BOE Reluctant to Tackle Finances Chooses Grades Instead

by turfgrrl

May 20th, 2007 · 21 Comments

Tags: Education · In the News · Norwalk

21 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: BOE Reluctant to Tackle Finances Chooses Grades Instead”

• 1 anonymous // May 20, 2007 at 10:23 pm

  This is very impportant. In part of this policy down town wants teachers to give an F no lower than 50% when averaged in with the other year grades. In some classes the student may choose to do no work for most of the year and then rally at the end to pass the class with a D. 0% should yield a 0 not a 50. The next thing you know we will have to give them points for breathing. As it is they changed the H policy during study hall-result; more students skipping because there is no consequence for doing so any longer. Keep fixing stuff that is not broken.

• 2 anonymous // May 20, 2007 at 11:19 pm

  ‘Lang led a team of administrators who wrote the report.’

  This administrator seems to keep herself well under the radar. I am curious. What is the general opinion of this person? Any of the Central Office staff members want to weigh in?

• 3 anonymous // May 21, 2007 at 6:58 am

  As a parent of a student, I once called her to ask a question. She never called me back. I think Ms. Lang is another one in Corda’s stable of overpaid retired hacks who should stay retired. He has several other double dipping retirees from New York in his arsenal. Disgusting.

• 4 Maura // May 21, 2007 at 10:35 pm

  Wow, way to give freebies to failing students!

  This policy FORCES teachers to consider a failing quarterly grade nothing lower than 50%. As a commenter said above, that basically gives a middle school or high school student permission to do NOTHING for an entire quarter (or three) — not one assignment, absolutely no class participation, no tests, no reports, no projects, nothing — and still get HALF CREDIT for that compared to students who do all their work.

  This is why politicians have no business interfering with the work of teachers in classrooms. Way to encourage a nonexisting work ethic!

• 5 Maura // May 21, 2007 at 10:41 pm

  Okay, I’m gonna continue ranting and picking apart this policy here — this truly makes my blood boil after teaching in Norwalk schools.

  Here’s another gem:

  At the middle school level, all students not achieving proficiency (at least a 75%) should be given the opportunity to retake a test (excluding quarterly and district assessments). Students are expected to take advantage of all extra support available at school and at home before retaking a test. When a retest is given, alternative forms of the test should be used.

  Okay, great. First of all “alternative forms of the test” don’t just magically appear out of thin air. Teachers usually have to create them from scratch, by themselves. So, great, you just added another hour or two of work to each teacher’s workload for every test given. No corresponding increase in compensation, of course.

  When I taught in Norwalk, I almost always gave students an opportunity to re-take tests if they scored below a 70%. But mandating this and mandating alternative forms of a test just hamstring’s a teacher’s ability to use her own judgement based on particular circumstances.

• 6 Maura // May 21, 2007 at 10:54 pm

  Some of this phrasing in itself just reveals the distorted sense of responsibility that many Norwalk district leaders have. Here’s one example:

  Homework is part of a student’s overall grade not to exceed 15% on a student’s report card. Teachers should make every attempt to provide make up opportunities so as to avoid zeroes.

  So the onus is on teachers to avoid zeroes. How about the responsibility being on students to make sure they actually do their homework on time?

  The implication here (and this kind of teacher-blaming is endemic in some Norwalk schools) is that if a student has a lot of zeroes on homework, it is first and foremost the teacher’s fault.

  Rather than trying to hide endemic problems by changing 0’s to 50’s, pressuring teachers to change grades, or blaming teachers when some students don’t do work, Norwalk leaders should see honest grades (let’s call a zero a zero) an opportunity to intervene when there are real problems going on in a student’s life. If a student turns in only 2 of 25 homework assignments in a quarter, the answer is not to give him 50’s rather than 0’s and ignore the underlying crisis or reflexively blame the teacher — the answer is to see this as an opportunity to step in and help the child. Perhaps there is a crisis at home. Perhaps the child has no safe, quiet place in which to do her work. Perhaps she is being abused or neglected. Perhaps he has a substance problem or is going through a personal crisis. Perhaps he has an undiagnosed learning disability. It’s time to step in and try to diagnose the problem, not cover it up or paper it over.

• 7 Maura // May 21, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  Here’s a really problematic one regarding summer school. For middle schoolers:

  1. Students who fail one of four core academic subjects (Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) will be promoted to the next grade
  level. Students are encouraged, but not required, to attend summer school.

  Students who fail a CORE academic subject in middle school will not be required to attend summer school in that subject? That’s outrageous! The message that this sends to students is that the knowledge and skills in that particular subject are optional and irrelevant and will make no difference to that student’s success the following year.

  A student who fails math in 7th grade is not just going to magically pick up all of those skills over the summer before starting 8th grade.

  Summer school is not about punishment. It is about an opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to be more successful during the following school year. Not requiring summer school when a student fails a CORE subject is just setting that student up for failure the next year.

• 8 Maura // May 21, 2007 at 11:10 pm

  Sorry to get so fired up, Turfgrrl, and clog up your comments here! I hope other teachers and parents will chime in with opinions about these policy changes.

  Overall, I agree with policy language that focuses on homework as a tool for learning, not primarily as a mode of assessment of learning. But some of these policy recommendations really strike me as being more about administrative convenience and avoiding parental complaints than about what is best for student learning. It’s sad.

  Reading the full .pdf, I see that one policy suggestion for determining final grade is to average the grade point equivalents of each quarter letter grade. That is a MUCH more educationally sound approach than simply changing any quarter grade lower than 50 to a 50. It’s less arbitrary, more reflective of real student learning, and certainly more educationally sound to average grade points than to just change everything below 50 to 50 and then calculate averages. A uniform policy of calculating final grades using grade points would also be more clear for teachers, parents, and students.

• 9 turfgrrl // May 22, 2007 at 3:35 pm

  Maura: Thanks for the excellent comments regarding the proposed BOE grade rules. Always appreciated!

• 10 anonymous // May 22, 2007 at 6:31 pm

  Maura you did do a great job at looking at the policy changes. The meeting is on the 29th I hope people like you can show up and speak to the problems that they are going to instate if passed.

• 11 Charles the Hammer // May 22, 2007 at 8:13 pm

  The result of the Norwalk District’s grading and testing standard revision is the “dumbing down” of standards and expectations and stripping classroom teachers of the discretion that befits professionals.

  In one fell swoop Dr. Lang will eliminate the zero. How scholars tracing back to the Indus River civilization will mourn its loss. Zero is a valid expression of value. When one offers no effort, the reward is commensurate.. The fifty per cent rule is simply a means of inflating achievement.

  Next, limiting the total time to be spent on homework is a sop. How can multiple teachers in the standard high school format possibly know the levels at which all the other teachers a student may have assign homework. If the class load is between 120-130
  students, that is an extraordinary level of tracking. Today, students might approach a teacher’s reasoned discretion and state their case. Most of the time, this results in a compromised solution. In the future, Dr. Lang’s pre-packaged excuses will eliminate the need for students to negotiate.

  Let’s move on to the concept of “re-testing”. There is nothing wrong with extending courteous opportunity to students who seek a second or even third bite at the apple. I don’t’ know of many teachers who seek to damage students by Draconian adherence to arbitrary rules. Are there any parents of teenagers out there who believe that procrastination won’t kick in when kids know that they can blow off Monday’s test for a retake on Tuesday? That’s not a good message. Further, required acceptance of late homework assignments will reinforce the same behaviors. All of us have the latent tendency to procrastinate. Teachers and parents know that we help kids most when we train them to fight such urges. The unintended “blowback” of misplaced compassion on rigor is that successful students will be less motivated and accountable. Just as the removal of structure surrounding attendance in homeroom and study hall has had the unintended consequence of increasing the cutting of classes, diminishing structure with regard to punctuality and preparation will result in the denigration of performance in those areas. Permissiveness is the opposite of compassion.

  Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan referenced the “soft racism of low expectations” with regard to this very subject. Those poor minorities just can’t measure up without a “special consideration”. Forget that nonsense. Think Jackie Robinson or Frederick Douglass! Kids can do amazing things if parents and teachers work together to inspire excellence. Giving everyone five strikes ain’t the way to go.

  Everyone should read the document. It was largely rejected by the faculty I know. Here’s the link:

  http://www.norwalkpublicschools.org/pdf/draftpolicies.pdf

  The public meeting is on May 29th, 7 PM, Room A-300, Norwalk City Hall.

• 12 anonymous // May 28, 2007 at 5:25 pm

  Charles the Hammer you are a terrific writer. How many study halls did you skip as a child? And if you did, what did you get when you returned home to a parent that was called by the school. AHHH, but your phone number actually reached your home. (an uncommon thing today)

• 13 annonmm // May 28, 2007 at 5:58 pm

  There is nothing in this proposed “new policy” that helps students or makes teaching more of a pleasure.

  It looks like appeasement of parents - an ongoing problem in the Norwalk schools.

  Teachers in every school system have the discretion to have makeovers and “extra credit.”

  Requiring teachers to design special tests (customizing to the student) is so ludicrous it is laughable.

  Allowing students to artifically have an inflated grade in spite of non performance (that’s what the “no zero” policy does) allows them to “not perform.” Gee,is that what we want.

  Timing homework: some students work quickly, some work slowly. Give the teachers a break and let them manage the load- giving those who can manage it extra work, and the rest a manageable load.

  We need tougher standards, not lighter ones.

  EXPECTATION rules. Expect little from these students and that is what we get.

  Honestly, we need to privatize the system as quickly as possible and let the market rule.

  Are these administrators who find don’t even listen and modify their thinking in spite of teacher feedback PUNCH DRUNK with power?

  Let the market force excellence. Our current method is being run into the ground (possibly with good intentions, but nonetheless, stupid thinking).

• 14 anonymous // May 28, 2007 at 8:41 pm

  This meeting should be packed with well informed speakers. I hope they all show up,if not this will be passed and continue the downward spiral of our system.

• 15 anonymous // May 28, 2007 at 9:56 pm

  This statement isn’t always true:Homework is part of a student’s overall grade not to exceed 15% on a student’s report card. Teachers should make every attempt to provide make up opportunities so as to avoid zeroes.
  There are some teachers who have little patience for students not handing in homework and therefore a “0″ do you know how many high school students are in this predicament? MANY! They have A’s and B’s in the classroom but don’t for one reason or other hand in the homework on time and the the teachers will not accept it late and the end result is a below passing grade. Whether the student has done the homework or not, if its in the locker or home on the table, there are those that will not allow a student to bring it in for credit. The 48hr rule would be great for those who have attention to detail problems. Believe it or not, High scholl students do have ADHD and other dibilitating problems.

• 16 Charles the Hammer // May 29, 2007 at 6:17 am

  #15 You’re right about students having special, individual needs. That is why blanket edicts from a central planner are not as effective as the discretion of a teacher.

• 17 annonmm // May 29, 2007 at 7:11 am

  #15- Life has a way of getting in the way.

  They may as well learn the rules in school and that there are consequences.

  Teachers understand that grades should reflect the knowledge and work done. It is arbitrary rules that bungle things up.

  Let the teachers do their job.

• 18 anonymous // May 29, 2007 at 10:02 am

  My reason ing for the 48 hr rule is because I have heard that some students have failed to reach the honor roll because of missed homework or late homework not accepted for credit. If a student genuinely forgot his homework, it has been done and done to the expectations of a PASSING grade then I really believe a student should be allowed by ALL teachers to hand this in at a REASONABLE amount of time in order to recieve credit for it. Perhaps if it is late, a 1/2 point from what the original grade would have been would be applied to the late work. I have heard that some teachers have not accepted homework from those who were out of school with illness or injury. This is not acceptable. Some of these kids are really A & B
  students and are getting failing marks because a teacher has the discretion as to whether or not he/she accepts homework. I have the utmost respect for our teachers in Norwalk but they all need to have guidlines when it comes to our students. As I said, a 1/2 credit could be removed for lateness but a student should be allowed to hand in this homework within a reasonable amount of time. 48 hrs should be implimented for ALL students. If this becomes a ritual then the priveledge to an individual student could be removed. We do need to understand that some students, while extremely bright have problems with remebering things or have attention to detail problems that are sometimes out of their control. I am not suggesting that we allow our kids to not be responsible, what I am saying that in some cases there are special circumstances that need to be addressed. If a child misses a test, thats a whole other story. Unless he/she is out of school due to illness or injury there is absolutely no reason for not being in his/her seat at the time the test occurs. Parents have a responsibilty to their kids and need to be the driving force in making sure that their child is doing what is expected of them in order to becaome productive adults. The teachers are in our schools to teach, the parents are in the homes to mold their childrens lives and without that driving force at home they will have no direction in life. To all the parents out there, take time to mold your kids to be the best they can and don’t expect the teachers to do it for you.

• 19 Anonymous // May 29, 2007 at 10:53 am

  I work for NPS and I can totally confirm and agree with your comments concerning Dr. Corda’s double-dipping administators. I have a close family member who also worked for the school district during the Superintendent Sloan-era and she also confirmed that the district has gone down the tubes within the last ten years. Our district does not get any respect at the State level either. We are now seeing the consequences of our money-hungry administrators.

• 20 NWLK taxpayer // May 29, 2007 at 12:04 pm

  Its really a shame that our administrators are amoung thye highest paid in the state, probably country and they have totally screwed up our school system. We need to take control of what they are doing and not allow our kids to suffer. Proposed cuts are rediculous, there is no need other than to maintain the high salaries of the administrators and Superintendant.

• 21 anonymous // Jun 5, 2007 at 8:17 pm

  #15, I can’t let it go!Will you be making excusses for your children when they get a job with a fortune 500 company on why they did not research a client’s needs?If one has ADHD they can still do homework. What about the kids who work at their highest level and hand in the homework on time but maybe not all correct? What does this tell them…now are you getting it? It tells them to be rewarded with a better grade hand in things late maybe even copy a friends work after it has been corrected, dare I not call it cheating. Yikes!