If a high schooler doesn’t turn an assignment in at Pennsbury High School, they’ll get a 50 percent. Until recently, they would have received a 0 percent.
While both grades are an F, a policy goes against years of traditional grading procedure.
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The Pennsbury Educational Committee recently approve the policy change that has been handed down to teachers.
Superintendent Dr. Kevin McHugh said the new policy is a big “philosophical shift” in the district.
The policy meeting where the measure was discussed included “considerable discussion” between the committee and administrators, committee person and board member Alison Smith said.
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McHugh said getting a zero on an assignment is “six times the penalty” and puts kids behind.
“You get a 50 for (doing) nothing,” Board member Chris Cridge said bluntly. “A child who does not do anything on a particular assignment will get a grade on it”
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District officials said the policy would curb juniors and seniors in the high school from dropping out. McHugh stressed that the policy would likely only impact a small amount of students.
“Once they get a zero, they can’t climb out of that hole. [The students] then have no incentive to keep learning,” McHugh said.
To add to his point, McHugh laid out how all the other grades on the scale (A,B,C and D) vary by 10 points.
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Board member Debra Wachspress said that she worries some teachers may feel “disenfranchised” by the change the decades-old policy.
“We will be interested to see how this plays out during the year,” Smith said.
