Failing Grades Fail Students

I recall getting my first failing grade. I slid the test under my notebook and told a fellow classmate that I didn't want to share my grade because it didn't really matter. Truth was, it mattered a whole lot. Anger, frustration, and disappointment settled in and the rest of the class period, for me, was lost.

A student came into my office just yesterday stating that she no longer cared about science. At first blush it was an expected comment coming from a young teen in angst, pushing back against her education. However, as I always do, I allowed her to express her voice and share why she was so "done" with science class. After some expected 6th grade drama, the student shared she was currently failing science.

"Why should I even bother showing up. There are two weeks left in the quarter and I have 34%. I obviously won't be passing this quarter. So... I'm done."

All I could hear from this young student was 34%. If I were that student, being honest, I too would throw in the towel. With two weeks left there are at best four to five graded assignments still to be placed in the gradebook. Even if the student aced all of the assignments, there was no way that score was going to rise above the necessary 60% in order to receive a sad "D-".

With a lack of young ladies interested in math and science, and a opportunity gap that seems to grow wider each school year, the state of this young lady's science score was disheartening. At such an early age she learned a few negative messages about her education. 1) She is not good at science, 2) school is becoming too difficult, nearing impossible, and 3) once you have a failing grade, you will always have a failing grade.

When we think about this young lady, is the goal to ensure she understands science or personal responsibility? Although both are surely a responsibility of the school system, the understanding of science and other content areas must be the main concern for all. If a student is at 34% in science because they forgot to turn in some homework and/or a project, and managed to struggle on one or two tests, than her education is punishing her namely for her personal responsibility. When students are not allowed to retest, or turn assignments in late, then we are adding to the consequences for personal responsibility. Furthermore, her education is failing to support or engage her ability to learn and grow.

Speaking to her teacher it is easy to see the failing grade is the way in which the teacher is "keeping the student accountable". There is little, or no, understanding on the teacher's part that the failing grade is discouraging the student from trying again. No matter what "talk" the teacher has with this student, unless there is an achievable way in which she can pass the class, the student will remain checked out and will most likely stay checked out for the remainder of the year.

Brining it back to me, I went into education for two reasons (in this order); 1) passion for students and 2) passion for my content. My end goal was to encourage students to engage in meaningful work and hopefully ignite a level of passion for the class content. Much like the teacher in this specific situation, I spent a lot of my first year allowing students to fail and seeing it as a student problem. Over time though my perspective changed and so did my end goal. My end goal was to engage students in the work, not to discourage them from possibility. Failing a student discourages students from the possibility of engaging in class.

My point? We need to rethink the way in which we grade students. Forever getting rid of a failing grade does not mean that we are letting go of holding students accountable. The difference is how we go about holding those students accountable. Is our goal to hold them accountable to turning things on time and doing well on the test the first time, or is our goal to engage them in meaningful work that will allow them to grow?

If the young lady in my office was failing because she has not turned in homework the question should not be, "How do we get her to turn in her homework?" rather, "What can the teacher do to measure her abilities in science?" Our most important goal is to facilitate the growth of this young lady in science, as well as other classes, not to teach personal responsibility.

Let's look at it this way; if my son struggles with potty training I have two options 1) get frustrated with him and the process, continue trying the same thing, and continue receiving the same result or 2) realizing what I am doing is not working for him, change my approach, and help him be successful. He is not a failure, he simply needs a different approach.

The same is true for my wonderful young scholar. She isn't a failure, we simply need to approach her education in a different way which will allow her to succeed.