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I have a story in today's paperabout 11 school districts suing the Texas education commissioner for the right to boost failing report card grades to at least a 50. A law that went into effect last school year sought to ban such policies (though it only explicitly said classroom assignments).At the beginning of last school year,Irving ISD deleted its policy that outlined that failing students could receive no lower than a 50. Many districts are angry about the law because they feel that if students receive grades as low as a zero they will never catch up to pass their classes--threatening to increase Texas' already high dropout rate. Some teachers groups say educators should be able to assign the grades they want, even if they're below a 50.
Although Irving is the process of rewriting its grading policy (SEE DRAFT HERE), that doesn't mean administrators are excited about the change. Assistant superintendent Marie Morris told me several teachers raised concerns about students impacted by the law who would fail their courses as a