Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Montgomery teachers cite grade fixing Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 14:37:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A \HD Montgomery teachers cite grade fixing \BY Darlene DePass \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Montgomery County high school teachers are complaining that administrators are pressuring them to give passing grades to failing students, forcing teacher unions to consider contract guarantees that would end the practice. The Montgomery County Federation of Teachers (MCFT) and the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) have received complaints this year that principals have changed grades without discussing such changes with teachers or have intimidated them into changing low grades. In some cases, assistant superintendents overruled principals and teachers who refused parents' demands to pass a failing student, said Wheaton High School Principal J. Joseph Dalton. Such parental appeals resulted in grades being raised twice in the past five years, he said. The MCEA is so concerned about the problem that it is proposing a protective clause in the next teacher contract, now being negotiated with the Board of Education. The present contract expires in June. The new wording would prohibit principals from raising a student's grade without first discussing the situation with the teacher. Principals have the authority to override teachers' grades, but some abuse it, said MCEA bargaining representative Thomas Israel. School board policy prohibits pressuring teachers to change grades, said county school spokesman Brian J. Porter. "We're strictly opposed to any form of grade inflation, and we will resist pressure by parents and others to artificially represent a student's grade in any manner than what they have personally achieved," Mr. Porter said. An MCEA administrative complaint filed last year on behalf of an English teacher maintained that an area superintendent buckled under parental pressure and unjustly inflated one student's grade. The grade was changed despite objections from the principal and teacher involved, Mr. Israel said. He would not identify the school or the assistant superintendent. Principals, teachers and union members who talked about the issue said parental pressure and potential law suits are at the root of the problem. The desire by some principals to maintain a good academic reputation for their schools is another factor, observers said. All schools in the county have access to a computer system that lists schools, teachers, academic subjects and the sex and race of students. The ability to thoroughly evaluate a school's performance with the push of a button is making some principals pressure their teachers into giving undeserved good grades, Mr. Israel said. "If you do give low grades," said Dick Williams, secretary of the MCFT, "you get called in by the administrators and questioned: 'Why are so many students failing?' " Others said the pressure can be more intense. James T. Duncan, a retired Albert Einstein High School teacher, said that two years ago supervisors there told him he was not to fail any of his math students. "What that translated into was that everybody has to pass, nobody flunks. And that's a bad message," Mr. Duncan said. He said he ignored the order. He would not name the supervisors involved. Jim Hagy of the MCFT said such complaints are not new. He was chairman of Einstein's English department before he retired in 1988. He said Einstein teachers "were asked by the principal to change grades." When teachers refused, they were sometimes harassed. "The principal at Einstein at the early 1980s did use his position to pressure teachers into giving higher grades," Mr. Hagy said. And grades were changed without teacher consent, he said. Mr. Israel of the MCEA said he recently handled a similar complaint. "It just happened this past spring" to a social studies teacher in the southern part of the county, he said. "He was very upset, [but] doesn't want to confront the administration" for fear of reprisals, Mr. Israel said. Mr. Israel said he receives such complaints every year. It's not an epidemic, but a protective clause in the new contract would give concerned teachers a louder voice if they want to complain, he said. Mr. Dalton told his Wheaton teachers, "I absolutely do not want mediocrity rewarded." It only hurts the students, he said. He said a student's grade could be changed if it was incorrectly calculated, or if the school failed to notify parents their child was close to the limit allowed for unexcused absences. These were the only reasons for rethinking a grade, he said. School board member Frances Brenneman agreed. Failure to do work, or simply flunking tests, should result in an F, she said. Anything else gives students the impression they only have to complain and not work to get by, she said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM