All assignments given during the first two quarters of the 2009-2010 school year must be scored according to that grading scale. As of the beginning of the third quarter, though, teachers are allowed to give students a 0 on assignments that were not attempted. So if a student does not turn in an assignment or turns in a blank assignment with no attempt, the teacher is able to give the child a zero for that assignment or test.

The concern with this new scale is the gray area of what constitutes “attempt”. If a student puts his or her name on the paper and turns it in does that count? If a student puts nonsense answers does that count?

On the other hand, a child who does poorly on one or two big assignments still has the ability to pull his or her grade back up. What do you think? Should the minimum score a student receives be a 50%?

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In Providence, Rhode Island, Central Falls district has made the striking decision to fire every teacher on staff at Central Falls High School. In all, 93 were fired, including teachers, principal, guidance counselors, reading specialists, 3 vice principals, school psychologist, and physical education teachers.

This was one option available to the school officials who were required to take drastic measures to turn around what was labeled as a chronically low-preforming school. The preferred method of extreme reform failed as the union and school officials were unable to come to an agreement. The school officials were asking teachers to take on additional tasks for no or little pay. Now, instead, all the teachers will be fired.

The school is allowed to hire back no more than 50% of those teachers fired, so all is not lost for every employee let go. Teachers from across the state, parents and students all gathered in support of the fired teachers, but Secretary Duncan said, “when schools continue to struggle we have a collective obligation to take action.”

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