Squaring Off On Standards

The Pittsburgh public school administrators have made it mandatory for teachers to give their students, regardless of how poorly they perform, a minimum grade of 50 on homework, tests and grading periods. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, some students have said that they'd rather take the 50 than do any work.

The administrators defend the policy by saying the minimum gives students a chance to recover as well as incentive to stay in school. A grade of 50 is considered more mathematically fair, as anything below that would be incredibly difficult to recover from. Some people see this as blatant grade inflation.

Further south, in Virginia, parents are fighting standards that they believe are too high and would threaten their children's chances to compete against other students for college slots. Parents in Fairfax and Loudoun counties are rallying against a six point scale in which an A is 94 and above, as opposed to the much accepted 90 and above.

Public Agenda's Reality Check 2006 report has a lot to contribute to the discussion of academic standards. In relation to situations like that in Pittsburgh, we see that nationally 38 percent of parents agree that academic standards are too low while 60 percent don't really feel this way. However, seeing as most parents (52 percent) and teachers (62 percent) feel that too many students get passed through the system without learning, it is surprising that parents aren't more in favor of higher standards or that teachers could allow a plan like Pittsburgh's to be implemented. The program makes it easier for students to skate by, taking a more passive role.

There is some conventional wisdom suggesting that if your expectations are high, students will rise to that challenge. Reality Check 2006's findings have a few things to say about that. Fifty-five percent of students surveyed reacted to the statement "there is too much pressure to make good grades" by saying it reflected their feelings either not too closely, or not at all. Fifty-one percent said it would make no difference if they were pushed harder by their teachers; but 35 percent thought they would do better in those classrooms.

Unfortunately, looking at the results of our 2004 report, Life After High School, we see that many recent high school graduates don't believe they were pushed all that hard to begin with. Just 51 percent said their teacher made it clear that they had to work at their studies, while 48 percent said it was easy to do just enough to get by.

Marc Fisher, who writes the Washington Post's Raw Fisher blog and hosts the radio show of the same name, points out that when it comes to competing for slots to college, admission boards are far more savvy than parents seem to believe. He suggests that whether a student is in Fairfax, Va., or Pittsburgh, Pa., the folks who are reviewing college applications have a good idea of what standards are in place.

If that's the case, then it seems it would be better for a student to come from a school where the standards are very high as Fairfax is suggesting, as opposed to coming from a school where it is difficult to fail, such as Pittsburgh. Lowering standards and making it easier to pass may soothe the minds of parents and school administrators, but for those students planning on going to college, it would appear they are being done a disservice.