Assistant principal bans teachers from failing kids, insists they give students A's or B's instead of F's: 'If they know the material but don’t turn in any work, then they should have an A or B in your class.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Oct 17, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

When I was in high school, there were extremely generous late-work policies. You had three days to turn in late work, and if you didn't turn it in after those days were up, you'd get a big fat zero. They would threaten zeros, but I knew nary a kid who actually got a zero if they turned something in four days late. That policy wasn't the best at getting kids to turn in their homework on time (only 10 points would be deducted if you turned something in a day late), but it definitely helped when it came time to turn in large essays and projects. Though the threat of a zero seemed hollow, it was a threat nonetheless, and I took it seriously.

In schools across the country, getting zeros on unfinished work is becoming a thing of the past. One teacher recently shared the wild tale of her AP insisting that no students fail, and it's wild from start to finish.

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    Cheezburger Image 10417061632
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Y'all you WON'T believe this faculty meeting
    via u/See-worthy
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    I literally had the worst faculty meeting today. My AP got up and talked about grades and the end of the quarter and blah la lalalala...and then she started to say, "You aren't here to teach them to be accountable. Accountability is not a grade. The standards don't have accountable in them. If they know the standards but don't turn in any work then you should show that they have an A or B in your class. They should not be failing. Make it easier for ME to defend your practices and grade book."
    via u/See-worthy
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    She literally droned on and on about not failing kids without saying not to fail kids. Like you took thirty minutes to talk about something that could for been summed up with "give them a "D" instead of an "F" and oh by the way you shouldn't hold them accountable for any work" every teacher looked at the other teachers and gave them a The fact that she said it out loud multiple times...that's just crazy to me. We aren't here to help them be accountable?!
    via u/See-worthy
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    • edit to add they also explained in the same meeting that we have to stay ten minutes past contract time so they don't have headaches with dismissal too many kids because the district doesn't have enough bus drivers. I don't do free labor anymore...sorry. Like another WTAF
    via u/See-worthy
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    oh and they said if we have too many Fs in our classes they are going to start questioning our teaching methods...like this was a humdinger of a meeting
    via u/See-worthy
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    ADHTeacher ...how can you determine whether they've mastered the standards if you have no work to assess? Your AP is a moron.
    via u/ADHTeacher
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    See-worthy OP The Tests I guess. Like when they sit in class and complete a test or the state test. But all other work is not needed.
    via u/See-worthy
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    no_we_in_bacon Malicious compliance: require no work from any students. See how their test scores go after that. Only grade in the gradebook is a syllabus signed by the parents explaining what you've been told and directing them to the office/district if they have concerns. My parents would be if we were told not to do any work.
    via u/no_we_in_bacon
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    See-worthy OP I don't think we aren't supposed to do any classwork(sorry for the double negative). But she wants us to have less Fs so this is her round about way of getting there. Even a non proficient kid should have a "D" even if they haven't done ANYTHING. And if you still want to fail them, you can complete paperwork and call parents and blah blah blah. I feel bad for these kids if they ever get beyond high school.
    via u/See-worthy
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    BeneGezzeret Some of them come to me in nursing school and they think they are buying a degree. The standards are being stripped here too but they can be failed and I do hold them accountable for work and tardiness. It's obvious that many of them have never had to work for anything and that they have no concept of work ethic.
    via u/BeneGezzeret
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    CretaceousLDune Integrity: we want students to have less Failing grades, so those students must work to make better grades. Cheating/lying: we want students to be given less failing grades, even though they're failing. So cook your books, teachers. Let's cheat and lie to give students something they didn't work for. They've just made the high school diploma worthless.
    via u/CretaceousLDune
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    soflo91 Love it when they say the quiet part out loud.
    via u/soflo91
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    See-worthy OP I was in shock.
    via u/See-worthy
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    Herodotus_Runs Away There's the rub: at least they're starting to be out in the open that public school grades are basically fraudulent at this point? Like, employers and our community should know this. If anything is going to change it will be because communities reject these noxious new notions in education, especially the race to the bottom in terms of grades and discipline disguised in the language of "equity."
    via u/Herodotus_Runs Away
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    See-worthy OP You would think so... I read an article recently on grade inflation and how parents don't know their kid can't read because their grades are passing. They assume that means their kid can read. I feel like a memo needs to go out....if your kid has a d and maybe a c they are not okay with reading. They need you to force them to practice reading. They are not ok.
    via u/See-worthy
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    armaedes Does the AP not understand that the vast majority of kids can't show they've mastered the standards on assessments without doing the practice? Once they find out their grade is based only on tests (and they WILL find out) they won't do any non-test work, and then they'll fail every test because they won't have practiced the standards enough to be able to demonstrate mastery on the test. Like, we aren't giving the assignments because we just love to grade papers, they actually serve a pu
    via u/armaedes
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    See-worthy OP She wants us to give them 55s or 60s on non turned in work. Like no zeros. So the kids will figure it out eventually.
    via u/See-worthy
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    armaedes She wants you to give them 60 points for doing nothing?!?! What is the rationale for that? This person is an idiot.
    via u/armaedes
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    KZED73 Our district gives a 40% for all missing work. The rationale is because of standards based mastery learning, students shouldn't be punished with zeroes that could potentially make them fail if they demonstrate mastery on enough assignments to pass. What does this do in practice? It decreases failures while incentivizing laziness and I have more Ds and Cs than I ever did when I was in control of my gradebook and my own tests/assignments using an overall points method at my previous school.
    via u/KZED73
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    YellingatClouds86 I'd be getting my resume together from this school. It's why I hate standard based grading. Turned into a "Just talk with the student so they can show proficiency" even though the assignment was an essay.
    via u/YellingatClouds86
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    Trathnonen Your admin are in what I like to call " Covering Emergency Mode". They are staring down the barrel of outcomes that, if they can't find a way to turn around as being the fault of the teachers, will result in the administrative leadership being held responsible for the outcomes of the students. Here's the crazy part, if the admin would stop doing things like this, if they would band together with the teachers, then we could all come together as a team, as an institution, and lay the re
    via u/Trathnonen
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    It's the parents. It's the kids. If admin would stop making themselves an enemy toward the staff, if they'd stick to what they know is correct and quit playing games, we could do our jobs, report our outcomes, and the parents would have to realize that their kids are not learning, and that is the problem. Then they could, maybe, start doing something about it. But as long as admin are going to use their every resource and will to cover their own at the expense of the classroom leaders, there is
    via u/Trathnonen

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