A kid gets a “C” in English. His parent appeals the grade. The principal sides with the teacher. The parent appeals again. Everyone up to and including Superintendent Ken Hinton side with the teacher. Then the appeal goes to the Peoria Board of Education. The Board votes 5-2 to change the grade to a “B.” To their credit, board members Stowell and Parker voted against the change.
The third-year English teacher, JoAnna Moe, told District 150 School Board members she gave the junior ample opportunity to better the grade, but issued a “C” for the lack of effort the student put into an enriched English project.
According to the district’s policy manual (§6:280):
Every teacher shall maintain an evaluation record for each student in the teacher’s classroom. The final grade assigned by the teacher cannot be changed by a District administrator without notifying the teacher. Reasons for changing a student’s final grade include:
- a miscalculation of test scores;
- a technical error in assigning a particular grade or score;
- the teacher agrees to allow the student to do extra work that may impact the grade;
- an inappropriate grading system used to determine the grade; or
- an inappropriate grade based on an appropriate grading system.
Should a grade change be made, the administrator making the change must sign the changed record.
In this case, the administrators upheld the grade given by the teacher. One wonders what reason or authority the school board had for changing it based on the above criteria. The paper states that the appeal “eventually made its way to the board by school district rules, similar to cases involving suspensions and expulsions.” But after looking at the policy manual, including the section on suspensions and expulsions and the uniform grievance procedure, I could find no written policy on appealing a grade to the school board after it had been upheld by the administration.
The teachers certainly see this as precedent-setting. A petition signed by 70 teachers and staff members backed up the teacher. Scott Schifeling, Peoria Federation of Teachers President, was quoted in the Journal Star as saying, “I’ve never seen it go to this level. … I think it sets a very bad precedent.”
For its part, the school board won’t comment on the matter, hiding behind confidentiality rules and laws. So we can’t find out who the student was to know if this was the child of an influential person in the community, for instance; nor do we know what the school board’s reasoning was for overturning the unanimous decision of their entire staff of administrators and teachers.
What’s really incredible is that this is not changing a grade from failing to passing, or changing a grade from a “B” to and “A” to preserve some sort of perfect grade point average. Instead, it changes the grade from a “C” to a “B” — for reasons we’ll apparently never know.
What we do know is that the entire staff of District 150 is now demoralized, and teachers and parents will be forgiven for questioning the board’s commitment to high academic standards for District 150 students.
A ‘friend’ of the family was on 1470 this morning talking in circles about the grading system being unfair. If that’s the case, shouldn’t all the student’s grades get bumped up?
I would put money on it that the kid needed this B to keep his/her GPA up to get into a particular college.
We may never know the full story, but as happens in personal cases like this is the Journal Star’s comment section goes through the roof, oftentimes with family and friends filling in the missing pieces. Should be interesting to follow this one.
I am strongly of the mind that the Board of Education has NO business altering grades. Even Principals shouldn’t be interfering. It is fair to look at a teacher’s grading patterns to see if maybe they are overly harsh or overly generous, or even look for clear bias over a larger pool of students. But to go in and single one student out because the parents complained is very very WRONG.
To me, this would be grounds to tender my resignation. If the school can’t back you up on something as fundamental as grading, then its over. Maybe the teacher’s union should flex its muscle? Work stoppage? If 70 teachers & staff offered their resignations would that send a clear enough message? Put the genie back in the bottle now.
I give an ‘F’ to the parent’s and the school board.
Grades… ahhh… the holy grail of education. Instead of teaching kids to think we are teaching them how to get grades (or test scores). So why shouldn’t this kid get rewarded for figuring out how to get a higher grade?
The parents aren’t doing this kid any favors in the long run.
Some parents are just plain ignorant or dumb or stupid or a little of each. What kind of lesson did they just teach their kid? What kind of person will their kid grow up to be? Some kids are just plain lazy and don’t do their school work to the satisfaction of their teacher and rightly get a lowered grade. Parents that push for the higher grade are wrong if the teacher has done things correctly. In this case the administration of Dist.150 agreed with the teacher. Therefore the Dist. 150 board was stupid and wrong in becoming involved in this matter. This is just another example of what is wrong with our schools.
This is what my mother hates most about teaching, is that parents now routinely contest grades and with enough success that they keep doing it and expect to succeed — and escalate the complaint if they don’t. Thank God at least the administration backed the teacher up — too often that’s not the case.
(As for the FERPA issue, it’s an interesting one; presumably the parent presented the student’s grades to the board; I don’t think the board can access an individual student’s grades under FERPA. But then, are they bound by FERPA? I would certainly be willing to challenge that contention if they don’t have original access to the grades.)
It’s totally inappropriate for elected officials with no academic expertise to get involved in a grade dispute.
On the flip side, I have seen situations where the teacher’s grading was clearly and blatantly unfair, but in that case, the problem that needs to be dealt with is the TEACHER, not the individual grade.
(Actually, now that I think about it, I CAN recall one other situation where a school board got involved because the principal felt his hands were tied by a tenured teacher who was behaving inappropriately because she had a vendetta against a particular student, but IIRC it was merely pressure from the board, not active intervention. I’ll have to check my facts.)
Allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment:
1. So far, we only really know one side of the argument. And it isn’t that District 150 is “hiding” behind confidentiality rules, they are required to follow them.
2. In the private sector, the decisions of any organization’s employees are always subject to being overturned by upper management. Only in public education are such changes subject to petitions and protects and must hang-wringing about lowering morale and undercutting authority with the customers.
3. Teachers are not perfect. Sorry. I really hate to bust that bubble. Teachers are the employees. The School Board are the bosses. Bosses supervise employees. That’s the way it works where I work, and I suspect it’s the same where most people work.
Yes Billy, teachers are not perfect. Grades are grades, you live with them. Can you imagine later in life, these kids challenging performance reviews? No, I am not talking about discrimination suits, I am talking… omg you rates me a three when I should be a one!! WTF. I wanna talk to your boss. Believe it or not, some of those new grads from college are coming out with that mentality. Their careers are off to a rocky start.
You get a crappy grade? Tuff Nuts !! Suck it up and move on.
Billy:
Nobody thinks teachers are perfect (well, except some teachers, ha ha). But the school board is not the direct supervisor over the teacher. The teacher had the backing of her peers, the principal, and the superintendent — and any other layers that may be inbetween. Are we to believe they’re all wrong? If so, then the school board needs to devise a policy to explain to everyone what their expectations are so the rest of the teachers don’t end up giving their students grades that are going to get overturned by the board. Clearly there’s a disconnect between the teachers’ and administrators’ expectations for students, and the school board’s expectations.
And as for your work analogy, employee complaints were adjudicated by the personnel department where I worked, not the CEO, even though he was, technically, “the boss” and we were “the employees.”
I’ve never worked any place that adjudicated performance reviews. If you didn’t like it, the door wasn’t far away.
Definition of “adjudicated”: “make a formal judgment or decision about a problem or disputed matter.” Where I’ve worked, there was a grievance process, but the buck stopped with personnel, not the CEO. Similarly, it would seem, according to the policy manual, that debate about grades ends with the administration, not the school board. I just don’t understand how a parent can take a grievance about his child’s grade to the school board for a final decision.
Ah, what Board “commitment to high academic standards for District 150 students.” Didn’t know there was one.
Any supervisor whose performance review of an entry level employee was reversed by the Board of Directors, against the written corporate policy, would have no alternative but to resign, as would all the managers in between, especially the President (in this case, Superintendent) because their authority would be shot. They could no longer effectively do their jobs. They may still collect a paycheck, but they are not capable of effectively doing their job. Another disgrace for Peoria. Very sad. What deck is the water up to on the Titanic?
The board members have managed to make the administration look brilliant and at the same time, they have outdone all of the decisions they have made in the past.
CJ / Prairiecelt / OneFeralKat / Anyone else:
Found this in the school code:
105 ILCS 5/10?20.9a) (from Ch. 122, par. 10?20.9a)
Sec. 10?20.9a. Final Grade; Promotion.
(a) Teachers shall administer the approved marking system or other approved means of evaluating pupil progress. The teacher shall maintain the responsibility and right to determine grades and other evaluations of students within the grading policies of the district based upon his or her professional judgment of available criteria pertinent to any given subject area or activity for which he or she is responsible. District policy shall provide the procedure and reasons by and for which a grade may be changed; provided that no grade or evaluation shall be changed without notification to the teacher concerning the nature and reasons for such change. If such a change is made, the person making the change shall assume such responsibility for determining the grade or evaluation, and shall initial such change.
So, does that mean President Gorenz shall be signing on the change?
What else in the Illinois School Code applies?
Billy,
As a current student of Miss Moe’s, I cannot help but be offended by your comments. Teachers are not perfect. But out of all the teachers I have ever had, Miss Moe would be the first to admit this. However, Miss Moe is the one who spends five days a week with us, she is the one who goes above and beyond in lesson plans and activities, she is the one who writes and grades her own tests based on the syllabus SHE created for HER classes. I think it is ridiculous for someone to have the audacity to step in and tell her the way she can run her classroom.
If I said Miss Moe’s class was easy, I would be lying. But like every other student in her class, we were told before hand that it would be a challenging English class that would push us farther than before. Out of all people, I would know first-hand that you get out what you put into Miss Moe’s class becuase I too am a junior in her enriched English class. If her grading scale is so difficult then I ask the board this, why isn’t my grade getting bumped up? The answer is becuase I don’t deserve that and neither does this student. If anyone is deserving in this situation, it’s Miss Moe. She is an inspirational teacher and role model and deserves an apology from the board for undermining her decision.
Karrie – that would be my understanding of the section of the code cited. In fact, the BOE members voting to change the grade may all have to sign the order to change the grade.
I believe C.J. is correct in his assertion that there is no board policy or administrative procedure currently in place to cover this situation. If that is the case, it might be possible for this teacher or the PFT to challenge the Board’s decision either in the courts, before the IELRB, or the ISBE – I don’t know where jurisdiction lies.
This is one of the most unusual actions to come before the BOE in years – so unusual, in fact, that the Board’s actions really should be questioned further as to propriety.
Eyebrows – anyone working in the district who has access to the student records module of Skyward can look at student grades (that includes a large number of the clerical staff and the administrative staff). That has never been as tightly controlled as you may think.
Stephanie, congratulations to you for your support of Miss Moe. It sounds like she is a very fine teacher and one who sets a high standard of performance for her students and herself. It isn’t easy to “go out on a limb” to support someone – you did a great job.
Karrie – Gorenz and the BOE could also direct the teacher to make the change and initial it. If the teacher were to defy such a direct order, it would then amount to insubordination and since she is a probationary 3rd year teacher, she could either be honorably dismissed or nonrenewed (terminated) for insubordination.
CJ,
Grievance procedures are generally very limited in scope as to what you can file a grievance on. Your performance review was not one of them. Nor should one’s grades.
“That has never been as tightly controlled as you may think.”
Oh, no, lazy application of FERPA is exactly what I’d expect. Followed by reflexive, ribbit-like shouts of “FERPA! FERPA! We don’t have to tell you that because it’s covered by FERPA!” when it suits the needs of the board/administrators, whether or not FERPA actually applies.
Not that I interned at a students’ rights legal organization and got bitter about FERPA or anything. 🙂
Stephanie- thank you for writing in. You confirmed what I suspected. This is an “enriched” class and therefore difficult to earn an “A” or “B.” My oldest daughter is in an enriched English class and comes home with very detailed matrixes which set forth all the different elements that must be included in a writing assignment in order to earn a top grade. It is made very clear up front to the students what is required.
I feel for Stephanie and all the other students in Ms. Moe’s class that actually earned and lived with the grade they deserved, good or bad.
I hope that Stephanie and others that know Ms. Moe as a fair, yet demanding teacher come forward to praise her for standing up for what she believed to be right, because Ms. Moe must be very discouraged that her teaching methods were challenged to this degree.
Was anyone present at the School Board meeting? I would be interested in what argument the parents or whomever made to justify why the teacher was so wrong in her evaluation of this student’s work.
Stephanie: I’m glad you have a teacher you respect and whose skills you value.
So, please ask her what “devil’s advocate” means. I have absolutely no way to judge your teacher’s abilities. All I was doing was pointing out an alternative to the POV that’s been expressed here and elsewhere, namely that teachers are incapable of delivering an unfair grade and thus are beyond evaluation by their superiors.
Listen to the students! Would Stephanie have learned any more or less without grades? The teachers teach, grades do nothing but justify a huge bureaucracy. We have the whole system prioritized wrongly. Either grades represent what you learned OR whether or not you should go to college… they are not the same thing.
PrairieCelt:
You wrote: …”Gorenz and the BOE could also direct the teacher to make the change and initial it. If the teacher were to defy such a direct order, it would then amount to insubordination …”
How would that be insubordination?
It appears that the D150 policy manual does not indicate that the BOE has any authority to change grades per section 6:280. That an administrator would make the change….
In the Illinois School Code:
District policy shall provide the procedure and reasons by and for which a grade may be changed; provided that no grade or evaluation shall be changed without notification to the teacher concerning the nature and reasons for such change. If such a change is made, the person making the change shall assume such responsibility for determining the grade or evaluation, and shall initial such change.
So, the teacher would need to have been notified ‘concerning the nature and reasons for such change. And that the person making the change shall assume responsibility…..
Please help us out to better understand this situation.
I tend to agree with The Mouse — that resignation would be in order.
Kcdad,
Well we could adopt a system like they have in continental Europe, where no grades are given. Instead they use standardized testing, the kids in 8th grade to see if they go to college prep schools or vocational schooling, and then again in college prep ‘high school’ to see if they go to college, which college, or not at all.
I am sure the heavy pressure to succeed on ONE standardized test, given ONCE, will be far fairer than a bevy of grades on a report card.
Karrie, the point I was trying to make is that if the teacher were to disobey a direct order from the BOE (the only entity that has the legal authority to hire and fire staff in an Illinois public school system) the act of disobeyance is in itself insubordinate.
The sections you cited simply state that the BOE shouldn’t have taken the action they did. However, they did do it. And, if the probationary teacher should happen to disobey the BOE if the BOE gives a direct order to change or re-evaluate the grade, the teacher puts her job in jeopardy. This is all very hypothetical since we do not know how the BOE has directed this change or re-evaluation be made.
One question that hasn’t been brought forward – are the BOE members considered “highly qualified” under the No Child Left Behind Act? How does this qualification, required by NCLB, factor into this situation? In other words, is the BOE qualified under NCLB guidelines to evaluate student performance? Joanna Moe, who was hired just three years ago, likely holds highly qualified teacher status under NCLB. Is the BOE qualified to over-ride that?
Ever heard of “helicopter parents?” That’s the new term for the parents of this current (younger) generation that have the tendancy to hover over their children, eager to “rescue” them. This, in turn, cheats kids out of the opportunity to problem solve, accept responsibility, and develop independence…all critical skills, in my humble opinion. I teach at a university and just recently I had a parent call me to get their child’s grade changed. Luckily I could cite FERPA and remind the parents that grades are earned, not given. 🙂
I just wonder…is all this fuss needed for a C grade? And, what sort of heinous precident does this set for the future? I hope the BOE are ready for all sorts of petitions to overturn grades!
JC, I agree with you. The BOE really opened up Pandora’s box with this one.
“In other words, is the BOE qualified under NCLB guidelines to evaluate student performance?”
Typically a school board is responsible for setting policy, etc., but the administration is responsible for actually implementing it. It’s pretty unusual for teachers and personnel matters to go before the school board. (Since we’ve been using corporate metaphors, it’s like the board of a corporation intervening in personnel matters instead of leaving those to the CEO it hired TO HANDLE PERSONNEL MATTERS.)
I really think this is very inappropriate, unless the Board can “show its work” and give us reasons and rationales for their actions. It also raises questions that came up on the blogs a while back about who is or isn’t “appropriate” to serve on a local school board — if a parent has a child in the school, they can use the board to intervene on their child’s behalf. If a student serves on the board, ditto — or to seek vengeance in high-school fashion. If the Board is allowed this level of interference in routine operations of the school, rather than being responsible for setting policy and priorities, I think we have some very serious and very real questions about who is appropriate to serve on the board.
(Actually, it is pretty common in small rural districts for the school board to be involved in hiring and firing, and it ALWAYS opens a can of worms. But that’s hardly the appropriate model for Peoria.)
What can we really expect from a school board who okayed the purchase of over $800,000.00 of houses on Prospect as part of a plan they had, even before the plan was approved by them? Now they overrule the Supt. in ordering this students’ grade to be changed (must make the teachers feel real secure).
First of all, let me start by attempting to shed some light on this topic. As teachers we do need to evaluate our techniques and what we do, but in this case the teacher is not wrong. I know for a fact that this teacher gives out her cell phone number and email address so that her students have access to her at any time and that she posts grades online so that students and parents are aware of progress in the class at all times. I also know that this teacher is at school around five in the morning and leaves anytime between six to nine at night. So before anyone questions this teacher’s integrity, character, or what she does for her students, I believe all should know how accessible and dedicated she is to helping all of her students succeed. In the speech that the teacher presented to the board she stated that this assignment the parent is arguing about was a homework assignment and all the homework assignments combined were only worth twenty percent of the total grade. It was also pointed out that other students who failed this aforementioned assignment were still able to earn an A or B within the class. Why was this student not able to do the same? I find it extremely difficult to believe that this one assignment was the reason for this student’s grade. How did this student do on all other assignments and things such as quizzes and tests? Obviously, this student did not do well on all other assessments; thus, the parent fought for a grade they deemed worthy. With that, if this parent is so sure about this teacher’s unfair grading and the ability of the child, then why was the parent not at the board meeting? Why is this parent so afraid to reveal his or her identity? What does this parent know about teaching or what teachers face on a daily basis? What is this parent hiding? Either the parent knew what decision was going to be made ahead of time or the parent does not want to be seen in the public eye. It is strange that the board made a decision without deliberation and did not even look at the petition that was signed by 70 teachers in support of a no grade change and to uphold high standards. When did high expectations set forth for students become a problem? This student had the opportunity to receive help from the teacher on a daily basis and keep track of his or her grade through the use of the online grade book. So, how is it that this grade was a surprise or not kept track of by either the student or parent? Both the parent and student need to quit shifting blame and accept the fact that the required effort was not put forth to be an overall success in class. The student did not take the initiative or responsibility to ask for help. Due to this, the blame for the overall grade in the class is the fault of the student and parent for supporting this behavior. This parent has made it about them and is using the student to manipulate the system. The teacher has fought this decision because it devalues the other student’s hard earned grades and rewards this student for not doing what was required. What the parent needs to realize is that the grade is a reflection of the student, not the parent. It almost seems as if the parent is allowing his or her ego to drive them. It is sad that this one parent has such an ego that he or she would try to damage and deface the field of education by attacking the grading practices of teachers. How dare this parent be so unprofessional as to attack the character, integrity, and practices of teachers, a school, and a district? This parent achieved what they set out to do — get a grade for his or her child that they did not earn. It seems to me that this parent could not stand the fact the he or she could not manipulate a teacher and then was even more frustrated when the district would not bend to his or her will. I hope this parent realizes that just because the board ruled in his or her favor does not mean that his or her child earned or deserved the grade that was given to his or her child. In the end this child did not earn the grade or complete the necessary requirements that are deemed necessary to receive the grade that the board awarded. All the parent achieved was to get his or her child a grade that was not earned, and the student lost the lesson and the value of the grade that the dedicated and hard working students who are within this teacher’s class earned.
A standardized test? Aren’t our teachers competent to determine if the student should be passed on to the next grade? Since we have effectively killed any interest in learning in our children by third grade, maybe we need to rethink the entire education mess we have.
A Colleague,
Excellent post! I taught for one year and frankly, the parents are one of the biggest reason I did not care to continue in that career. Often, they want to run the classroom and they think that by becoming “chummy” with the teacher, their child will have “one up” on the other children. How is this teacher supposed to continue the rest of the year with this child in her classroom when her decision making has been disrespected by the parents and the school board? Will this child now feel they won’t have to put nearly as much work and energy into this class because of their parents bullying behavior? I agree with your perception of what went on before the board meeting. The decision was made before hearing everyone out. Huge mistake on the part of the school board! But, we do not know what went on behind closed doors. How do we know the administration didn’t support changing of the grade but felt they were unable to do so because of how it would look so they put it on the school board to do the dirty work.
kddad, it’s too bad your children’s interest was killed by third grade. My children had a different experience with their education and for the most part, enjoyed going to school, enjoyed learning and interacting with their friends. I, as their parent, gave alot of time, effort and encouragement to avoid exactly what you described in your post. I also believe it is not only the responsibility of the teachers to see to it that children enjoy school. Children are there to learn so they can be a productive and positive functioning entity in our society. Parents’ roles are just as important, if not more so, than educators’. This whole incident sheds another dim light on District 150. Their decision making skills are lacking! If it comes down to a vote, they may be hardpressed to get the citizens of Peoria to give them they money they need for Ken Hinton’s gradiose ideas. This is sad considering that I do believe the time has come to update schools and build new ones also.
Perhaps it was the Swede part that you are “Ima” part of. Unfortuantely for Latinos, and other children of color, by third grade the “fix” is in and if they haven’t learned the “white man’s culture of education” by then, they are pretty well doomed.
Productive and positive… by whose standards? The minmum wage McDonald’s and Wal-Mart employers?
We are not teaching our children, we are training them. Many of us are kinder to our pets.
It is sad to hear many people attack this teacher for defending herself, grading practices, and students that worked hard to earn their grades. The problem is that the board made a decision without knowing all the facts. I do not know why they did not receive all the information, but they did not. I would also like to point out as stated in a previous article that these note cards were split up into two groups that represented approximately 10% of the total grade, one worth 35 points and the other worth 25 points. From reading articles posted by students it is obvious that this teacher was there to help them every step of the way. I have also heard that these students were given back the first 35 note cards and re-taught the lesson so that they were able to see and improve on their mistakes for the next 25. From listening to students, I have also heard that the students received a 60/60 as a completion grade just for doing the note cards. What more do you all want this teacher to do for this student? I am sorry that this parent thinks that her grading was excessive, but in fact it was the student’s lack of effort that was excessive. This teacher gave back the first set of note cards so students could see the mistakes that they made, spent time re-teaching the note card process, gave the students her cell phone number and email address, was there before and after school, and gave them a 60/60 completion grade for doing the note cards. This student was given every opportunity to succeed on note cards that were worth 10% of the total grade and did not. Plus, the parent could have reviewed the note cards before they were turned in, but he or she did not. The proper effort was not given by either the student or the parent and rather than accepting this they wish to blame the teacher, as do many of you. It is sad when the public tries to break and insults a great teacher who cares about her students more than herself.
guess the teacher learned it isn’t worth the effort. Give them all A’s and be done with it. Makes everyone happy. Great lesson, school board.