Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colfax High School administrators, board members, a teacher and a coach discussed the district’s no “D” grading policy at length Monday night.
Gathered for a school board meeting were history teacher and Colfax Education Association President Ross Swan, Principal Buck Marsh, the board, Superintendent Michael Morgan and Colfax High softball coach Terry Eng.
Colfax High School is one of a small number of districts in the state that does not include a “D” on its grading scale. It began in Colfax with a policy revision in 2004.
Monday night’s discussion was put on the board’s agenda after Marsh brought the subject up at the previous meeting Aug. 26. He said then that he thought the policy might be contributing to a dropoff enrollment of students after their sophomore year.
Monday, Swan presented a handout “on behalf of the junior high/high school faculty,” listing nine reasons to bring back the “D” grade. A total of 23 teachers and support staff were polled and 18 favored a return of the “D” grade.
“We have more ‘D’ students than before,” Swan began, citing changing demographics over the past nine years. The district has more students with limited support systems, such as not living with parents.
“A ‘D’ grade allows kids to at least go through and graduate,” said Swan. “For us to deny them that is doing them a disservice.”
He went on to mention that colleges and universities “recognize the ‘D’ grade and we don’t,” and how a recent junior varsity football game was canceled because one player was ineligible, making not enough members to field a team.
In further comments, he said the lack of a “D” has had other effects.
“It’s changed the meaning of the ‘C’ grade,” Swan said. “It’s no longer an average passing grade, but a few points from failing. Kids won’t take the risk of taking upper level math and science, which can really help them on the post-secondary level.”
He continued to suggest that the policy adds unnecessary pressure on students and teachers.
“The kid’s problem becomes the teacher’s problem,” he said.
Supt. Morgan then said that the lack of a “D” has not shown up on forms which parents list as reasons to want to transfer out of the district.
Swan countered that he could think of three or four kids that he has talked to who have said it was a factor.
When a student transfers in to Colfax, any “D” on a transcript is honored by the district, which requires 25 credits to graduate. The state of Washington requires 19 credits, although that will increase to 24 in 2015.
Without a “D,” anything less than a “C-” is a failing grade.
Marsh asked Swan to poll teachers last spring about the topic.
“I don’t want to lower the rigor,” Marsh said. “At the same time, the situations I see, I think there’s a level of equal access to a diploma with a ‘D.’”
He pointed out some students have vastly different home lives and support systems than others.
“We’re not gonna send someone with a 1.0 to Harvard,” he said, citing that the point would be to level the playing field for students on the edge of failing.
“I don’t like it when there is two different sets of rules. That’s what really bothers me,” Marsh said.
The no-“D” policy for high school students began in the Colfax district when Morgan was the high school principal. He said that the purpose of the no-”D” policy was to push kids to meet the state standards at the time.
“We were seeing very consistently that ‘Cs’ were meeting state standard, that the kids could pass almost any state test,” Morgan said.
“It really got down to kids were playing the border game of how much more do I have to do to pass,” he said, indicating that there was a difference between results on test scores on assignments vs. state standard testing.
“That has changed,” he said. “Part of it is we got better at teaching to the test.”
He explained further.
“I’m not opposed to having ‘Ds’,” he said. “At the same time, kids just need to turn in their work. It was more of a result that they didn’t get enough assignments turned in.”
“It went away because kids were doing ‘D’ work when they were capable of doing better,” Swan said.
School board president Robert Smith asked if the No-”D” policy was elevating the level of achievement at the school.
Morgan answered that it was unclear.
“We have seen our kids doing better on state assessments,” he said.
“I agree with Mr. Swan, our mission is to serve all kids,” Smith said, before listening to more input.
“Our entire push as to what we do in the classroom is data driven,” Morgan said, noting that this particular data hasn’t been looked at since 2004.
Smith said that he had been asking as many people in town as he could in the past two weeks about this issue.
“There are people in the community, they were ‘D’ students and now they’re running successful businesses,” he said.
Marsh noted that Colfax’s policy is different from around the county, or the state for that matter.
“A kid in Tekoa needs 68 percent to pass, a kid in Colfax needs 70 percent,” he said. “What we’re doing is arbitrarily setting a higher standard for our district.”
Marsh explained that Colfax teachers do have the opportunity to give a student a “pass” grade, which allows for some flexibility.
“But we have teachers that don’t give passes and others that do,” he said.
Terry Eng, coach for the Colfax High School softball program, pointed out that a teacher would be the one to know how hard a kid is trying, and if they were, he thought a teacher would comply.
“I would imagine 99.9 percent of teachers would pass them,” he said.
“There’s subjectivity there,” responded Marsh, continuing on to talk about a related scenario.
“If you can get a ‘C’ on the final exam, why shouldn’t you get a ‘C’ for the class?” he asked.
“We’re producing people who show up on time and do assignments vs. kids that really know something. I would love to give algebra assessments to the state legislature.”
Marsh then offered a compromise.
He proposed that if the No-“D” policy was eliminated, the district could keep the “C” average as a requirement for athletics and other extra-curricular activities.
Morgan then asked the board if they would like to modify the policy or what they would want to review for their next meeting.
“I’d like to see the ‘D’ brought back,” said boardmember Laura Johnson.
Boardmember Kathy Wride disagreed.
“I feel like we have such excellent teachers,” she said, indicating they can help these kids in question.
A discussion followed about study hall and credit recovery for failed classes. The district offers the latter while study hall is barred from being offered as a class (deemed as instructional time).
“When the rubber hits the road at the end of the day, there are haves and have-nots,” Marsh said.
“I’d like to see something (for the next meeting), I just don’t know what I want to see,” said boardmember Brian Becker. “How many kids are we talking about in between these lines?”
Morgan answered, saying that some of what was being said was getting into semantics.
“I think it’s a philosophical thing you need to think about,” he said. “Ethically, is this the right thing to do.”
Marsh then added that if the 12-absence policy was adjustable and with a no- “D” policy, six more kids would be on track to graduate.
“At the end of the day, you earn what you earn,” he said.
Swan then said that he supported taking the away the “D” in 2004.
“I just think there’s been a lot of changes since then,” he said.
He indicated that other teachers agree.
“Getting two credits behind is a huge hole,” said Marsh.
Morgan then reminded the board that it is a philosophical matter.
“I support whatever decision you make,” he said.
Eng added that if the policy is changed, the athletic code should still require “C”s.
“I don’t think in the last hundred years we’ve had a kid make a living from playing sports,” he said.
Kathy Wride then added more of her opinion about the no-”D.”
“I’d like to keep it the way it is now, but look at more data later,” she said.
“Right now I’m on the fence,” Becker said.
Smith then referred to the people in the community he had asked about the matter, saying that the majority favored bringing it back.
The newest board member, Jennifer Hauser, said her “gut feeling now is to leave it the way it is.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)