{"id":3790,"date":"2012-08-21T06:36:02","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T13:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=3790"},"modified":"2012-08-21T12:23:48","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T19:23:48","slug":"opponents-of-no-zero-marking-fail-to-see-the-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2012\/08\/21\/opponents-of-no-zero-marking-fail-to-see-the-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Opponents of no-zero marking fail to see the benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

REGINA (CUP) \u2014 As the no-zero policy gains popularity, zero is becoming the most difficult grade for students to attain.<\/p>\n

For anyone unclear of the concept, the no-zero policy is a recent trend in schools that attempts to hold students accountable for their work and set the real criteria for grading. What this has brought to light is the problem with the education system\u2019s double standards for grading criteria.<\/p>\n

Some teachers have raised complaints about the no-zero policy even for late work, but what does the zero represent, really? Students are being penalized on their behaviour instead of ability. Students don\u2019t receive higher marks for handing in their assignment earlier, so why should they lose marks for handing it in late?<\/p>\n

Also, what are those numbers supposed to represent? According to the policy, students who refuse to either do the work or hand in enough to be evaluated will be marked as \u201cunable to evaluate.\u201d This sets the real criteria for students\u2019 assignments as what they have written, rather than when they handed it in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lynden Dorval, an Edmonton high school teacher, was recently \u2018suspended indefinitely\u2019 for giving out zeroes after the policy was adopted.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this is just not working,\u201d Dorval told the\u00a0Edmonton Journal<\/a><\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of pushing kids through and making the stats look good, but at what cost?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dorval apparently neglected to read the schools\u2019\u00a0Assessment, Grading, and Reporting Practice<\/em>. Students with incomplete or missing assignments are still held accountable. However, the method of evaluation has changed.<\/p>\n

The no-zero policy is commonly accompanied by another policy allowing students to hand in work long after it is due with no penalties on their grade. Instituted, instead, is a dual grading system. Students will be graded on the content of their assignment, as well as their behaviour. According to the\u00a0Ross Sheppard School Assessment, Grading, and Reporting Practice<\/em>, \u201c[if] an assignment [is] not completed on time, or an exam missed due to illness, the teacher will arrange an alternate time when the student can complete the assignment. A behaviour code will be entered in the mark book until the assignment is completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

These behavioural codes range from \u2018not handed-in\u2019 (NHI) to \u2018chose not to attempt\u2019 (CNA) or even skip.<\/p>\n

This method is far more practical for a variety of reasons, one of which being that employers want to know how well a student can work and meet deadlines, not necessarily how well they can write an essay. If students were graded using two report cards, one for behaviour and one for academic achievement, they would be held accountable for their behaviour without penalizing their ability. The behavioural report card would allow employers an actual understanding of the potential employee\u2019s work ethics and conduct.<\/p>\n

Many of the people who argue against the policy argue that it\u2019s not setting them up for the real world or holding them accountable, but these policies are attempting to do something much more than that; fix a broken system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REGINA (CUP) \u2014 As the no-zero policy gains popularity, zero is becoming the most difficult grade for students to attain. For anyone unclear of the concept, the no-zero policy is a recent trend in schools that attempts to hold students accountable for their work and set the real criteria for grading. What this has brought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-views"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3790"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3814,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3790\/revisions\/3814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}