The 50% Grading Rule: Safety Net or Setback?

By Hannah Stroh

Editorial assistant

Students in high school receive an automatic 50% if they fail to turn in assignments. The 50% rule has caused debate amongst students, teachers, and parents. While some see this controversial grading policy as a lifeline for struggling students, others argue it compromises academic accountability and rigor. 

According to Edutopia, Getting Rid of Zeros Won't Fix the Grade Book by Tyler Rablin, getting a zero "can ruin a student's overall grade in a system that averages scores over time. If I receive a zero on my first assignment in a term, I have to score an 85 on the next 13 assignments just to get back to a B. My failure outweighs my success, and for many students, having to claw their way out of a hole that deep just isn't worth the effort." 

Students who receive zeros can often lose their drive in school because they feel they are hopeless and have no chance to raise their grades. Hence, the 50% grading policy has been implemented. Students are smarter than they are given credit for, so they could use the policy to their advantage. 

According to Edutopia, ¨Do No-Zero Policies Help or Hurt Students?¨ By Emelina Minero, ¨A no-zero grading policy allows students to do minimal work and still pass, pushes students forward who haven't mastered the content, and doesn't teach students the real-life consequences of not meeting their responsibilities.¨

This policy has numerous flaws, such as students not being held accountable for not doing their work. Many argue that home-life factors create barriers to a student's learning, encouraging struggling students to give up since they feel they have no chance. 

According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, ¨The Unwinnable Battle Over Minimum Grade,¨ by Thomas R. Guskey, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey, ¨Critics of minimum grade policies, including many teachers and parents, counter that such practices offer unfair and unearned assistance to low-performing students and serve primarily to reduce the accuracy and reliability of grades.¨

Many teachers argue that minimum grades erode a student's work ethic and don't teach students the real-life consequences of cheating the system by failing to meet their responsibilities. 

According to Teach.com, ¨The Implications of Grading Without Zeros,¨ ¨ calibrating the bottom of the grading scale to 50 percent, it greatly increases students' opportunities to recover from poor performances.¨

Students who continue to pile up zeros have an impossibility of rebounding; this inevitable failure discourages students from refocusing and recommitting to learning and growth. 

According to ASCD, ¨The primary reason schools enact minimum grade policies, also known as "Zeros Aren't Permitted" policies, is to eliminate the confounding effects of zeros in percentage grading systems.¨