Ask an Expert: Judy Goddess
Using California School Law To Advocate For Your Kids

QUESTIONING A TEACHER'S GRADING SYSTEM

Although my daughter was doing fairly well (B+) in Algebra II, she received a C+ at the end of the semester. The teacher's reason was a final exam on which my daughter got a D+. But I understand that only three students did better than that. This seems to be a case of a poor test or bad teaching, not weak scholarship. Is there anything I can do?

Here's what the California Educational Code says about a teacher's grade: "In the absence of clerical or mechanical mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency," the grade given by the teacher is final (section 49066; see http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html).

Although a principal or vice principal might concede a mistake, it's very rare that they would publicly concede fraud, or that they would agree that the teacher acted in bad faith.

I think your best course of action is to demand that the school and teachers clarify their grading system. This could occur at an open meeting of the PTA, Site Council, or an open house. When they do that, you need to bring up the example of a test that's so difficult that only a few students score above 50 percent.

We can hope that the teacher used the results on this exam to indicate what she needs to include in her curriculum. Otherwise, with so much class time devoted to testing and test preparation, this seems a strange way to use classroom hours.

TOP OF PAGE | BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX