TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   New Law on Grading Policy--Clearing Up Confusion   While some school districts are doing their best to confuse matters about the new state law on grading policy, the new law actually is pretty clear. SB 2033, adding a new Section 28.0216 of the Texas Education Code, was introduced and pushed through to enactment by Sen. Jane Nelson, Republican of Lewisville, after she learned that school districts were requiring teachers, as a matter of local policy, to give students artificially inflated grades. Sen. Nelson said the bill was "intended to ensure that our students are receiving grades based on the merits of their work" and that "grades reflect students' performance on assignments."   The bill therefore says that school districts' grading policies "may not require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student's quality of work." Just to make the point even clearer, the law also states that local grading "must require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student's relative mastery of an assignment." This new law applies beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.   Many districts have understood the law well enough, as a prohibition of local policies prescribing minimum grades, period. But some are insisting that the law, by referring to grades on an "assignment," does not prohibit local policies that still dictate minimum cumulative grades for a grading period on a student's report card.   Both Sen. Nelson and the Texas Education Agency have rejected this cynical attempt to frustrate the legislature's intent. As we noted in a previous hotline, a TEA spokeswoman has put the matter plainly enough: "Districts need to give accurate grades to students, and that includes report card grades. It's pretty simple, give the grade students earned and stick with that."  This TEA response is a pretty good clue to the likely legal outcome if some district chooses to persist when challenged for deliberately misinterpreting and effectively nullifying the new state law.   Meanwhile, we can dispose of one other cause for confusion about a separate provision of the new law. That provision states that local grading policies still "may allow a student a reasonable opportunity to make up or redo a class assignment or examination for which the student received a failing grade." With this language, the legislature is neither encouraging nor discouraging such make-up or do-over policies. The legislative intent is simply to continue to allow districts to have such policies, if they so choose, just as they already could before SB 2033 was enacted.   And now for a mea culpa: We regret that Texas AFT's legislative summary, which we published last month, mistakenly used the word "must" in paraphrasing this provision on retaking tests and redoing assignments. Nothing in the new law says districts "must" allow students to retake exams or redo assignments--as you can see for yourself from the direct quotation of the provision above.    For the record, here's the full text of new Section 28.0216 of the Education Code   Sec. 28.0216. DISTRICT GRADING POLICY. A school district shall adopt a grading policy, including provisions for the  assignment of grades on class assignments and examinations, before each school year. A district grading policy:    (1) must require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student's relative mastery of an assignment;    (2) may not require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student's quality of work; and    (3) may allow a student a reasonable opportunity to make up or redo a class assignment or examination for which the student received a failing grade.