Grade recovery is available to every student that requests it regardless of the cause of the student’s failure in the respective class.
The student is eligible for grade recovery even if the student:
Refuses to do anything in the class.
Does not attend class due as a result of unexcused absences.
Does not make up any of the work from absences, excused or unexcused.
If the student fails the quarter as a result of cheating.
Essentially, grade recovery is social promotion.
Most students fail courses due to causes above, not low cognitive ability. If a student is failing due to course rigor, perhaps the student should be place from an Honors or AP class to a standard one in the same subject.
Grade Recovery is custom designed by the teacher in the class in which the student failed.
The teacher must analyze the standards in which the student deficient and custom the remediation to these deficiencies. (Essentially run additional classes with remediation students)
Compass Odyssey is required to be used by the teacher to evaluate the student’s proficiency unless none is offered in that class.
Compass Odyssey does not meet the content depth and breathe as well as the rigor of either of these educational venues: the respective class, end of course exam, the FCAT, the Florida Virtual School, the College Board (with respect to Advanced Placement courses) and most other methods of assessment. And with this lower standard the student achieves the same high school credit.
As a result of Grade Recovery, 70 percent of students who graduate must take remedial classes at FSCJ to function as a high school graduate in a post secondary environment and have a reasonable chance of success. This is clearly an indication that through this program, students graduate with skills far below what one would expect of a high school graduate. In essence a diploma should be the validation of minimum skill competency. Grade Recovery circumvents this supposition.
Grade recovery was used in NYC public schools from 2002 to 2007 and the NY Times discovered that as a result, 82 percent of graduates were remedial at community colleges. As a result, the program was discontinued. Grade Recovery is currently in use in Pinellas County and is soon to be discontinued.
Since both tests and graduation rates combined are a measure of success. Grade recovery was initiated as a metric to artificially increase graduation percentiles to balance low NAEP scores in NYC. In Duval County we use it to balance against FCAT and other negative scores.
Grade Recovery is not being used as it was intended. Grade recovery was intended for the student who was performing satisfactory in a class, then became ill or involved in an accident.
Grade recovery lowers the morale for the student that attends class, does all their assignments, studies, and earns a "C". Students that do not attend class, work while in class, does none of their assignments, cheat, can earn the same as grade as them by doing less work, and having less knowledge of the subject matter or even attend school for that matter.
Grade recovery eliminates the personal responsibility of the student to attend school, perform as directed, and produce a result.
15 year old lacking an understanding of the importance of an education will ask, "Why should I come, study, or do any work when I can get a redo that is easier and get the same credit for the course.
Personal responsibility is essential to the success of an individual not just in academia, but in life. The most important life skills young people can learn are the logical consequences for their actions or the lack thereof.
If personal responsibility is established, academic growth will follow.
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