The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, students now get a minimum grade of 50% for assignments and tests, even if their actual percentage score is lower. District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said
If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester. [...] We want to create situations where students can recover and not give up. [...] It’s not grade inflation.
In other words, instead of giving that hypothetical student with 20% and 100% scores for the two grading periods a cumulative grade of 60% (“D”), the student would get a cumulative grade of 75% (“C”). How can this possibly be considered not to be grade inflation? Effectively this devalues the grades of all students in the district; potential employers or college admissions personnel who are familiar with the policy would have to assume that a student given a “C” grade may have actually done substandard work.
Ms. Pugh’s demonstrated level of understanding of mathematics is such that she is not qualified to be an assistant manager in a fast food restaurant, much less an employee of a school district.
[Bensalem School District] Superintendent James Lombardo said he’s in favor of implementing the idea, partly as a fairness issue. He noted that a failing grade carries far more mathematical weight than any other grade if the “E” or “F” has a range of zero to 59 percent.
“I guess I laud the Pittsburgh district for recognizing some of the foibles of our numerical system,”
It is now a “foible” that school work scored below 50% is seriously substandard?
If it is a fairness issue, how is it fair that some “D” students will be given “C” grades instead?
Yes, this kind of thing is known and discounted. As grades have become inflated, the minimum passing grade has gone from D to C at some colleges. In theory the student passed geometry (itself a remedial class at the college level) with a D. But his next math class requires him to have passed with a C or better, or the student’s employer will only reimburse his tuition for a B or better. So it’s certainly unfair, and ultimately useless.