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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Change that grade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is revising the ethics code for educators. The commission is working with teacher associations and one suggestion is to prevent educators from being forced to change a grade.
They want a Doc Neace rule.
As some of you may remember, Larry “Doc” Neace was a physics teacher at Dacula High in Gwinnett County who was fired in 2005 for insubordination because he refused to restore a student’s grade on a lab report.
Neace said he dropped the grade because the student fell asleep in class. Gwinnett has a policy against lowering grades as a form of discipline. Neace said he’s been dropping grades for years as a way of reminding students they have to participate in class.
Neace’s firing received state and national attention. Since then, many groups have tried to prevent a repeat of what happened.
How often do teachers face situations where a superior forces or strongly encourages them to change a grade? Will adding a rule prohibiting these demands make a difference?
