First Posted: 8/15/2013

LUMBERTON —An associate superintendent for the Public Schools of Robeson County says a change in the way reports cards are issued is an attempt to get all the schools on the same page — and keep struggling students from falling so far behind that they have no chance to advance in school or graduate.

The school board for the Public Schools of Robeson County at its monthly meeting on Tuesday approved a grading system that will use numbers instead of letters. For example, a student would now receive an 90 in Math as opposed to a letter grade of B. The new system also does away with pluses and minuses.

The previous grading system featured an uneven range of points between grades A through F. The difference between the highest and lowest possible D was 5.01 points, but the same difference for C and B grades was 7.99 points. The difference between the highest and lowest A grade was 5.51 points. An F constituted a grade between zero and 67.49.

The new system will establish a numerical floor of 65 for students’ report cards.

Assistant Superintendent Linda Emanuel said the new system will standardize the grading criteria for all county schools.

“We wanted to make sure we had consistency in the county, and that if you make an A in one place, it will be an A in another place,” she said.

Emanuel said the new system will keep students who have a bad quarter from falling too far behind behind, but only if they make an effort to improve their grades.

“It’s giving kids a chance to make up work,” she said. “They have to show some interest in improving. [Teachers] aren’t going to give kids 65 to do nothing.”

Emanuel said teachers will judge whether or not a student is showing interest in improving his or her work.

Former school board Chairman Mike Smith disagrees with that kind of selective approach.

“I believe in being fair and consistent,” he said. “If you’re going to give one the opportunity to make up, then you have to give all of them that.”

Emanuel said she is expecting parents to appreciate the consistency of the new grading criteria.

“It may encourage a child to make up for a horrible nine weeks. I don’t foresee negative feedback. I foresee it as a level of comfort” to parents, she said.

Smith said he would “wait and see” how parents reacted to the new system.

“I’m sure there will be some discussion about it, but as long as you’re trying to help the children, you take the good and the bad,” Smith said. “It’s still all about the children.”

The Robesonian was unable to reach current Chairwoman Loistine DeFreece for comment on the new grading system.

School board member Dwayne Smith said the board should “make [grading] a little bit more flexible, but we don’t need to make it too flexible for kids.”

He said consistency was important for local schools and for purposes of comparison to other counties.

“Say you earned a 94 [an A] in Charlotte on a seven-point scale. If you were here it might be a 3.85 [a B],” Smith said. “We had to get something concrete.”

Smith said he did not want the system to enable students to glide through school.

“We don’t need to make it so easy that you’re just passing kids. Let’s hope the kids work harder” when their grades fall, he said.