Sadia Parr doesn't have to do her homework anymore.
The eighth-grader at St. Paul's Hazel Park Middle School Academy does it anyway, she says, because "it's practice." But when it comes to getting good grades, homework doesn't matter.
In an effort to improve the school's test scores, Hazel Park has made a change that some assert is a new trend in student assessment. Rather than hand out traditional letter grades based on homework, tests, extra-credit and participation, the school grades students solely on how well they understand the material.
It's called "standards-based grading," and it measures whether kids understand Minnesota's education standards, the foundation for Minnesota's state tests.
"There are a lot of kids who don't know how to play the game of school, but they're proficient," said Kelly Detzler, a geography teacher who helped set up the program. "We were seeing a high rate of kids failing because they didn't do their homework, even though they understood the material."
Not all the parents are convinced.
"I just think schooling should be more than straight testing," said parent Tara Franco, whose son Mario is in eighth grade. "Hopefully the kids don't get shocked when they get into high school and have so much more expected of them."
Changes the focus