Seattle Public Schools' 'D' students

SEATTLE Public Schools proposes to lower the minimum grade-point average for high-school graduation from a C to a D. On its face, this is a bad idea, because it cheapens the meaning of a diploma.

The district's full proposal on grades is more complicated, and some of it is neutral to the meaning of a diploma. For example, it wants teachers to be able to award pluses and minuses (though not A-pluses). It also wants to add points to grades in honors, advanced-placement and International Baccalaureate classes. This boosts the grade-point averages of the best students, but that won't affect who graduates.

In one aspect, the proposal works to toughen the standard for graduation. Until now, when a student fails a class, he received an "N," which is as if he never took it. It didn't affect his grade-point average. Starting this fall, the student will receive an "E," which counts as a zero toward the average. If the student takes the same course over, he can replace the zero. If he takes a different course for the same requirement, the zero remains, and drags his grade-point average down.

We are not convinced the toughness of the new E grade offsets the looseness of lowering the graduation standard by half — from 2.0 to 1.0 — which is what the C-to-a-D proposal does. The district does not know what the net effect of these two things are, but we think it is a weakening.

The district's proposal similarly lowers the bar for students to be in sports. We're for sports, but basketball and football are not substitutes for learning the skills and knowledge needed for a citizen. A 1.0 standard — a D — is too low.

Seattle Public Schools' real graduation rate — counting all kids, including dropouts — is 63 percent, which suggests that its diploma does mean something. We are not arguing to make graduation any tougher than has been done or is scheduled to be done. The schools need to get more kids over the bar. But let's not lower it, either.