Markel
02-19-2002, 12:26 PM
Taken from http://apnews.excite.com/article/20020219/D7HP8G0O0.html
Court Upholds School Grading Practice
02/19/2002 12:14 PM EST
By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld the common schoolroom practice of having one student grade another's work, ruling Tuesday that such paper-swapping does not violate federal privacy law.
The 9-0 ruling ends a challenge filed by a mother whose learning-disabled son was ridiculed as a "dummy" when his poor grades were read aloud to classmates.
[...]
Teachers nationwide commonly tell students to swap homework, quizzes or other schoolwork and then correct one another's work as the teacher goes over it aloud. Sometimes the teacher then has students call out the results, and the teacher records them.
"Correcting a classmate's work can be as much a part of the assignment as taking the test itself," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for himself and seven colleagues. Justice Antonin Scalia filed a separate concurring opinion.
"It is a way to teach material again in a new context, and it helps show students how to assist and respect fellow pupils," wrote Kennedy, a former law professor who still teaches several classes a year.
Kristja Falvo won a lower court decision that banned classroom grading aloud as a violation of a 1974 law that gave parents veto power over the release of student "education records."
At issue for the Supreme Court was whether the result of a pop quiz or other classwork is considered a record under the law. The Owasso, Okla., school district Falvo's children attend argued that such a broad interpretation could outlaw the school honor roll, or even the practice of working out a math problem on the blackboard. The Bush administration backed the school district.
Falvo's lawsuit became an ideological contest between the rights of parents and the rights of teachers to run their classrooms, and between social conservatives and teachers' unions.
Falvo said Tuesday she has been contacted by parents throughout the country who object to the grading practice, and she still hopes to see it end. Congress could ban the practice, or schools could discontinue it on their own, she said.
"Maybe they won't use it, because sometimes something legal isn't healthy," she said.
"This is a practice that has gone on forever and does not disadvantage children," said Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators, which represents the nation's school superintendents.
"It gives them instant feedback," Hunter said. "While they're looking at someone else's paper, they're thinking about the answers."
Kennedy, who asked during oral arguments last year if privacy law would forbid the awarding of gold stars for good work, said that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Court's rationale in this case would vastly expand teachers' workloads.
Teachers would have to maintain separate records for each student, rather than a universal grade book, and students who graded even their own papers would become legal custodians of those records, Kennedy noted.
Further, applying federal privacy law that way would erode the principle that education is a local matter, Kennedy wrote.
"The court of appeals' logic ... would effect a drastic alteration of the existing allocation of responsibilities between states and the national government in the operation of the nation's schools," Kennedy wrote.
Falvo's 1998 lawsuit claimed that paper-swapping violated students' civil rights. A federal judge threw out the case, but the Denver-based appeals court reinstated it in a ruling that focused on a 1974 educational privacy law.
The Bush administration argued that in passing the law, Congress was concerned with preserving the privacy of final, institutional records of a school, not the results of one day's classwork.
The case is Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, 00-1073.
I can't believe that this issue made it all the way to the Supreme Court. I'm just glad that reason prevailed.
Court Upholds School Grading Practice
02/19/2002 12:14 PM EST
By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld the common schoolroom practice of having one student grade another's work, ruling Tuesday that such paper-swapping does not violate federal privacy law.
The 9-0 ruling ends a challenge filed by a mother whose learning-disabled son was ridiculed as a "dummy" when his poor grades were read aloud to classmates.
[...]
Teachers nationwide commonly tell students to swap homework, quizzes or other schoolwork and then correct one another's work as the teacher goes over it aloud. Sometimes the teacher then has students call out the results, and the teacher records them.
"Correcting a classmate's work can be as much a part of the assignment as taking the test itself," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for himself and seven colleagues. Justice Antonin Scalia filed a separate concurring opinion.
"It is a way to teach material again in a new context, and it helps show students how to assist and respect fellow pupils," wrote Kennedy, a former law professor who still teaches several classes a year.
Kristja Falvo won a lower court decision that banned classroom grading aloud as a violation of a 1974 law that gave parents veto power over the release of student "education records."
At issue for the Supreme Court was whether the result of a pop quiz or other classwork is considered a record under the law. The Owasso, Okla., school district Falvo's children attend argued that such a broad interpretation could outlaw the school honor roll, or even the practice of working out a math problem on the blackboard. The Bush administration backed the school district.
Falvo's lawsuit became an ideological contest between the rights of parents and the rights of teachers to run their classrooms, and between social conservatives and teachers' unions.
Falvo said Tuesday she has been contacted by parents throughout the country who object to the grading practice, and she still hopes to see it end. Congress could ban the practice, or schools could discontinue it on their own, she said.
"Maybe they won't use it, because sometimes something legal isn't healthy," she said.
"This is a practice that has gone on forever and does not disadvantage children," said Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators, which represents the nation's school superintendents.
"It gives them instant feedback," Hunter said. "While they're looking at someone else's paper, they're thinking about the answers."
Kennedy, who asked during oral arguments last year if privacy law would forbid the awarding of gold stars for good work, said that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Court's rationale in this case would vastly expand teachers' workloads.
Teachers would have to maintain separate records for each student, rather than a universal grade book, and students who graded even their own papers would become legal custodians of those records, Kennedy noted.
Further, applying federal privacy law that way would erode the principle that education is a local matter, Kennedy wrote.
"The court of appeals' logic ... would effect a drastic alteration of the existing allocation of responsibilities between states and the national government in the operation of the nation's schools," Kennedy wrote.
Falvo's 1998 lawsuit claimed that paper-swapping violated students' civil rights. A federal judge threw out the case, but the Denver-based appeals court reinstated it in a ruling that focused on a 1974 educational privacy law.
The Bush administration argued that in passing the law, Congress was concerned with preserving the privacy of final, institutional records of a school, not the results of one day's classwork.
The case is Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, 00-1073.
I can't believe that this issue made it all the way to the Supreme Court. I'm just glad that reason prevailed.