Cobb School Board Expands 1-2-3 Grading System

COBB COUNTY, Ga. -- Cobb County's School Board voted four to two Thursday night in favor of switching third graders over to a new report card that gives grades of only a 1, 2 or 3, instead of the five letter grades they get now.

The three-number grading system is already in place for students in grades Kindergarten through Two.

Parents opposed to expanding the system to include third graders packed the school board meeting room, pleading with the board to reject it.

On the new report cards, several criteria in each classroom subject are each given a grade. A grade of "1" is given when a student is not meeting the standard; a grade of "2" is given when a student is making progress toward meeting the standard; a grade of "3" is given when a student meets the standard.

Parent Christy Kown and two other mothers brought homemade posters to the school board vote, expressing their opposition.

Kown is one of dozens of Cobb County parents vowing to continue to fight the plan, despite the school board's approval Thursday night.

"It promotes mediocrity. It won't reward children who exceed, and it also will not ID kids who need help and aren't meeting the standard," said parent Demetra Lilly. "They're basically chopping off the ends of the bell curve and pushing everyone to the middle."

Supporters of the 1-2-3 plan say it includes, in each student's report card, more details about the student's progress in each subject, and will help students perform better on standardized tests.

But mother and clinical psychologist Dr. Fara McCrady says 1-2-3 is flawed.

"I was just reading today somebody that was talking about children's self esteem damage," McCrady said. "This is psychobabble. There' no evidence this hurts -- giving kids opportunities to fail and succeed."

But the 1-2-3 trend is spreading across the country and Metro Atlanta. Other concerned parents have met with and asked Cobb County school officials to expand the system.

"We asked why didn't you add a four," said Kown, who said the answer she got was "we didn't want to add a four to make a two feel badly."

Ultimately, the school board decided that the new report cards will add a 3+, to recognize superior achievement.

Cobb school officials released a statement to 11Alive News that said:

"The report cards are needed because Georgia has adopted a new curriculum that requires students to learn specific "standards" in each subject area. Report cards provide much more information about a student's strengths and weaknesses than the previous report cards."

Thursday night the School Board unanimously approved a motion by one of the six members present, Dr. John Crooks, to prohibit expanding the new grading system into grades four through twelve.