In this letter to school districts, TEA Commissioner Robert Scott clarified recent changes to state law that require districts to allow teachers to assign grades less than a 50 to students on assignments.  He extended his interpretation to include that districts must allow teachers to assign a grade less than 50% for grading periods.  However, in this news article out of Abilene, we learn that some districts have been slow to change previous policies, which were common around the state, that would automatically change any grades less than a 50% to a 50% on report cards.  The reasoning was that such low grades would make it impossible for students to pass a course, and would leave them with no motivation to improve, and possibly lead to dropping out of school. Commissioner Scott's letter also mentioned the fact that districts "may allow a student a reasonable opportunity to make up or redo a class assignment or examination for which the student received a failing grade."

As a teacher, it can almost be satisfying to leave that 28% on a report card for students that have done next to nothing in a class.  However, you may have to ask yourself in that case, what is the 72% of the curriculum that the student doesn't know.  Grading policies seem to change with the wind, and nobody seems to know exactly what is best.   

 That being said - what is your policy?  How do you feel about having a minimum grade on report cards and assignments?  Should students be given the opportunity to correct/make-up any work that they failed?