Zero equals fifty?

PITTSBURGH (AP) - December 11, 2008

The policy is meant to help students recover from a bad grade or the odd missed assignment. But the district's teachers complain that some students refuse to hand in assignments because they're content to get the "50 percent" grade for doing nothing.

Proponents of the policy say students who aren't given a chance to recover from low grades lose incentive to improve them. But critics say the policy coddles lazy students and undercuts the district's "Excellence for All" campaign to improve student performance.

Officials expect to tweak the policy which they say is used in other districts, but not abandon it entirely.

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