What's More Important: The Deadline or the Skill?

I am the principal in a 7-8 building, perhaps the last venue where we try to give kids second and sometimes third chances.  This happens mostly with discipline, but also with academics.  This is really the last time where a kid's grades do not really matter.  I am unaware of any college or employer that has ever requested a transcript from a student's junior high school.

My teachers and I are currently having discussions about grading practices, Standards-Based Grading, and everything in between.  I do not know that we will ever adopt a truly standards-based grading system, but I believe we are on our way to making our grading system more meaningful.

I believe it is our responsibility to make sure every kid is learning the content and skills that are required of them.  I am a big believer in re-teaching and reassessing.  It is more important THAT the child learns the material than WHEN the child learns the material.  If a child takes an assessment (I dislike the word test) and fails, because he or she does not know the material, that child receives a low grade.  So far, that is fair.  However, simply putting that grade in the grade book and moving on is the exact reason why public schools are in the position they are today.  This process begins early on in a child's education, that child never learns the necessary skills, and then that child continues to fall further and further behind.  It would be my hope that the child receives some more instruction, is reassessed and then his or her grade is updated to reflect that knowledge. Here is where the debate begins, the debate of THAT vs. WHEN.

The number one response (unofficial survey) is that it is not fair to the kids who got it the first time to allow kids to be reassessed.  I missed the part in education school where they taught us that a grade's primary purpose was to compare and rank students.  It was my understanding that a grade is a tool that tells us about an individual's level of mastery. If that is the case, then it is unfair if we do not reassess that individual.

The number two response (again, unofficial survey), and gaining some momentum lately, is that we are not preparing the students for college because there will not be an opportunity for a redo when the child gets to college.  That is probably correct, but what is more important for us to teach our students: deadlines OR the actual skills the students will need in order to be successful? I contest it is the latter.  I understand deadlines and responsibility are important skills to learn, but not at the expense of learning the primary skill that was at the heart of the assignment, project, or assessment in the first place.

I have two daughters, and they both enjoy playing golf.  It would be nice if they made it to the LPGA Tour (I'm really not that dad, just trying to prove a point).  My rationale would be it is more important for them to learn the basic skills than it would be to learn those skills on the lightning quick greens of Augusta or Oakmont.  So I choose to take them out to the local public course.  My detractors would say, "Well the greens on the LPGA Tour are not that slow, you are not preparing them to be successful."  I think most people would look at that person and see their logic is flawed.

I wish more people saw it that way in education.