School officials in Fairfax County, Va., understand well that foreign language instruction is critical if today’s students will be ready to compete in tomorrow’s highly competitive global economy.

But, as is so often the case, lofty education goals run afoul of financial realities.

Years ago, the Fairfax County, Va., school system called for all students to start early to learn a foreign language—in elementary school—so they would graduate with some fluency in a second language.

Yet now officials in this Washington, D.C., suburb are weighing budget cuts that endanger this innovative and logical instructional objective. At risk are language immersion programs existing in a dozen elementary schools as well as plans to add foreign language instruction to dozens more.

It’s not a given that the programs will be cut. “School officials say the early programs are crucial to producing a generation of bilingual students,” reported a recent Washington Post article. “Two or three years of high school French typically is not enough to get students beyond a beginner level.”

Any foreign language instructor will tell you the same thing. The earlier you start teaching a second language—and the longer you teach that language—the more likely you’ll end up with a bilingual student.
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Who would have thought that the grading system you use to award little Johnny an A, B, or C could cause such headaches for a school district?

But that’s exactly what’s happening these days in two school districts-Pittsburgh, Pa., and Fairfax County, Va.

The irony is each district faces complaints for exactly opposite reasons: Pittsburgh officials are accused of watering down their academic standards by mandating that no student receive less than a 50 percent grade for their homework, test scores, or grading period.

In Fairfax County, on the other hand, parents complain that the grading system is too tough-demanding a score of 64 percent for a passing grade and 94 percent for an A.

Officials in Pittsburgh have logic for their policy. Mathematically, students with a few bad test scores cannot hope to bring their grades back up to passing, and that gives scores of 0-50 more “weight” than higher grades.

Officials say the 50-percent minimum gives students a chance to save themselves academically and may serve as an incentive to stay in school, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A passing grade still remains 60 percent.

This logic hasn’t swayed critics. “The district was skewered on radio shows and blogs, and backlash from teachers prompted the district and union to form a committee to consider modifications,” the paper reports.

Some accused Pittsburgh officials of a system that could lead to “grade inflation,” but that’s exactly the danger that school officials in Fairfax County raised to defend their tough grading policy.
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