For example, I’ve had a student who did terribly at the beginning of the quarter but has worked his or her butt off the second half, and has completely changed his or her behavior. If at the end of the quarter, the child still only has a 58%, I would definitely bump it up.

Most teachers would probably agree with me that we tend to only change students grades for the better, and even then, we’re hesitant to do so. If I had a student I disliked for their attitude, I would use the “comments” section of the report card to reflect that–saying something like “needs to improve social behavior,” or “off task often.” But it would be unethical to lower that child’s grade, and there’s no way I would ever do so. . .nor would most others in this profession.