Extra Credit Nixed At School District: Good

From the Huffo Post: Forget about that last-minute extra book review or lab report to push that B+ to an A-.
Students in the sixth through 12th grades at one Utah school district will no longer be able to complete extra credit assignments to boost their grades.
A new course grading policy, approved by the Uintah School District Board of Education early this month, prohibits teachers from awarding extra credit. According to the policy, "all students will be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency within the grading period ... which will affect the final outcome of a student's grade."
Those multiple opportunities, as stated by the district's overall grading policy, are composed of no more than 30 percent "daily practice" -- such as homework and group assignments -- and no less than 70 percent "formative assessment/summative assessment" -- such as testing and other forms of evaluating progress and proficiency.
Officials say that prohibiting extra credit shifts course goals away from simply achieving high marks and toward better learning and improving coursework understanding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/uintah-utah-school-distri_n_936724.html
Good for the Uintah School district. Many teachers give extra credit that has nothing to do with learning or what is being studied. Bring in some extra school supplies, extra credit. Write a paper. Get extra credit. Behave in class- get extra credit.
At the school I teach at, we eliminated extra credit last year and it has resulted in a better learning environment. The students get graded in assessments, quizzes, journals and a couple other areas. If a student gets below a C in a test, they are put into a system in which they are tutored so that they learn the subject being taught and then take the test again. If a student passes the class, you can be rest assured that the student knows the subject and knows it well. Their grade is legitimate and it is not artificially raised because of extra credit or doing easy assignments.
So, congrats to the Uintah School District and hopefully more schools will follow their lead. Extra credit almost always does not involve the required material.