How to increase graduation rates and improve achievement in the classroom is the goal of every school district. With that in mind, a Council Bluffs administrator is behind a controversial plan to eliminate the grade of zero.

"I just try to make it a good experience," says Thomas Jefferson psychology teacher Mary Beth Runge. "If they can be engaged and if they can be excited or interested or even mildly amused by what they're doing, then what they end up with is more learning taking place and hopefully that's always the goal."

Sometimes assignments don't get turned in which can result in a grade of zero and the possibility students will give up and drop out of school.

"If you get a zero on three assignments for instance, maybe the first two weeks, you don't want to come to school, you're mad at the world, you wish it was still summertime,” says Council Bluffs Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Martha Bruckner.

“Three zeros, unless I hold you accountable for making those up, those three zeros pretty much mean you're not going to pass."

Dr. Bruckner says students should get 50%, which is still an F, for a missed assignment. It's still a failing grade, but an incentive for students to stay in school and complete those assignments.

"What we're trying to say is don't let those zeroes get in the way of helping kids have a chance to learn. What we want teachers to do is not to let kids off the hook by saying you didn't have that in, going to give you a zero, you don't have to do the work because I've already given you a zero."

"What we want you to say is we want you to do the work because what we're doing in this class is important."

It's controversial, but Dr. Bruckner believes if it keeps kids coming to class, it's worth it. "The goal is to keep kids on the hook, but to keep them believing I have a reason to keep working in here." And attaining success in the classroom.

Superintendent Bruckner says her idea corrects an imbalance in the grading scale. Students will still have to prove their proficiency by passing state standardized tests.