DALLAS - As Dallas Independent School District officials investigate allegations of improper grade changes for student athletes, some say those same officials are, in effect, doing the same thing.

News 8 has learned students are receiving what some say are unwarranted and unfair grade curves in their final exams, which DISD administrators are ultimately in charge of.

DISD officials say what they are doing is absolutely above board and widely practiced in the education community.

However, New 8 couldn't find any school in the state doing what DISD is doing.

DISD administrators are taking semester exams away from teachers, giving the exams themselves and curving grades. In many cases, they are also giving passing grades to students who would have otherwise made an "F."

Why is this being done?

Allegations of improper grade changing for athletes have led to internal investigations at South Oak Cliff, Roosevelt and Skyline high schools.

The probes are an embarrassment for DISD officials that have led to a proclamation of intolerance toward awarding students grades they don't deserve.

"... It is a serious concern to make sure that we follow the rules," said Superintendent Mike Hinojosa.

But some say Hinojosa is engaging in his own brand of grade changing when it comes to final exams.

DISD is the only major school district in Texas in which final exams are created and graded by officials at DISD's administration building instead of by teachers.

What Timothy Cedor, a DISD reading teacher, said he finds it interesting that final exam grades are curved by as many as 25 points.

"Make scores, look better than they are," said Cedor when asked why he thought the system was in place.

For example, a student who got 85 percent of the questions right was given a grade curve of six points, which pushes the grade to a 91. A student who gets 60 percent of the questions right is given a curve of 16 points, which raises their grade to 76.

And for those students who get 55 percent of the questions right, which is an "F," their grade is automatically curved by DISD administrators by 18 points, taking the grade to a 73. That means the grade is taken from an "F" up to a "C."

Again, the teacher, who is supposed to be in charge of educating his students, has no say.

"It's very defeating and very demoralizing,"

The biggest problem, according to Cedor, is that the lowest performing students are given the biggest break.

"There's no motivation at all for the student to try and follow and learn the core material because they are going to be gifted their passing grade," he said.

Cedor is not alone in his criticism towards the system.

"It's blindly inflating grades for everyone," said Steve Goodall, another DISD teacher.

News 8 talked to several teachers who are opposed to the district's takeover and grade-curving of final exams.

"It is very wrong to continue to inflate grades and tell students this is what you have earned when in fact that's not true," said Aimee Bolender, with Alliance AFT.

District officials don't call it grade inflation. They call it grade "scaling" and say it's necessary to make sure the degree of difficulty from year to year remains constant and is consistent with the teacher's classroom grading tendencies.

"Absolutely not," said Robert Mendro, director of evaluation for DISD, when asked if the district was over thinking the testing system. "Scaling is a function of good measurement. If it weren't, we wouldn't have every other major company that produces tests scaling tests."

Mendro said it's the same methodology applied to the TAKS test and SAT tests and is widely accepted throughout the country.

But News 8 learned that none of the major school districts in Texas - including Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth - administer or scale its final exams.

DISD has been doing it for ten years and union president Bolender said it does more than wrongly inflate grades.

"It does not comport with state law, which says that the teacher is the final authority on grades assuming they are done fairly and in compliance with policy," she said.

State education officials won't address Bolender's allegation of impropriety. However, they do say that to their knowledge, DISD is the only district grading final exams in this manner.

Again, DISD officials say they do this not to inflate grades, but just as an equitable way to measure how well teachers are teaching the curriculum.

E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com