25% of Wake middle and high school students failed a class during remote learning
Around a quarter of Wake County’s high school and middle school students failed at least one class during the first two months of this school year, when only online classes were offered due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wake County school administrators said Tuesday that 24% to 25% of high school students had an F grade in at least one first quarter class compared to 15% the same time last school year. The failure rate for middle school students was higher at 28% in the first quarter compared to 15% last school year.
Officials say there could be multiple reasons for the lower academic performance, but one of them could be higher absentee rates. Approximately 8.8% of students had four or more absences in the first quarter, compared to 5.8% this same time last school year.
“While not necessarily surprising given the state and national trends that we’re seeing, it indeed is a cause for concern,” Paul Koh, assistant superintendent for student support services, told the Wake school board. “But we must also acknowledge that if it were not for the efforts of our school teams, the early student performance results would be far worse.”
Officials say the attendance and grading data is still preliminary. Most schools ended the first quarter of classes in October.
Grades drop during remote learning
Wake’s drop in student performance mirrors similar declines seen statewide and nationally as students had to transition to remote learning when COVID-19 led to a halt on in-person classes.
The Guilford County school system reported that 40% of students failed at least one first quarter class compared to 29% the prior year. Guilford, which includes the city of Greensboro, is the third largest district in North Carolina, behind only Wake County and Charlotte Mecklenburg.
Around 35% of New Hanover County’s middle school students failed at least one first quarter course with the rate being as high as 40% at some high schools, the Port City Daily reported. Close to 50% of New Hanover’s Hispanic and Black students were failing one or more courses in middle and high schools compared to 22% of white students. New Hanover County is home to Wilmington.
Wake school officials say they’re still reviewing the data to compare grades between different student groups. School officials also haven’t yet released their review of elementary school grades, citing how those students don’t get traditional letter grades like older students.
Wake, like most North Carolina school districts, started the school year in August with only online classes. Wake has been phasing in the return of elementary and middle school students for in-person classes, while high school students will stay with online classes for the rest of the fall semester.
The school board is scheduled to vote on a plan Tuesday that would provide all elementary students with daily in-person classes. Middle and high school students would attend on a three-week rotation of one week of in-person classes and two weeks of online courses.
Many Wake students will still have only online classes next semester because they’ve chosen the Virtual Academy program.
Helping struggling students
Drew Cook, assistant superintendent for academics, says schools have worked hard to help students during the pandemic. But now they’re taking steps to address the performance and grading issues moving forward.
“It’s OK for us to say, I think, everything we have done has led us to results that, at least through the first quarter, that we’re not satisfied with and are concerning,” Cook said. “It stands to reason then if we’re not satisfied with where we are, despite all the incredible efforts of our schools, our parents, our teachers, our students, then we have to by nature look for ways to adjust.”
The district is considering revising the grading and attendance strategies, including changing the penalties for handing in work late and giving students more retesting opportunities. The attendance policy was revised to accommodate the use of online classes instead of in-person instruction.
Wake is also looking at putting more resources to help students who are struggling. Ideas being considered include having students come for in-person tutoring during the school day and on Saturdays.
Schools may also encourage students to use a “WP” withdraw/pass grade showing they were passing at the time they dropped a class. This would ease student workloads without having a negative impact on their grades.
The district also plans to reach out to students to find out why they’re not connecting online to take their classes.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 2:03 PM with the headline "25% of Wake middle and high school students failed a class during remote learning."
