Texas schools seek fairness when evaluating students for promotion to next grade level
The 2019-2020 school year is not over, even though no students will be appearing on any Texas campuses over the final weeks of the spring semester.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered April 17 for schools to remain closed, rather than reopening May 4, after medical experts advised that returning to classrooms would create too much risk to students for contracting COVID-19.
Students and their parents, especially the parents, are well-aware of the Austin edict.
School districts, meanwhile, had already prepared for the inevitable.
Their job is to keep students learning in a way they have never taught, but also to evaluate students like never before over the final two months. Teachers must determine if students should be promoted to the next grade for the next school year or retained for another run at their current level.
It appears as if districts will be giving students more chances to advance or graduate from high school, but they have to earn it from home.
“We’re really looking at our system to be a progress-monitoring approach and more of a support for students,” said Jerry Moore, the chief academic officer for the Fort Worth school district.
“Instead of looking at promotion or retention based on grades, it’s really going to be skill-based and what we can do to make sure we get kids the skills they need.”
Each school district formulated its own grading structure in response to the coronavirus pandemic, as mandated by the state law. In taking guidance from the Texas Education Agency and after checking in with other school systems, districts found they were on the same wavelength.
They have adopted some form of pass/fail system, which focus on progress over results and also preserves grade-point averages. Districts contacted colleges to make sure that matriculating students wouldn’t be penalized by a pass/fail system.
A passing grade will be awarded if students are showing proficiency in grade-level state standards, core standards or coursework. Many districts will continue to grade students in kindergarten and first and second grade the same as always — satisfactory, progressing or needs improvement.
The only way a teacher can evaluate students is if they are participating.
Districts have taken measures to ensure students have internet access for at-home learning. They understand that parents are now teachers, and that parents’ work schedules will affect how much time students are getting in their virtual classrooms.
Many districts are requiring teachers to keep “office hours” so that families and students with questions can reach out individually. Classes are meeting weekly as a group through various video-conferencing platforms.
Despite all the drastic steps taken, including training for teachers and resources for parents, districts recognize pitfalls that could come with grading the rest of the school year.
The Fort Worth, Arlington and Mansfield school districts have a combined 182,000 students. When factoring in different languages spoken, parents’ work schedules and the number of kids who might be learning in the same home, those students might be learning in 182,000 different ways.
“It really isn’t fair to include grade-point averages at a time where kids really are not learning in the best way,” said Dr. Steven Wurtz, the chief academic officer for the Arlington ISD. “Our primary concern was that there was readiness to move on to their next course and also that they mastered the skills that were intended to be taught during this semester.”
Arlington has implemented the pass/fail concept, but is using incomplete rather than fail. Those who are lagging behind have been contacted by teachers and given a pathway to promotion. It might require some form of summer school, and schools will likely see more students than in a typical summer, but the goal is to keep students moving up.
“We’re going to provide opportunities for them to extend their learning,” Wurtz said. “We’re not going to fail them and make them start over.
“The word incomplete insinuates something different than fail. Fail basically feels very cut-and-dry, like you failed and it’s over, whereas incomplete says we believe that you can still master it and we’re going to stay with you and we’re going to let you fill in the gaps and we’re going to award you the credit.”
Some students have already earned a promotion. In Fort Worth, students in first through eighth grade will be promoted based on the average of the first four sets of grades before the shutdown.
Will some students have to repeat their grade level in the 2020-21 school year? Yes.
Will ample leeway be given to prevent that? Yes, multiple districts said.
“Campuses have measures in place to give out assigned work to students with enough time to turn it in and be graded,” the Mansfield ISD said. “Students who are struggling will continue to work closely with their teacher and campus administrator to find the best path forward for gaining credit for the course.”
Even if students are given extra attention or take some form of summer school, whether it continues to be online or can move back into classrooms, the next school year could be a game of catch-up.
No curricula have been put in place, but districts are considering using the first month or two to reinforce what should have been learned this school year. It might be a straight review of 2019-2020 or sprinkling concepts into the 2020-21 curricula.
Fort Worth is considering a four-week summer program to get students caught up.
Just as the spring semester amid the COVID-19 closure has been completely new, the upcoming fall semester is likely to be approaching in a new way, too.
“It’s going to be the responsibility of the school district to figure out how do we recapture this lost instructional time?” Moore said. “How do we make sure that all students, if they weren’t able to stay connecting to online learning, that we catch them up?”
