Student achievement this fall - the good news and the bad news
In the world of student achievement this fall, there’s good news, and there’s bad news. Let’s do the bad news first. Compared to last fall, our number of failing grades are way up. At the end of quarter one last year, WHS recorded 197 failing grades. In the middle of October 2020, that same number peaked at 762. This gargantuan gap can be ascribed mostly to the iceberg of isolation. Our society has run headlong into that iceberg, and this is one of the results.
The good news is that we’re not sinking. As a staff, we’ve applied intense pressure to this problem in the following ways:
The PASS Plus team meets weekly to review achievement and attendance data and identify action steps for individual students.
Academic bubble groups continue to meet and show good results.
This month we have repurposed our small group times to focus on tutoring and mentoring at-risk students.
This week staff are meeting by departments to identify specific learning recovery options by class.
We are exploring the possibility of making space in the semester two schedule for 1 - 3 teachers to spend 1 hour per day working with at-risk students.
Staff and admin are following up on a weekly and daily basis with specifically assigned students to help shepherd them to success.
The results of all these things are visible. The numbers are improving daily. As of Monday, the number of failing grades was down to 552, meaning that 210 of those failing grades had been repaired. Just in the last 24 hours, another 7-10 of those failing grades have been recovered. We’re definitely not done yet, but we are moving in the right direction.
The primacy of hope
I wanted to share a bit of an email I sent out to staff Tuesday morning:
Last Friday, I met with the other principals in our league. We're all in the same boat, fighting the same battles. Curt Schiedel at Fort Vancouver shared that about 80% of his students had at least 1 F (we're at about 40%) and felt desperate to get his kids back in the building. He used the word "carnage" to describe the situation and said that hope was the new, primary academic outcome. Not math. Not reading. Not this bit of curriculum or that. Hope was the goal because, without hope, kids will simply stop. His comments made a big impression on me. As you think about your students in your classes this winter, keep hope in front of you as your primary educational outcome. Content coverage is slow and difficult. Kids are behind. We know that. It's true everywhere. As you think about your contacts with students and parents and think about grades and assessments, keep hope in front of you as the primary outcome. Kids will probably not know as much math or history or literature or be as active or fit as we'd like them to be at the end of the semester, but if they have hope in their hearts, they may be willing to come back to us in the spring and start again.
In general, the staff feel the burden of all this disconnectedness from students and, to some degree, the burden of some negative social media attention. I would also say that they feel hopeful and devoted to the cause of building hope for their students.
Athletics
Outdoor practices are occurring on an extremely limited scale. Every little bit helps, of course, but we’re all dreaming of the day when it’s safe to return to full-gas participation.
Bubble groups
Mr. Uhlenkott continues to do a fantastic job leading our bubble teams. We have recently tightened our safety and sanitation procedures in recognition of the current COVID situation. Despite the difficulties, about 70 students continue to receive this vital service.
What's coming up
Winter break. Ugly Sweater Day. On Tuesday next week, I’m handing out books at Yale dressed as an elf. It absolutely is going to be the best day of the year so far.