According to a report released by the Platte County R-3 School District administration, more than one-third of classes taken by remote learners at the high school level are receiving a failing grade.
For middle school students the numbers are high but not as bad. More than 25 percent of those grade level classes are reporting failing grades. There was no report given for elementary students.
Assistant superintendent Dr. Mike Brown presented the report to the board of education at a meeting last Thursday, Dec. 17. Brown said those numbers reflect individual classes which could mean a student could be failing just one class or up to seven classes.
In contrast, classes that have students enrolled in hybrid learning report a failing rate of 8.3 percent. In middle school the number drops to just under six percent.
Board member Bobby Vann called the numbers, “Scary.”
“Thirty-four percent should be an eye opener for all of us,” Vann said.
When combining remote learners’ grades with hybrid learners the numbers improve but are still concerning. Administrators took all the grades and compared them to the fall semester of last year. Brown said they pulled data from both years up to the Dec. 1 date.
In high school, classes reported an A grade of close to 51 percent last year to just over 45 percent this year. B and C grades were relatively the same and D grades were slightly down this year. However, failing grades went from 4.5 percent to 12.7 percent. In middle school the percentage trends are similar. Last year 2.94 percent of classes reported a failing grade compared to more than nine percent this year.
R-3 district superintendent Dr. Mike Reik agreed the numbers are alarming but was not surprised. In speaking with other superintendents across the area he said they are finding the same issue. Reik said if one is looking for the encouraging news in the report it’s that hybrid learners are comparable to last year.
“It’s not quite as good on the hybrid side but it’s comparable,“ Reik said. “Not that we want to live in a hybrid forever; we do not and we’ve made that clear. This is not a sustainable model.”
Like other districts R-3 allowed parents to make a switch at semester if they wanted to. Brown said on the elementary side the district is gaining about 125 students to in-person learning from remote learning but on the middle school and high school side it’s a wash.
Brown said it’s hard to just look at the numbers from an academic perspective without considering other factors like health safety.
“These learning modalities for some of these children and some of these families were not chosen because it was the learning modality that fit them as a learner the best,” Brown told board members. “It was chosen out of safety reasons and that feeling of safety. I think that’s important.”
Brown said the numbers also don’t reflect the effort being made by teachers and the students’ families to get this right.
“Many of our families and students are still trying to figure out the best way to be successful in the remote experience,” Brown said. “Everybody is trying to do their best. We just have to keep focused on our kids and come up with strategies to help them.”
Brown said some of the strategies involve extra tutoring. Another idea is to develop a robust summer school program to help students catch up.
Brown said it’s not just students and their families who are trying to figure out the best way. Teachers are also new at this and are having to adjust.
“I don’t think we’re all in the same place,” Brown said. “Each teacher is trying to navigate through the learning modality.”
There are also other factors contributing to the decline in grades that cannot be simply analyzed in the academic arena. Dr. Aaron Duff, coordinator of academic services, is serving as one of the lead coordinators for remote learning. Duff told board members there are also economic factors at play.
For instance, some students have jobs where they have been deemed “essential workers” and are putting in more hours during the pandemic. Duff said in other cases some students have parents who have lost jobs.
“That is a sad reality of something we are dealing with for high school students,” Duff said. “Some of our students are carrying the financial burden for their families.”
Duff said these are not second-hand reports. Administrators have gone and met with some students at their places of employment.
“There’s a lot to deal with here; there’s a lot to unpack,” Brown said. “This is just a snapshot of the situation. We need to keep looking deeper in to try and help our children be better after we get through this.”
At the same meeting Reik also announced the district would be pushing back a plan to return to full in-person learning to Feb. 1.
Board members in October approved a plan to return to in-person learning last month but was nixed because of spiking numbers of positive coronavirus cases in Platte County.
Reik said higher rates in the community mean higher rates of quarantine in the district. Pushing the date of return back buys the district more time to study the numbers.
The Pirates’ basketball team had to cancel its game with rival Kearney last Friday night, Dec. 18, because of quarantines.
“That’s where we’re at right now with our high school,” Reik said.