As grades and graduation rates keep rising …
- About Equitable Grading policies—such as no zeros, no penalties for late work, unlimited test/quiz retakes, no credit for completed assignments, and none for class participation—a Rand Corporation/Fordham Institute study of 967 K-12 public school teachers found that:a) About 50% said their school or district had adopted at least one such policy.
b) About 36% reported adopting more than one such policy.
c) About 25% reported adopting three of these policies.
d) About 2% had adopted all 5 of these policies.*** 81% said, “ Giving partial credit for homework that was never turned in is harmful to academic achievement, including 80% of teachers of color and those serving in schools with mostly Black students, and …*** Said one of the teachers: “I am an educator with 33 years in the classroom, and I see a terrible trend. Students are starting to feel entitled to points for nothing.” - A recent Curriculum Associates data study of 11 million K-8 students in reading and 13 million in math found that, overall, academic achievement is pretty much unchanged since the 2020-21 school year, despite the $190 billion in federal relief funds sent to schools to improve outcomes:
** In schools where more than 50% of 8th graders are Black, just 39.3.% met grade-level reading standards, up from 35.6% in 2019.
** 48% of 1st graders in those schools met grade-level benchmarks, down from 54.5% in 2019.
- A 2023 Gallup survey of 2,000 public school parents found that:a) 80% believed their kids were performing at or above grade level in reading.
b) 89% believed their kids were performing at or above grade level in math.
c) BUT JUST 50% OF THEIR KIDS ACTUALLY SCORED AT OR ABOVE GRADE LEVEL IN EITHER READING OR MATH. - Pre-pandemic in 2018, 8 million students—16% of them—missed school at least 10 school days. That number jumped to 30% when schools were shuttered during the 2021-22 school year. This past school year, it dropped to 22%.Plus, in urban districts, 30% of students were chronically absent during the 2024-25 school year, vs. 7% in suburban schools and 9% in rural schools.
- Texas University professor Jacob Kirksey recently tracked 8 million Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia students and found that just 50% had “very good” absentee rates in 2019; by 2023, 66% of kids had not gone to school regularly. Among their reasons:** They needed more sleep.
** They were sick.
** School bores them.
** They felt disengaged.
** They were anxious and/or depressed. - Meanwhile, economist and American University public affairs professor Seth Gershenson suggests that there’s been “a profound cultural shift about the importance of in-person anything.” Plus, according to a recent Rand Corporation survey, 25% of young people DON’T think missing 3 or more weeks of school is a big deal.”
- According to a Bellwether analysis of 9,300 school districts:
a) Enrollment fell by 2 million students across the board between the 2019-20 and 2023-24 school years.
b) The Los Angeles Unified School District’s enrollment fell by 57,000 students during that time—a 13.1% decline.
c) The estimated financial loss due to these enrollment declines in our largest districts could amount to $5.2 billion.
Acceptable?
~ With thanks, Carol
