The increase is roughly equivalent to a letter grade, said Catherine Gillach, assistant superintendent of secondary education for Grand Forks Public Schools.
The decision regarding the increase was made after much discussion about how remote learning has impacted students “who have highly variable levels of control over their at-home learning,” Gillach said.
As teachers and administrators analyzed student performance data and compared it to past quarters of this school year, “concern arose about equity, challenges to providing students support and timely feedback, and other elements that can impact a student’s performance,” she said.
“They analyzed modified grading models being used across the state, nation and even at the collegiate level and came to the decision to provide students an 8% grade increase in each of their classes,” she said. “It was decided that this was the most equitable approach as it would positively impact every student and help address a COVID-19-related GPA (grade point average) effect.”
Students who showed little evidence of learning in the fourth quarter will receive more than an 8% increase based on their performance during the third quarter, in order to improve their chances of earning the credits necessary to graduate, Gillach said. In a given course, grades averaged in the final two quarters determine if a passing grade has been achieved and credit earned, she said.
Student success with distance learning does not vary so much by subject area, but has more to do with “learning style and comfortability,” Gillach said. “And I would characterize it more by having knowledge and the infrastructure to set up a quality at-home learning environment -- not every household has the ability to do that.”
Though the school district provided internet access, “the access might be slower than what a high-speed access might have, so that could affect the learning process,” she said.
“Some students really benefit by and really need that immediate feedback to progress in their learning,” she said. “Some parents have the background, and others don’t, to provide that feedback.
“I think it re-emphasizes that teaching and learning is really a complex process. It’s a fluid process and, although there are portions that can be maintained and perhaps even enhanced in some regards through a distance learning format, there is so much that is lost when you don’t have that face-to-face feedback and that relationship on the spot to ensure that learning is progressing in the way you would want it to," she said.
In a situation that required them to create and execute a distance learning plan in the last two weeks of March, teachers and administrators did not have enough time to teach students how to learn independently through a distance learning format, Gillach said. Those students who were able to navigate it intuitively, or had support at home, did well, but “those who didn’t have that capacity struggled a lot more.”
Likewise, the brief time frame pressured teachers to transition quickly to a new way of teaching, a shift that some were more comfortable with than others, she said.
Gov. Doug Burgum has indicated that “he does not want to see any student fail as a result of the pandemic’s influence over how we had to hold school differently the final seven weeks of the year,” Superintendent Terry Brenner said.
But “the governor did not say that no student shall fail,” Gillach said.
His perspective has been clarified by State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler to require that school’s distance learning plans would provide equity, access and support, and not to mean that students who had the technology at home would succeed and those who do not have it will fail, Gillach said.
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Grand Forks students to get 8% increase in grades - Grand Forks Herald
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