First grade teacher Nichole Blake works with some of her students Thursday, April 1, 2021 at Swanson Traditional School in South Bend. Staff photo by Michael Caterina
In a pandemic year marked by shuttered schools, technology barriers and staggered reopenings, failing grades and student absences have grown across Michiana.
Course failures have more than doubled in the South Bend Community School Corp. this year and chronic absenteeism has “skyrocketed,” one administrator said.
With in-person instruction increasing this month and the state’s spring testing window around the corner, educators are using what they’ve learned over the last year to better understand learning loss and prepare for an eventual return to a more normal school year next fall.
Still, challenges remain, such as shortages of teachers and reliable data.
More than 35% of grades assigned to South Bend students this school year were Fs or Ns — a grade assignment created during the pandemic to show a student’s failure to master course requirements without penalizing their overall GPA. Last year, fewer than 15% of grades assigned in South Bend schools were Fs.
Copyright © 2024, South Bend Tribune