Is Distance Learning Leading to Higher Failure Rates Among High School Students?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the implications of Oregon's Senate Bill 744, which suspends math and reading proficiency requirements for high school graduation. Participants explore the potential impact of this legislation on educational standards, equity, and student outcomes, particularly in the context of distance learning and its effects on failure rates among high school students.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express skepticism about the motivations behind suspending proficiency requirements, suggesting it may imply that maintaining standards is viewed as discriminatory.
  • Others argue that lowering standards could be justified if the existing requirements are deemed unachievable for many students, citing the need for a more inclusive educational approach.
  • There is a contention regarding whether the suspension of standards is a response to systemic issues such as economic disparities or the impact of COVID-19 on learning.
  • Some participants highlight that testing may not accurately reflect a student's knowledge or capabilities, suggesting that alternative assessments could be more beneficial.
  • Concerns are raised about the broader implications of lowering standards, with participants debating whether it genuinely aids students or undermines educational rigor.
  • The historical context of testing requirements in the U.S. is discussed, noting a trend away from mandatory exit exams in various states.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on whether lowering educational standards is beneficial or detrimental. Multiple competing views remain regarding the implications of the bill and its potential impact on different student demographics.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the discussion is influenced by various factors, including the historical context of educational testing, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning, and differing perspectives on equity in education. There is also an acknowledgment of the complexity surrounding the definitions of fairness and standards in education.

  • #31
Bandersnatch said:
An argument can be made here that by waiving the requirements the students will at least get the chance to make up for #1 in their further education. Maintaining the test requirements would bar a number of students from continuing their education due to no fault of their own. The pandemic-related hurdles being a form of force majeure here.
I'm not sure I see any side of that:
a) Kids who are having difficulty passing the basic requirements for high school are unlikely to be college-bound.
b) If they are, but aren't ready for it, college can wait until they are ready.
c) Otherwise it's risky for the kid and unfair/burdensome for the college to have to get/provide the remedial education there.
d) It would be more direct to make up for insufficient high school education by providing additional high school education.
 
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  • #32
I expect organizations to mainly look out for their own interests, not of those they are allegedly serving. (This is pretty much the same as the Iron Law of Bureaucracy.)
 
  • #33
Oregon is in the news but if you dig a little deeper I think you will find this is a national problem with a large increase of failing (or decreased grade) students due to distance-learning.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admi...re-failing-courses-creating-problems-colleges
One apparently widely ignored consequence of over a year of disrupted learning is a significant drop in grade point averages among a large number of high school juniors and seniors. In my conversations with affected students and in some surveys of academic progress in the spring and fall of 2020, it is clear that the drop-off is affecting the very students that selective colleges particularly have been trying to recruit: disadvantaged students, minorities, first-generation college students, rural students. Three questions immediately present themselves: What do the low grades actually mean for college admissions? Who is telling high school seniors what the new rules are? And what’s the perception of the students themselves about college?
COVID-induced distance learning has resulted in a significant increase in failure rates among a host of good to excellent students. Recent reports show that since spring 2020:

  • In the Bay Area, a 50 percent increase in failing grades in some districts.
  • In New Mexico, one school reported that 79 percent of students failed at least one class; across the state that number hovers at 40 percent.
  • In Houston the failure rate was 42 percent.
  • In St. Paul, 40 percent failed at least one class.
  • In Kentucky, one high school reported that 65 percent of students failed at least one class; another school reported that among seniors 30 percent failed at least one class in fall 2020.
  • Austin schools experienced a 70 percent jump in class failure rates between October 2019 and October 2020.
  • Hawaii reported that 18 percent of seniors were off track to graduate because of at least one failure.
My kid was in advanced classed before the pandemic school lockout happened so while she did have reductions in learning they were mostly on advanced subjects for her current grade year.