Reducing Secondary Failures NOW: Learn How a California District Changed For Students
By Alan Crawford
February 12, 2021
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) is the proud home to three comprehensive high schools and one alternative high school serving approximately 3,170 students. MPUSD, like many districts across the country, has worked incredibly hard to begin the new year and the new semester, and we have much to celebrate. Over the course of the first semester and with an extended grading window, the four high schools in MPUSD collectively reduced the number of Fs by 77%.
Early during the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year, when all MPUSD students were learning virtually, the high school leadership team which includes all of the high school administrators and several district leaders realized there was a challenge. Too many students were failing courses at the end of the first quarter, which was the district’s initial progress report. MPUSD had completed semester 2 of the previous 2019-2020 school year with a “Do Not Harm” pass/no pass policy as part of the district's initial phase of Distance Learning and this initiative was largely successful. As students returned to Distance Learning in the fall of the 2020-2021 school year, the district’s traditional grading system resumed. However, when quarter grades came out across the three comprehensive high schools, approximately 36% of students had at least one F with an unacceptable total of 3,084 Fs. While the secondary sites had been exploring a 4-point grading system and standards based gradebooks throughout all schools, there was a clear need to shift practices immediately.
Site and district leadership came together recently to reflect on what worked. First and foremost, MPUSD emphasized care over content, and promoted a focus on allowing students flexibility in how they demonstrate mastery. To ensure work was assessed beyond what students submitted on the Learning Management Systems, many heroic teachers throughout MPUSD assessed students via pictures of work taken on cell phones, phone calls, and 1:1 conferences during office office hours. Across the district, the majority of teachers accepted late work and followed the mantra promoted by Dr. Douglas Reeves of “latest and best” in which teachers focus on the most recent work, as well as the best indications of student mastery rather than penalizing students for early poor performance.
Across each of the sites, school leaders and teachers examined electronic gradebooks and calculated grades to ensure that students' grades were not calculated solely by a reliance on averaging or even simply on whichever standards based grading formula was chosen on the electronic gradebook option. Relatedly, sites promoted a standards-based grading system districtwide, which was a continuation of the work that began with Dr. Reeves and the Creative Leadership Solutions team several years ago. This included internal professional development on equitable grading and assessment practices. With more teachers grading on a 0-4 scale, practitioners had better indications of student mastery and drastically cut the number of people giving zeros on a 100 point scale.
Throughout the district, leaders and staff made home visits, called homes, and sent regular communication via our parent messaging system. Site leaders engaged in meaningful conversations with teachers about grading practices, shared student stories and student interviews, and tried to explore the root causes for students’ failing grades utilizing tools from Systems Thinking and the Compassionate Systems Framework.
Lastly, leaders met weekly to coordinate, examine data, reflect, and share best practices which enabled them to develop a detailed, yet simple action plan to close out the semester. This included stopping the introduction of new work two weeks before the semester ended with, “Do Not Harm” Finals and providing supplemental tutoring.
Despite MPUSD’s success, there were still 1,106 Fs - which is 1,106 too many to have at any time and especially during a pandemic 100% virtual learning environment. At the close of the semester, MPUSD’s Assistant Superintendent Beth Wodeki worked with the MPUSD Board of Education to institute a policy where students who received an F, would instead receive an incomplete. Teachers worked collaboratively to identify a maximum of three key assignments or assessments for students to demonstrate progress to mastery and remedy their incomplete. This incomplete allowed students an additional three weeks to make up work from the previous semester in order to raise their grades in hopes to see even more of these Fs reduced.
Through the development of the Incomplete policy and the many conversations that took place over the course of the semester, there were voices of support and encouragement. Additionally, there were times of high stress and voices from those who were concerned that MPUSD was lowering expectations for students. Amidst the background of the pandemic and the fact that students hadn’t been in school since March 2020, at times, leaders and staff found it difficult to remain positive. MPUSD found that the best way to pursue our vision of student success and remain positive was to engage in respectful dialogue, listen deeply, acknowledge the varied current realities that stakeholders were experiencing, and ultimately be guided by what is best for students.
Entering into 2021, MPUSD identified the following key lessons learned from this overall journey:
Students failing classes is a complex issue without one single root cause. Further, meaningful collaboration is necessary to address the complexity of the issue, explore the deeper structural causes for what is taking place, and move away from reactive problem solving at a surface level.
Data is critical. Continually examining grades disaggregated by school, teacher, subject, and other subgroups is imperative. When working with staff to look at data, it is critical to present a full picture and also highlight what is going well. For example, at several sites, the number of students receiving As increased.
There must be an emphasis on either eliminating the 100-point scale in favor of a 4-point scale or ensuring that teachers are using minimum grading that means students that receive an F get a 50 instead.
Teacher leaders and administration must work together to promote healthy grading practices including an emphasis on latest and best and not using the average.
Board Policy can and should be leveraged to help provide a safety net for students.
Lastly, compassion for staff, students, and self is critical when engaging in deep conversations and attempting to change systems.
MPUSD is proud of the work students and staff engaged in; however, the district understands that it has a long way to go. For semester 2 and beyond, MPUSD remains committed to high expectations, equitable grading practices, and acknowledging that these are unprecedented times filled with hardship for students and staff.
