US students failing at record levels; experts are wondering what to do - Insider

The barriers to learning during the pandemic has disproportionately affected Black and Latino students.In the Chicago Public School District, Black and Latino students reported a 5% drop and 2.4% drop in attendance, respectively, when their white and Asian American peers recorded an even higher attendance this year than prior to the pandemic, The Chicago Sun Times reported."I think the pandemic has shown a bright light on the inapplicability and even the harms of traditional grading practices," said Joe Feldman, the CEO of an education consulting group that leads efforts for equitable grading, noting that traditional grading has "disproportionately harmed students who have been historically underserved and have fewer resources."Every school district is handling the pandemic differently. Some are fully remote; some are fully in-person with physical distancing and masks; some are combining hybrid options where students are in-person some days and online others to limit the number of people in the building.No matter the scenario, students, families, and teachers across the US have expressed frustration and dismay at how difficult learning has been this year.When so many schools have turned to remote learning, the gap between students who do — and do not — have access to resources has grown stark.Some families have grouped with other families to form private schooling pods, where a private instructor could cost up to $125,000, Business Insider's Nadine Jolie Courtney reported.Meanwhile, data from the Pew Research Center showed more than a third of lower-income families believed barriers like access to the internet would prevent their children from completing their school work. For example, many colleges and jobs look at a student's GPA to evaluate their performance, Tobler noted.Regardless of how schools decide to grade their students, Gottfried said schools should  "identify patterns" in a  student's academic performance or attendance, and work to support these students in ways such as providing small group tutoring, providing summer school resources, or connecting with parents while taking into account their respective work schedules during the pandemic."I don't want to put this responsibility on teachers," Gottfried said.