Pasadena Unified School District Offers Students Chance to Raise Grades From Last Semester

Pasadena Unified School District sixth through 12th-grade students who show strong improvement this academic semester will have an opportunity to raise D and F grades from last semester following a move by the Board of Education earlier this month.

In an attempt to lend assistance to students who found themselves struggling with distance learning over the last semester, as well as to help reduce the number of students who may drop out as a result, board members approved the plan during their Jan. 14 meeting, with plans to formally ratify it at their next meeting on Thursday.

“Our grades six through 12 have noted that students are really challenged during distance learning, for a variety of reasons,” said Pasadena Unified School District Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Service Julianne Reynoso. “We have seen significant gains in Ds and Fs. “So the question on the table is: How might we motivate our students to improve their grades from the first semester to the second semester?”

An analysis of last semester, compared with the first semester of 2019, showed an increase of about 10% in D, F and incomplete grades across nearly all subject areas. Exceptions, according to a report on student grades, were life science, which saw no increase, and physical education, which saw an even larger increase of 18%.

Under the new plan, students who received D or F marks in a course during the first semester, but who earned an A grade in the second semester, may have their first-semester grade raised to no higher than a C, Reynoso explained.

“We want to motivate students,” she said. “We also want to honor students who have worked very hard during this time.”

The policy does not change the teachers’ fundamental rights to determine their students’ final grades, the report said. “Rather, this policy is inviting teachers to treat the summative semester 1 grade as a grade ‘still in progress.’”

Anticipated impacts of the policy would be increased collaboration and improved relationships between students and teachers, improved student motivation toward academic outcomes, an increased graduation rate, a reduction in dropouts and decreased need for “credit recovery programs.”

PUSD Board of Education President Scott Phelps said the plan was a way to help students improve grades that were negatively impacted by the pandemic and distance learning without overburdening them with their current studies.

The conversation included input from local school principals.

“Our principals didn’t feel like the students who were already stressed could handle more doubling up — trying to kind of make up those grades at the same time they were in their second-semester class,” he said. “I think that actually sounds like a great idea.”

The grade improvement opportunity is just one way district leaders are looking into helping students make up lost learning during the pandemic, along with things like additional tutoring.

District 2 Board Member Jennifer Hall Lee said she also approved of the idea.

“This was a very forward-looking proposal on the part of the staff and Dr. Reynoso,” Hall Lee said. “We’re in a 100-year pandemic and the amount of work that it takes to organize remote learning that basically happened over one weekend was enormous.”

Amid remote learning, “What we’ve seen is that there are children in many different housing situations. Some kids will take to online learning, and some won’t so much,” Hall Lee said. “In order to reach out and work with these children, it takes enormous effort and organization that is being done by PUSD.

“What we want to do with students is incentivize them to learn and to turn in their best work,” she added.

“During the 1918 pandemic, this did happen across our nation. We had to take into consideration the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and its effects on student learning,” according to Hall Lee.

During times like the present, the dedication and skill of teachers can make a huge difference, she said. 

“I think there’s always room for working with children individually and helping them through hard times,” she said. “Learning doesn’t exist in a bubble. Learning exists in our lives that are connected to our housing, our families, our friends and the tragedies that come with pandemics.”

The Board of Education will also be considering altering high school graduation requirements pertaining to community service hours during Thursday’s meeting. Staff has recommended the requirement be made voluntary for the class of 2021, then be reinstated for the class of 2022.