NC approves plan to help high school seniors graduate during COVID-19 crisis
Updated April 2
North Carolina public high schools will drop the use of traditional letter grades on spring courses for high school seniors due to schools being closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The State Board of Education approved the recommendation Friday from state Department of Public Instruction staff to pass high school seniors if they were passing their classes as of March 13 — the final day before schools were closed. Seniors will get a note on their transcript that they received a passing grade for those classes as opposed to a traditional A-F letter grade.
The state board is also temporarily suspending the ability of school districts to require more than the minimum of 22 credits required by the state for graduation.
The changes are meant to provide clarity to the state’s 100,000 high school seniors who are worried how the school closures will impact their ability to finish their remaining classes to graduate this spring.
“We don’t want our seniors to feel an undue burden,” said Sneha Shah Coltrane, DPI director of advanced learning and gifted education. “We want them to graduate on time.”
State education leaders say the goal is not to penalize students whose learning is being impacted by the school closures.
DPI provided school districts with additional guidance on grading on April 2.
All North Carolina K-12 public schools are closed through at least May 15 to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But that means schools will be closed for at least two months, forcing school districts to switch to using distance learning to continue educating the state’s 1.5 million public school students.
Remote learning access uncertain for students
But questions exist about whether all students can equitably learn online. For instance, Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton said that school bus drivers will deliver computers and hotspot devices next week to students who don’t have the technology at home.
“Students may not be able to finish the instructional year equitably across NC,” according to a DPI memo. “Access to, and quality of, remote learning for NC Public School students varies across the state.”
UNC-TV is helping by partnering with DPI to provide at-home instruction for students in grades 4-12 on weekdays. The programming can be found on UNC’s North Carolina channel or online at unctv.org/unctv-at-home-learning
Under the new policy, grades from fall courses will still count for a grade point average for seniors. If seniors are taking a year-long class, the grade from the fall semester will count toward the GPA.
But grades from spring courses won’t be included in a student’s GPA. The only question will be if they passed them or not.
If seniors had an F as of March 13, they’ll get a withdrawal code for the class, meaning they won’t get credit. But school districts are to give those seniors a chance to pass by offering remote learning opportunities and a locally developed final test based on what was taught up to March 13.
Funding permitting, Shah Coltrane said that the state-run N.C. Virtual Public School will add seats for 30,000 students. She said they want high schools to focus their efforts on helping seniors who are in danger of not graduating.
“Our intent is that students are focused on passing courses,” Shah Coltrane said. “That the additional burden and stress of GPA and grading on a traditional sense is lifted for them. Their mindset is on just a very different place right now.”
Motivating seniors who’ve passed all their classes
The new guidelines don’t leave much incentive for seniors who’ve passed to keep learning, an issue Shah Coltrane acknowledged Friday. She said, though, that seniors should use the time to do research projects and research their next steps, including thinking about “their place in the community and the world right now.”
Plus, she said some seniors are still motivated to take their Advanced Placement classes, which can result in them getting college credit based on how well they do on the AP exam. The College Board is switching to at-home testing this year.
But if seniors just don’t want to learn now, Shah Coltrane said they understand.
“If a senior feels like they are not able to continue for whatever reason we would hold them harmless,” she said.
DPI is reassuring seniors and their families that the state’s colleges and universities support the change in the grading scale.
“The Admission Directors see this plan as reasonable and will not disadvantage students for transition to post-secondary plans,” according to the DPI memo.
Grades K-11
In grades K-11, schools are only to give traditional grades to students if they can meet these remote learning requirements:
▪ Is accessible by all students for which the learning is intended and is responsive to diverse learning groups
▪ Maintains consistent communication between instructional staff and students
▪ Addresses the curricular and instructional needs associated with appropriate standards
▪ Includes evidence of student learning
▪ Considers the whole child as well as the home learning environment.
The state is surveying school districts and charter schools on how they’re providing remote learning to students.
DPI says it will provide further guidance to schools on issuing final grades in grades K-11 if schools are closed longer than May 15.
Also on Friday, the state board voted 8-2 to hold off on paying Istation $1.2 million to keep using the company’s reading testing program through July 31.
Some state board members said they want to see if they can get a waiver from state lawmakers from giving the K-3 tests that elementary schools are using Istation for under the Read To Achieve program. But State Superintendent Mark Johnson warned that they risk losing Istation’s services when their contract with the company expires March 31.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 1:51 PM.
