Manhattan Beach School Counselors Urge Pass-Fail Policy to Alleviate 'Crisis'
Apr 15, 2021 10:50AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
Calling the current situation with struggling students a "crisis," Mira Costa High School counselors on Wednesday night asked the Manhattan Beach Unified School District's school board to allow high school students a pass-fail option for this school year.
"Some kids and families and parents, they’re just giving up," said Jennifer Wildenberg, head school counselor at Mira Costa, of this year's pandemic-affected students. "It’s hard
to watch from the counseling department."
Leading the "crisis" are seniors who have not been able to fulfill the requirements of courses they need to graduate.
"We have never seen this many seniors at risk of not graduating," said Wildenberg. "Usually we have about three kids who are at risk of not graduating...but right now we’re seeing about 60 seniors at risk."
Wildenberg added that this number didn't even include students who have been accepted to colleges and are at risk of having acceptances revoked; or any of the many students in grades 9, 10, and 11 whose grades have plummeted during distance learning.
The counselors' proposal would allow students
receiving any passing grade (A, B, C, or D) to opt to receive a P
(pass) instead of a letter grade on their report card and transcript. A "P" grade would have no impact on a student’s overall GPA and would
satisfy Mira Costa
graduation requirements.
Wednesday night's discussion set the stage for the board to vote on the proposal at its next meeting at its May 5 meeting.
Students Suffer During Pandemic
The prolonged period of pandemic-related distance learning has had dramatic effects on many students. Impacted students include those who do not perform well in an online learning situation, those who are suffering from depression and mental illness due to isolation, or those who do not have the resources at home to have quiet, functional learning spaces.
On the mental health front, a recent survey of Mira Costa students' social emotional wellness showed that 24% of students reported that they "almost never feel hopeful" or "once in a while feel hopeful." Additionally, 27% of students said that they "always" or "almost always" felt lonely.
Students are also dealing with a variety of home
situations during the pandemic that impact learning. During recent
online meetings with students, Wildenberg said she had seen situations
ranging from "kids who have huge monitors and a big mic, and everything all rigged up in a nice office," to "kids who are sharing the kitchen with their younger siblings on a little computer or whatnot."
Just hours earlier, Wildenberg said she had heard from a student who was apologizing to her teachers for losing her WiFi. She was having issues at home, so she had been
trying to keep up with courses in her car.
Additionally, while having a job or playing a sport might provide a healthy outlet for many teens, those students who are struggling with grades are learning that their low GPA (below 2.0) means they are not allowed to play or get a work permit.
In fall 2020, 5.92% of students had a GPA below 2.0 - rendering them ineligible for sports or work permits - compared to 3.67% in fall 2019. For students, hearing that they are unable to play or work is "a devastating blow to their soul," said Wildenberg.
"It’s just very sad to see these kids not have anything to reach or to hold onto," concurred Jessica Bledsoe, Mira Costa vice principal.
Meanwhile, counselors have been pulling out all of the stops to provide urgent assistance to students who are floundering.
In fact, there has been so much demand for counselor assistance this year that Mira Costa has added another licensed MFT counselor (through school district and Beach Cities Health District funding).
"We have so many different interventions we’ve been trying," said Wildenberg. "We have used every single support measure. Now we’re like, 'What do we do next?'"
Proposal Would Offer Passing Option
In the proposal, the MCHS counselors said that they viewed the reinstating of a passing grade option at this
juncture "as an opportunity for students to seek reprieve from what many
refer to as a year in crisis." The passing grade option would be available only for fall 2020 and spring 2021.
All F grades would stand, and graduation requirement courses would need to be remediated.
When the policy was presented at a recent Mira Costa Ed Council meeting, "it had overwhelming support from every single department chair and administrator that was in that meeting," said Wildenberg. "Not one person objected."
Board members asked about the possibility that having a "pass" grade could hurt students as colleges look at their transcripts.
However, many college counselors are saying that having a "pass" grade will not adversely impact students in the eyes of colleges. The University of California system, for instance, is accepting pass/fail grades for students in grades 9 through 12 for spring 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021, and summer 2021.
Board member Cathey Graves noted that when the board approved a similar policy last spring, she had feared that a "pass" option would "take away the motivation" for students.
Yet this spring when she mentioned the "pass" grade option to her son, a senior, his reaction was closer to one of enormous relief, Graves said. Students who are struggling have felt enormous pressure and fear that
they might lose admissions or scholarship opportunities, she added. "I think they’re going to work harder to get that 'A' or 'B' because this weight has been taken off their shoulders."
