The school year wraps up Wednesday in Miami. Do students need a grading curve?

The school year will come to an unceremonious close on Wednesday for students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. But report cards may be on hold for just a little longer.

The school district is taking a close look at how students’ grades fared through the fourth academic quarter, held entirely online since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered schools March 13. Based on the results, there may or may not be a grading curve or other stopgaps to help out students.

Some in the community worry that distance learning — and all the challenges that come with a household working and learning under one roof — may have been a struggle for some students. Especially for those who can’t handle the routine change, aren’t used to getting low grades and those who were already behind and may have fallen further.

Inspired by what he hears talking to students at food distribution sites, School Board member Martin Karp successfully passed a proposal at a board meeting last week that called on Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to consider an academic safety net that would account for “student stress levels, learning environments and obligations.” That idea received an unusual endorsement from the City of Miami Beach, which passed a resolution May 13 “urging” the School Board to develop a plan.

“No child should be penalized for their grades this semester,” Karp said at the board meeting. “We don’t need to add to one parent’s or one student’s stress level.”

District officials say a set-in-stone safety net may not be necessary, and that lenient grading during the pandemic may actually favor students. They say it’s because the school district has stressed — and spelled out in its agreement with the teachers union — compassion and consideration when grading.

Still, Marie Izquierdo, the district’s chief academic officer, told the Miami Herald that district employees are generating code to conduct an analysis of fourth-quarter grades to see if a curve is necessary. Those grades will be compared to how students fared in the fourth quarter of the last school year. The data will be shared with the School Board.

“I actually believe in my heart of hearts you’re going to see it skewed somewhat and favoring their grade, not decreasing grades,” Izquierdo said.

Spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said once that data is analyzed about a week after the grading period ends, Carvalho will announce safeguards aimed at preventing a sharp loss of academic performance during the fourth grading period. That decision will be “carefully balanced with the respect we have for a teacher’s professional judgment,” she said.

Grading policy will be reviewed

On April 6, the school district began officially grading students on revised terms for the fourth academic quarter. Teachers were encouraged to lighten their regular teaching load and were given a minimum of assigning students one grade per subject per week. Students can make up missed work at any time during this grading period. The state has canceled all standardized testing, so no student will be held back unless requested by a parent.

Carvalho said at the School Board meeting that he has received a couple of emails and inquiries on social media about an academic safety net.

“That’s why up front we sensitized our teachers who were, in my opinion, already sensitized to the fact that students of all ages were dealing with fear, with stress,” he said.

Karp’s item was carefully worded, specifically stating the action was “not meant to undermine teachers’ efforts to maintain or reach a high level of student engagement and participation, nor is it meant to preclude teachers from continuing to set high expectations for their students.” He explained his item was for the outliers.

“There’s a difference between protection from failure versus a student who slipped from an A to a C and whose college scholarship is now in jeopardy,” he said. “I agree the majority of teachers are exercising grace and compassion, but not everybody. There will be some, even if it’s very few, who do not have that same level of empathy.”

Karp did not consult with the United Teachers of Dade, whose president called his proposal “overreaching.”

“It worries me because it almost appears that he’s asking for something beyond an educator’s check and an administrative check,” said UTD President Karla Hernandez-Mats. “It seems like a blanket policy on grades. ... It doesn’t just undermine teachers. It undermines both teachers and principals who most know the students.”

Hernandez-Mats pointed to safeguards that are already in place to save students from tanking their grades. A principal has the authority to override a teacher-given grade, although she and the district both say that rarely happens.

“We do hope that our colleagues will continue to be the excellent professionals that they’ll be and that they’ll make the right decision when it comes to grading kids and the effort that they put when it comes to grading in this pandemic,” said Hernandez-Mats.

Alternatives not being considered

Karp’s brief proposal references “grade relief” offered by public universities and school districts that consider “disparities that school closures have created.” At the School Board meeting, he floated the idea of a pass/fail option for students, like several Florida public universities have done. The Leon County school district last month announced a safety net that will average students’ past quarter grades and give them the highest one for their final quarter grade.

But Izquierdo warned that not giving out grades could discourage students from participating. She said a pass/fail option may allow students to game the system to get ahead in class rank. She said the school districts of Broward and Palm Beach counties are following similar procedures.

“I question if we would have that same level of engagement if we were not assigning grades,” Izquierdo said.

Hernandez-Mats agreed that students’ academics aren’t trending downward. “I haven’t heard a tremendous amount of teachers saying that kids are doing worse or poor during this pandemic,” she said. “I think people have adjusted.”

Asked about how the school district will respond to Karp’s approved proposal, Izquierdo said, “A lot of what Dr. Karp’s item is asking for are those very same steps we’ve taken and that we plan to take.”

“I think they will be very aligned to the spirit of Dr. Karp’s item,” she added.

‘The district needs to take a look’

While grades may be saved in the end, Beth Edwards, president of the Miami-Dade County Council of Parent Teacher Associations, said she’s been getting more calls from frustrated parents. She questioned if teachers’ minimum of three hours of daily student interaction was enough, as many parents have complained about it.

“A mom in [School Board member Larry Feldman] Feldman’s district called me in tears,” Edwards said. She said the mother told her, “Something needs to be done. My child cannot operate on three hours a day. Now you’re watching a child cry every day. I do not understand.”

Edwards, a Miami Beach resident, is in favor of Karp’s proposal of an academic safety net.

“I don’t know what that something is, I really don’t,” Edwards said. “But the district needs to take a look.”

She said online learning was smooth for a week or two, but anxiety grew as remote learning was extended to the end of the school year.

“This is a really mindful time of those who may be left behind. We have to be very, very mindful,” Edwards said. “There’s an inequality and it exponentially grows the longer this goes on. And it’s not fair.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 3:18 PM.