Should schools just have a "do over" year?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The students were about half way through the second semester so they will lose some if they don't go online and even if they do they will lose some.

I think what is more the way to solve for at least those who aren't seniors is to have teachers condensed down and remove additional fluff to be able to teach building block stuff they would have missed. That requires working together and communication amongst the teachers (as lesson plans do vary) but would be far more preferable to having the students retake. Not only that I don't even know how you accommodate that on a large scale.

Now the one thing I'll be watching out for is if the schools reopen back up in August. Our governor did say she was not comfortable with announcing that they would and she would basically continue monitoring the situation. That would be something of a mess. But we'll see.

But no I don't think they should redo the year not for everyone.

 

[tinkerhon]

Oh, definitely not ! Maybe, if this began in October -

 

[ArielRae]

My husband showed me this on Facebook and I thought of this thread. I took a photo of his computer screen.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My husband showed me this on Facebook and I thought of this thread. I took a photo of his computer screen. View attachment 483051

I don't agree with shaming people here being upset about their senior year. It doesn't look good IMO to do that. I'm pretty sure we all know there are things that pale in comparison to being in an active war on the war field.

 

[ICF]

I cant say no enough to this without getting “points”.

 

[jormom1030]

I am a teacher. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

 

[JimMIA]

My husband showed me this on Facebook and I thought of this thread. I took a photo of his computer screen. View attachment 483051

I was actually around during that period, and I don't remember anybody spending their senior year in Vietnam.

Lots of people finished high school and either enlisted in the military (my group) or were drafted -- but I don't remember anyone being snatched out of their Prom in their tux. Typical Facebook silliness.

That was 50 years ago and this is now.

That's Facebook, but this is real.

 

[CogsworthTN]

I am a middle school teacher, absolutely NO on redoing the school year.

 

[2TxAgs]

Kids are incredibly adaptable, and if our expectations are that they will adapt, most will. Military kids may change schools/districts/states half a dozen times in their lives, often in the middle of a school year. The new school may be on a different schedule and the material may be more advanced or behind the school the kid just came from. Those families make it work, and we can make it work as well.
No way should the year be repeated.

 

[kiddo76]

I mean, I'm open to this too, to be honest.

I just don't feel that the "let the kids do school at home" is serving any real purpose other than frustrating the heck out of parents and adding stress to an already stressful time.

However, my son currently has an F in science because, as I said, it's still fairly early in the semester and he missed a test due to illness that he hasn't been able to make up yet, and there haven't been enough assignments to base the grade on, so that zero is bringing his grade down to like a 59%. It really wouldn't be fair in our district to just give. a grade based on the current grade each student has. We still should have 11 weeks of school to go. Our students have only really completed half the year.

I would assume that if you, as a parent, wanted to have your individual child repeat a grade they would accommodate your request. I don't think the whole country should have to repeat a year that is already 3/4 completed, especially when there is not a ton of new learning that happens in the last 1/4.

 

[JimMIA]

Military kids may change schools/districts/states half a dozen times in their lives, often in the middle of a school year. The new school may be on a different schedule and the material may be more advanced or behind the school the kid just came from.

That's me -- Army brat. 12 schools in 12 years. 4 high schools (Japan, AZ, GA, NC) and one of them for TWO YEARS.

The kids will be fine.

 

[monsterkitty]

I am a middle school teacher, absolutely NO on redoing the school year.

I'm a middle school teacher as well and this is my last year. My retirement day was supposed to be May 26 but that turned into March 13.. I would love to have a redo and spend another year with my 8th graders. However, that is not logistically possible so they will move onto high school and my 6th and 7th graders will start the new school year with a new instrumental music teacher.

We are on Spring Break this week and not assigning work. Last week 98% of our students completed some work for most classes. In a normal year, we could have next week of normal teaching followed by two weeks of state testing. After that we would have 5 weeks left of school. So while are kids are missing a lot of seat time, we are still connecting with them with our in-house online lessons as well as using Zoom.

Our kids can do more than we think they can. Have faith in them, their teachers, and this new way of teaching for most of us.

 

[tarheel618]

No we just finished the 3rd quarter here when this started. My daughter is a senior- there is no way I would support a do over. This whole thing stinks as is.

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

Seriously? 3/4 of the way through and just redo the whole thing? Um no.

 

[Flight]

I was actually around during that period, and I don't remember anybody spending their senior year in Vietnam.

Lots of people finished high school and either enlisted in the military (my group) or were drafted -- but I don't remember anyone being snatched out of their Prom in their tux. Typical Facebook silliness.

That was 50 years ago and this is now.

That's Facebook, but this is real.

I read that post again and again trying to see what you saw.

I saw this part:

“...many kids took their senior trip to Vietnam.”

Now am not entirely clear what “senior trip” means but I am certain it did not “mean being snatched out out their Prom in their tux.”

Where do you read that in ArielRae’s quote?

Nor do I see it saying those young men and women spent an entire year in Vietnam.

Did I miss something written there?

 

[declansdad]

What if they want to go to college outside of Saskatchewan?

I have no idea. This was just announced. I'm sure things are fluid. They say they are going to work towards smooth transitions to colleges for graduating students, but I assume that is for those within the province.

In Canada, students are admitted into college and university based on high school grades. It doesn't matter what province you are in or applying to and this is not new.

 

[monkeydawn]

If kids were doing poorly in the 3/4 of the school year that has already taken place and parents feel that they could not close the learning gap at home, then those kids should do a repeat (basically the same as any normal year). But there is no reason to make everyone repeat the year, except to maybe make those kids feel less singled out. Which isnt a great reason IMO.

There would be no incoming freshman class at any university. That would be interesting…

Gap years happen. So do older students enrolling. It'd be small freshman classes but Im guessing most universities would have some Freshman class.

 

[SG131]

Where would they find all the extra teachers needed to teach this years kindergarten class as well as the kids who are supposed to start next year? Would they change the starting age to be 6 or would there be a double sized class for 12 years. Logistically it would be tough and a lot of schools are at least sending some work home let the kids move on.

 

[DLgal]

Well, obviously it's not a popular opinion.

I got the topic question from my sister, who is a kindergarten teacher. They start in late August and were supposed to go through mid June and she said she wishes she could just have a do over next year with her class, because they still have almost half a year to go and she worries about how much some of them are struggling and she doesn't feel confident that her 34 students can be ready for 1st grade next year with distance learning, since many of her students come from disadvantaged families. It's not easy to deliver reading and math interventions to struggling students virtually.

So, I was thinking mostly along those lines. There are MANY students who don't have access to the tech needed for online learning, don't have supportive or educated or available parents to guide their learning, etc. Sure, the "good students" can get by with online classwork, but a large majority of students nationwide are not proficient in math or language arts, based solely on standardized test scores. Those are the students who really do deserve a do over. Clearly the demographic of the Dis can't really see this issue clearly.

 

[Jennasis]

Well, obviously it's not a popular opinion.

I got the topic question from my sister, who is a kindergarten teacher. They start in late August and were supposed to go through mid June and she said she wishes she could just have a do over next year with her class, because they still have almost half a year to go and she worries about how much some of them are struggling and she doesn't feel confident that her 34 students can be ready for 1st grade next year with distance learning, since many of her students come from disadvantaged families. It's not easy to deliver reading and math interventions to struggling students virtually.

So, I was thinking mostly along those lines. There are MANY students who don't have access to the tech needed for online learning, don't have supportive or educated or available parents to guide their learning, etc. Sure, the "good students" can get by with online classwork, but a large majority of students nationwide are not proficient in math or language arts, based solely on standardized test scores. Those are the students who really do deserve a do over. Clearly the demographic of the Dis can't really see this issue clearly.

Late August to mid-June. School ending mid-March does not leave you with almost half the year left. It leaves 3 months of a 10 month school year. I sure hope that math wasn't from your sister the teacher.