St. Paul Public Schools is exploring new ways to support students during distance learning as the number of failing grades has doubled in its high schools.
Midway through the first quarter this fall, students were failing 39 percent of their high school classes, up from 19 percent last fall.
The district is one of the few in Minnesota that has not reopened its schools — except for a few hundred special-education students — since closing in March because of a teachers strike and the coronavirus pandemic.
The district since Oct. 12 has offered in-person academic help inside Washington Technology Magnet to struggling students referred by staff, but few are taking advantage. Some 320 are enrolled but weekly attendance has fallen well short of that.
The district now is looking to add virtual academic support in addition to in-person help, said Hans Ott, executive director of digital and alternative education, at a school board meeting Tuesday.
And, with an eye toward graduation, the academic support centers at Washington have begun serving high school seniors without appointments.
“It’s crucial to get kids back on track as it gets closer and closer to June,” said Darren Ginther, director of college and career readiness.
Seniors can get bus cards from the district to get rides to the North End school.
“We are able to service seniors right on the spot,” Chief Operations Officer Jackie Turner said.
Coming into the school year, the district planned to open academic support centers at high schools throughout the city. Ultimately, they opened just the one at Washington, and it’s been underutilized.
But now, some schools are preparing to operate their own support programs on a smaller scale, where students can work with teachers they know.
“Students want to see familiar faces,” Ginther said.
The explosion in failing grades is stressing the district’s credit-recovery programs, such as Evening High School. Ginther said he expects about 900 students will need credit recovery this year, about twice as many as last school year.
School board member Zuki Ellis on Tuesday called the numbers “very unsettling.” She questioned the value of Evening High School, given that it’s being delivered online, just like students’ regular classes.
Turner said the face-to-face help at Washington has been effective for students who’ve shown up.
“They need help with the motivation and they need that space that looks similar to their classroom,” she said. “It’s that structure.”
Some schools are giving students extra time to turn in work before the first quarter ends on Friday. In a message to students last week, Highland Park High School Principal Winston Tucker said they had until Friday to retake tests and turn in missing work in any classes they are failing.
“We are very concerned about your grades and the high number of failing grades,” he wrote in a letter that acknowledged the difficulty of distance learning.
Ott said it’s been difficult to engage students in distance learning, but there have been bright spots, too, such as increased participation in parent-teacher conferences.
The St. Paul district will not reopen any schools till at least Jan. 19, when grades pre-K through 5 are tentatively slated to go back to school.