Attendance Falls in Online Classrooms
By Emily Guerra
By Emily Guerra
The sudden shelter in place order has proven to be a challenge for teachers across the country as they struggle to abruptly shift from a classroom setting to one online.
The ultimate difficulty in the change, it seems, is compelling students to attend online class. From lack of access to technology to simply losing motivation, student attendance has slowly dipped into dangerously low levels.
According to Assistant Principal of Instruction Brendan Simon, while a student would normally be penalized for not attending class, staff are now attempting to reach out to parents, urging them to encourage their children to check in with their teachers and complete assignments.
“This semester we are not resorting to discipline, but instead we, admin, teachers, and counselors, are trying to establish communication with families to let them understand the importance of checking in with teachers, who are working hard to engage and still deliver content,” said Simon. “This also helps us with discovering which students still need assistance with hardware or wifi. We then communicate those needs to the district so they can supply what is needed for students so they can engage in the learning process.”
While the grades students had on March 13 will stand as final for the year, some teachers are still assigning work in order to keep their students entertained, educated, and engaged. Though she would like to see grades return in the next school year, English teacher Michelle Bowman gives her students optional, ungraded “challenges” that they can work on from home.
“Challenges are silly assignments that show me students are alive, but these assignments do not take a lot of energy. It's also a way of checking in with each child. Plus, I love learning about my students. I miss them,” said Bowman. “Grades and participation points are essential to online attendance. Attendance will happen if the students are engaged, and that's what we have to learn to do online.”
Math teacher Aruna Renduchintala sees no excuse for students to miss her virtual meetings, but experienced dropping numbers in her classes after the announcement that grades would no longer be entered into the official gradebook.
“Students who are interested in school only for grades stopped attending the classes when the grading system for this semester was announced. My class participation went down from 60 or 70% to 30% for Geometry and 80% to 50% for Pre-Calculus Honors. Some students had technical issues initially, but now that they have been addressed by the district, I do not see any reason for them not to attend,” said Renduchintala.
Math teacher Joe Zaccheo agrees that the lack of a grading system has caused a significant drop in class attendance, and would like to see a typical pass/fail system in place.
“Perhaps if we had continued to use Infinite Campus we would get more online attendance as well as assignments. For many students, if not most, telling them they passed before the semester ended gave them impetus to ignore any future assignments as well as attend online,” said Zaccheo.”
Science and math teacher Colleen McDonough sees the lack of attendance in classes as a small example of a bigger problem in the modern education system and its values.
“It is very sobering to have undeniable evidence that some students and some parents limit their view of the value of education to grades and SAT test scores. I am trying to impart so much more than grades or SAT readiness,” said McDonough. “Treating education as a means for grades and SAT test scores is a severely dangerous view of education. It is an investment in our shared future. Without it, I feel our future holds much less hope and potential for an ever improving society and experience of life.”
As for next year’s plans, teachers expressed a specific interest in increased contact with their students as well as a grading and attendance system in order to encourage attendance although as of now, no official decisions considering next semester have been made.
“In regards to continuation of online learning, I'd expect that if students don't participate, for example, make a daily post in a Google Classroom, then they should be marked absent. Not doing assignments, for example, not completing an online worksheet, would have a consequence of failing,” said Zaccheo. “Traditionally, students who don't do enough assignments would not be able to pass the class, that's the discipline. I find that often forgotten or ignored, meaning failing seems to be a serious enough consequence to me.”
The ultimate difficulty in the change, it seems, is compelling students to attend online class. From lack of access to technology to simply losing motivation, student attendance has slowly dipped into dangerously low levels.
According to Assistant Principal of Instruction Brendan Simon, while a student would normally be penalized for not attending class, staff are now attempting to reach out to parents, urging them to encourage their children to check in with their teachers and complete assignments.
“This semester we are not resorting to discipline, but instead we, admin, teachers, and counselors, are trying to establish communication with families to let them understand the importance of checking in with teachers, who are working hard to engage and still deliver content,” said Simon. “This also helps us with discovering which students still need assistance with hardware or wifi. We then communicate those needs to the district so they can supply what is needed for students so they can engage in the learning process.”
While the grades students had on March 13 will stand as final for the year, some teachers are still assigning work in order to keep their students entertained, educated, and engaged. Though she would like to see grades return in the next school year, English teacher Michelle Bowman gives her students optional, ungraded “challenges” that they can work on from home.
“Challenges are silly assignments that show me students are alive, but these assignments do not take a lot of energy. It's also a way of checking in with each child. Plus, I love learning about my students. I miss them,” said Bowman. “Grades and participation points are essential to online attendance. Attendance will happen if the students are engaged, and that's what we have to learn to do online.”
Math teacher Aruna Renduchintala sees no excuse for students to miss her virtual meetings, but experienced dropping numbers in her classes after the announcement that grades would no longer be entered into the official gradebook.
“Students who are interested in school only for grades stopped attending the classes when the grading system for this semester was announced. My class participation went down from 60 or 70% to 30% for Geometry and 80% to 50% for Pre-Calculus Honors. Some students had technical issues initially, but now that they have been addressed by the district, I do not see any reason for them not to attend,” said Renduchintala.
Math teacher Joe Zaccheo agrees that the lack of a grading system has caused a significant drop in class attendance, and would like to see a typical pass/fail system in place.
“Perhaps if we had continued to use Infinite Campus we would get more online attendance as well as assignments. For many students, if not most, telling them they passed before the semester ended gave them impetus to ignore any future assignments as well as attend online,” said Zaccheo.”
Science and math teacher Colleen McDonough sees the lack of attendance in classes as a small example of a bigger problem in the modern education system and its values.
“It is very sobering to have undeniable evidence that some students and some parents limit their view of the value of education to grades and SAT test scores. I am trying to impart so much more than grades or SAT readiness,” said McDonough. “Treating education as a means for grades and SAT test scores is a severely dangerous view of education. It is an investment in our shared future. Without it, I feel our future holds much less hope and potential for an ever improving society and experience of life.”
As for next year’s plans, teachers expressed a specific interest in increased contact with their students as well as a grading and attendance system in order to encourage attendance although as of now, no official decisions considering next semester have been made.
“In regards to continuation of online learning, I'd expect that if students don't participate, for example, make a daily post in a Google Classroom, then they should be marked absent. Not doing assignments, for example, not completing an online worksheet, would have a consequence of failing,” said Zaccheo. “Traditionally, students who don't do enough assignments would not be able to pass the class, that's the discipline. I find that often forgotten or ignored, meaning failing seems to be a serious enough consequence to me.”