Costa considers allowing ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ grades

By Andonia Georgen 

Executive News Editor

Costa administration is considering allowing students to opt for a “Pass” or “Fail” grade in place of a letter grade due to many students struggling to maintain their grades during distance learning, according to Costa counselor Jennifer Wildenberg.

Under this policy, students can opt for a “P,” or “Pass,” for any grade of a “D” or higher. Any grades of an “F” would remain a failing grade, but students could still remediate those grades to ensure that they can graduate, according to Wildenberg. 

“Right now we’re just really concerned about sending out our students into the world, after a pandemic, with no diploma,” Wildenberg said. 

This change in the grading policy was created during the spring 2020 semester when school closure initially occurred, but Costa administration wants the policy to continue for the fall 2020 semester and spring 2021 semester, according to Wildenberg. 

“Different districts are doing this differently,” Costa Vice Principal Jessica Bledsoe said. “I want to say that our counseling team does this fantastically with regard to communication.”

The current social-emotional climate during the pandemic and the discrepancy between learning environments of students are motivating factors for this policy change, according to Wildenberg.  Usually Costa has about three seniors who are not able to receive a diploma at the time of graduation because they have failing grades; however, at the rate that this year is going, there are currently around 60 students who are at risk of not graduating, according to Wildenberg.

“There’s a variety of different learning environments that the school district can’t control, so that is one element when we’re looking at: grades,” Bledsoe said. “It’s not necessarily a consistent bell curve because kids are taking tests, quizzes and doing their schoolwork in various environments.”

In the fall semester of the 2019-20 school year, Costa had 1.42 percent of students who received an “F” grade on their transcript, but that number reached 2.71 percent this school year, according to data collected from Aeries. Costa administration hopes that changing the way in which students are graded will ease the stress that students are feeling during this school year. 

“I feel like we are in a crisis,” Wildenberg said. “We have never seen this many seniors at risk of not graduating.”