Lindsay Unified has made credit and scoring adjustments to help students impacted by distance learning
LINDSAY – For some students around the country, the transition to distance learning has been abysmal. To better serve those students, the Lindsay Unified School District has approved grading and scoring adjustments for the spring 2020 semester.
All students are able to receive credit for a course with a level two score which is the level of comprehension. At this level, a student has the basic knowledge for a subject. In classes where students finish with a level two proficiency, those courses will not affect a student’s GPA. It is up to the student to decide if they want to strive for a level three or level four proficiency in a course. Those are the mastery levels and will have an impact on a student’s GPA. If students are unable to finish a course, they will receive an IP (in progress). They can complete the course in the summer or next school year with the same scoring requirements.
“There are some learners who are still challenging themselves, so they can keep taking their classes to get to the maximum proficiency,” Lindsay High School principal George Tapanes said. “The idea of this plan is to give learners a choice.”
Students are required to complete all core courses. They can opt out of elective courses if they had a level two proficiency when the school closed on March 18. Students can still strive for a higher proficiency in their electives, but some of those courses are tough to do at home.
“It’s more difficult to do electives that require ‘learning by doing’ such as music, gaming, or auto courses. Some students may not have the right software at home,” Tapanes said. “So now they can focus on core classes such as English, math and history.”
For seniors, graduation requirements are still the same. The biggest change is that students can graduate with a level two proficiency instead of level three. According to Tapanes, the seniors have been the most diligent group in terms of getting their requirements finished.
“We still have high achieving learners who are doing well and want to get a high GPA, but we want to make sure we don’t lose anyone along the way,” he said.
These provisions were put in place to help students that are struggling with the transition to distance learning. Every student’s home environment and resources are vastly different, so this plan was designed so that no student is left behind.
“Online learning is not what everyone signed up for, it became our reality out of necessity,” Tapanes said. “Not all students learn the same way so we have to be able to support everyone.”
