In A Normal Year, Before The Pandemic, Between 33% and 50% Of AASD High School Students Received At Least One D Or One F On Their Report Card Depending On The School They Attended

Back on July 10, I posted about the number of high schoolers who received at least one D or one F during the 2020-21 school year. I specifically included Ds and not just Fs because I thought it would give a fuller picture of the number of students who were struggling. The CDC groups students with Ds and Fs together in terms of their risk for certain health and safety concerns, and some schools have opted to eliminate Ds completely because there is such little difference between the proficiency demonstrated by achieving a D vs failing completely and giving out Ds simply sets students up to face greater problems further down the road.

During the 1^st semester the percentage of AASD high school students who received at least one D or F was…

• 50.96% at North
• 60.47% at East
• 67.29% at West

During the second semester, those numbers decreased to…

• 38.10% at North
• 49.00% at East
• West did not provide any numbers (You can read more about that here.)

The obvious question and one that a couple of my readers asked was, what do those percentages look like in a normal year? Therefore, I submitted an open records request for the number of students with at least one D or one F during the second semester of the 2018-19 school year, which was the last normal year before the pandemic. I submitted this request on July 16 and on September 15 received the records responsive to my request.

During the second semester of the 2018-19 school year, the number and percentage of AASD high school students with at least one D or F were…

• 32.06% at North (537 out of 1,675 total enrollment)
• 42.59% at East (583 out of 1,369 total enrollment)
• 51.86% at West (571 out of 1,101 total enrollment)

So, in a normal year, depending on the school, between 33% to 50% of AASD high school students, or 42.17% across all three schools, were getting a D or an F in at least one class.

As far as I can tell both from my communication with West Principal Mark McQuade and AASD Chief Financial Officer Greg Hartjes, there does not seem to be any district-wide expectations for how to view Ds or respond to students who get Ds, although there may be site specific responses. Per an email from Mr. Hartjes, “the district does not track Ds any different than As, Bs, or Cs.  These are all passing grades, thus credit earning grades.  However, students earning Ds would result in a GPA that is lower than 2.00, which would generally get the attention of teachers and guidance counselors.  So, there may be interventions put in place at the school level, but not at the district level.”