2020 - 2021 Recovery Planning
Gaps in credit accrual and learning have emerged as the result of prolonged distance learning during the 2020 - 2021 school year. The current plans to address those gaps are summarized below:
If a student passes all classes including CLC, that student would have earned 22.75 credits at the end of semester one of his or her senior year. At the end of semester 1, there were 153 seniors enrolled at WHS. On average, those students were 0.37 credits short of that ideal pace. 16 seniors were 6 or more credits short. 8 seniors were between 4 and 6 credits short. 13 seniors were between 2 and 4 credits short.
The primary target for seniors this year is to graduate. One key strategy to accomplish this is to enroll those struggling students in Academic Support for semester two this year. One teacher is currently assigned to support those students during the day as they pursue credit recovery through the APEX curriculum or completion of incompletes. In addition, the PASS team supports 5 - 10 students each hour in the library.
ii. Waiver Status
For this year’s senior class, the state of Washington has allowed schools to waive 2 non-core academic elective credits plus an additional two core academic credits. The Student Services department is working individually with struggling seniors and their families to develop individualized graduation plans. Those plans take advantage of the Washington State waiver where necessary.
iii. Summer School
Seniors who do not successfully complete their credit requirements by June 11 still have the opportunity to graduate “on time” by recovering credit using the APEX curriculum during summer school. WHS summer school will be run from June 21 through July 12 from 8:30 to 11:45. In addition to supporting students through online APEX work, summer school staff will provide subject-specific direct instruction as needed.
b. Grades 9-11
i. Academic Support
The credit shortages at the end of semester one by grade for grades 9-11 are shown in the table below. The values reported are the number of students falling into each category
A number of students in grades 9-11 are also enrolled in the Academic Success class and are supported by the PASS team in the library as described above.
ii. Summer School
Summer school will be available to students in grades 9-11 as described above.
iii. PASS Academy
In the fall of 2020, a large number of WHS students enrolled at TEAM HS for a variety of reasons. Some of those students have done very well at TEAM. Some have not, and are in the process of transitioning back to WHS. In an effort to capture the flexibility offered by TEAM’s use of a self-paced, APEX online curriculum while still providing the structured environment some students need to succeed, WHS staff are developing PASS Academy.
The idea behind PASS Academy is that struggling students who have been identified by our PASS Plus data team are placed with the PASS team in the library for 1-3 hours per day. During that time, those students will either receive direct support with standard, in-person classes or will pursue credit using the APEX curriculum. PASS Academy is not intended to be a full-time option or to take the place of TEAM. We expect that PASS Academy will be a key part of our recovery strategy throughout the 2021-2022 school year.
In May of 2021, core academic teachers will meet by departments to identify “stop points” in the curriculum. Articulation plans will be developed to enable a smooth transition into the fall of 2021. Where necessary, learning objectives for the 2021 - 2022 school year will be pared down by evaluating “power standards” in each subject area.
b. Fall 2021
During the 2020-2021 school year, WHS staff created the PASS Plus data team. Throughout the year, this team has met weekly to review student achievement and attendance data and develop intentional intervention plans for specific students. This team will continue operating next year and will provide our primary mechanism to monitor our students’ post-pandemic academic progress.