Students in Texas schools increasingly failing in virtual learning settings

More children are failing at least one class during the first few weeks of school than in previous years.

The Texas Tribune reports that parents and educators have recorded that students have been skipping virtual school, turning in assignments later or not at all and falling behind on reading.

Parents also report feeling tired from constantly serving as teachers for their children, while some students have no educational help at home. Currently, 3 million of the state's 5.5 million public school students learn virtually and many Texans are calling for the students to return to classrooms.

In Judson Independent School District, a note was added to the grading handbook to allow educators to grant exceptions to students, such as letting them drop assignments or make up assignments. The handbook states that district officials are aware of the connectivity issues and technological issues that may delay students from submitting assignments on time.

Cathryn Mitchell, principal of Gorzycki Middle School in the Austin Independent School District, sent an email last month to staff regarding the fact that nearly a quarter of Gorzycki students were failing at least one course.

In the email, Mitchell noted that the failures are likely related to technology learning curves, lack of access, anxiety and changing reopening guidelines.

“We know that some students are taking advantage of the situation or have procrastinated to get themselves into this position," Mitchell wrote. "There is no question about that. But we also know that we have asked a great deal of them these first five weeks. This will not be the norm every six-weeks."

Mitchell implored staff to exhaust all efforts students before failing students, such as working one-on-one and setting up Zoom conferences with parents.

The Tribune reported that some parents are considering of sending their children back for in-school learning.

“We’re not going to fix it by only taking the good grades or dropping half the grades,” San Antonio Northside ISD Superintendent Brian Woods told the Tribune. “We’ve got to dig in and look more at the root cause. We know what it is: There’s kids who need to be in the building, period.”