Failure rates

Second-term grading information was presented at the Maryland State Department of Ed meeting on March 22.

Of the 24 school districts in Maryland, nine districts have a 20% or more failure rate in math and English at the high school level, and 10 districts have a 10-20% failure rate. Let us be clear — over a third of our school districts in Maryland have 20% of their high school students failing Math and English.

In Anne Arundel County, 3,390 high school students had a failing grade in the second quarter for English and 3,473 students in math. To put it simply, 14% of our high school students are failing math and English.

In county public schools, teachers have been told to be more compassionate in their grading. Knowing the grace being given behind the scenes, this data should then be even more alarming.

Other states placed in-person education as a priority at the beginning of this school year. Maryland did not. These failure numbers need to be viewed not as a failure of parents to adequately help their children navigate the virtual environment.

It also cannot be viewed as a failure of teachers because there’s only so much you can do through a screen. The absence of an in-person option for those who would have chosen to utilize it since September is primarily to blame.

And we will continue to see the effects of the cowardly decisions by politicians and the staggering influence by our state’s teachers’ unions for years to come.

Elizabeth Fine, Gambrills