17.2 Students At Risk - Grades

Not too sure about what to write in these ‘at risk’ notes. For example, there are students who are at risk if their grades might result in academic misfortunate (failing course, term, courses to be re-taken, dropping the program, etc.), and who might also be susceptible to mental health risk because of the stress. There might be some of these students who are not aware of the risk until it is pointed out, or until it is too late in the term to do anything about it. There are students who are at risk with respect grades because of future plans such as grad school, scholarships, grants, and such. They might also be at risk for mental health issues. There are also students who strictly obsess about marks, and who are not at risk with respect to careers and options, but who must get a certain mark because it means everything to them. Some of these points will be addressed in a separate note on student mental health.

We have failed, we have had to re-take a course, we have not reached the levels necessary for a certain degree and had to settle not for the second level, but for the third level prize; not the four years honours, nor the four year, but a three year pass. There can be a lot of emotional stress and distress when this happens. Sometimes recovery is not possible at the time and it might take years before a student is ready to try again, to attempt redemption.

Thoughts…

• Empathy and sympathy are important for an instructor. This is for the students who actually deserve it and who are trying hard in a sincere fashion. Those who are running scams, playing the system, or who just don’t care are a different matter.
• There is a phrase today that the 25’s are the new 15s. There are number of factors that play into this, but the maturity of the executive functions for many students seems to have dropped in the last two decades, so the 18s are the new 12s. We know that the physiology of the brain continues to evolve to the mid-20s, and this does not help the situation either. The coddling of the youth does not help repair or evolve their executive functions which are important for time management and dealing with the higher demands of a postsecondary education.
• While an instructor cannot spend a great deal of time monitoring student progress, a few minutes each week is not too big a request. Often in today’s online learning platforms there are ways to know if students are engaged, and possibly fallen behind or going off the tracks. It is important to reach out and help a student when they are at risk.
• When teaching junior students, we as instructors might have to consider doing things for students that we would not have thought necessary in previous years. We may need to do more outreach and managing to remind students about what is due this week, what assignments have to be handed in, and when to study. We can say that the students should be better prepared for postsecondary education, but at the same time we need to deal with the incoming and we cannot ignore the characteristics of the incoming. We cannot wish it away or ignore it.

• Today’s students are not used to making mistakes, failing, and dealing with the situation. We need to help them understand how they got to the point they did, and how to recover. We cannot assume that they know how to do this.
• When possible, students should be given a second chance and if the students demonstrate recovery during the term, the early marks should be dealt with; the students should be judged on their mastery at the end of the course and not at the beginning. There is a separate note on redemption and reformation.
• This should be sufficient points of assessment during the term that one or two bad experiences do not do significant damage to a student’s final grade. We do not believe any test type assessment should be worth more than 25%.
• The covid pandemic has seen large numbers of students remain at home and continue studying as if they were in secondary school. Parents and others may have continued monitoring and assisting the students; keeping track of assignments and what the students were doing. This does not help the students. It delays the development. We cannot change this, but this does mean that students going into the second year (or later, will depend on how long the pandemic lasts) will be more like students arriving at the University and not like students entering their second year.

Further reading

• Van Norman, E. R., Nelson, P. M., and D.A. Klingbeil (2016). Single Measure and Gated Screening Approaches for Identifying Students At-Risk for Academic Problems: Implications for Sensitivity and Specificity. School Psychology Quarterly. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000177
• Valentine, J.C., Hirschy, A.S., Bremer, C.D., Walter, N., Catellano, M., and A. Banister (2011). Keeping At-Risk Students in School: A Systematic Review of College Retention Programs. Educational evaluation and policy analysis, , 33, 2, pp. 214-234.