DFW Rates

I read a horrifying article the other day that stated that professors with higher than 20% DFW rates were not renewed, were not granted tenure. It made me think back to the fear I felt as a high school teaching and state testing, how unfair it felt to KNOW my students had grown so much, learned so much, yet still (for a long list of reasons often beyond their control) didn't make what the state thought they should.

At the end of every semester I look at my DFW rates, I look at what time the classes were, the days they were held, and I try to identify the things that worked in one class but not another. Things to try again, try different, toss out. Because the fact is it's important for students to do well in Composition.

• It's the most predictive data for graduation within a six year period
• Our of students who don't pass the first time only 6% graduate
• 1st generation students are 3x as likely NOT to graduate

At many schools classes with less than 30% DFW rate the faculty receive PD, above 30% and the course gets redesigned. And on the surface that seems like as good a place to start as any. If professors are using PowerPoints based on textbooks, reading the PowerPoints in class, students have a hard time seeing why they should attend class, don't, then miss out. Here, I've noticed a lot of students withdraw right before the deadline so around week 10 and it seems like students may be fine, or think they are at progress reports in week 4, maybe get a bit shook at week 8 midterm grades posted, and then start to feel overwhelmed, like they can't catch up, and withdraw rather than earn a D or F. I ask my students to talk to me before they withdraw, explaining that a lot of things that seem insurmountable to them can often be dealt with pretty easily. Few do. The only responses I get to withdrawals are when I send check in emails, I occassionally will have a student explain that they are withdrawing, but these are usually for very specific events, and much earlier in the semester. The university until this year had stopped doing exit surveys, requiring students to talk to someone in the registrar's office before withdrawing, so when the auto-emails come in right before deadline that students have withdrawn, I never know why.

And I think the biggest issue is there are LOTS of reasons why a student might not do well, fail a class, withdraw, especially now. I tried to find research about DFWs, and while I found a bunch of articles that agreed it was important, and some that identified reasons such as lack of academic preparation (especially among 1st generation students), class size, and missed classes, there was not a lot of actual help. Some schools had research that hybrid classes where students do reading, look at videos, resources before class so that class can be used for working through the content worked best. Some said that providing specific feedback on how to improve worked. But that was pretty much it.

This gap seems ridiculous. I think at least part of the problem, like students in k-12 and high stakes testing, there are just too many moving parts. Is my student not doing well because they're having a hard time with the content? Or is it because they also work a full time job with 15 credits and are exhausted? Or because they have child/elder care responsibilities at home and can't always attend? Or can't always afford the gas to come to class? Or share a house with a lot of kids, all of whom need the Internet, and they can't always get in the time they need? Do they not have a quiet place to work? Did they never find a way to take notes, read, retain information that works for them? Are they hungry? Cold? Sick? Anxious? Depressed?

These things are always barriers to our students, they've just gotten exponentially worse during the pandemic and since so much of the world has just decided to move on, there's barely an acknowledgement of what is going on let alone how to help.

In my classes I find one thing that runs in the background of most classes are what most professors take for granted but are things that snowball for students.

• Not having somewhere to print, so when a professor requires students to print something and fill it out they can't (I get asked a lot if students can email me something to print for them).
• The "save" option on computers is a disk. I had a student that didn't know what that was, so didn't know how to save files that only had that icon as an option.
• Not having a way to organize things- like creating a folder for each class, labelling it, saving everything in there. Labelling their own assignments so they can find them later.
• Using something like Google Docs or One Drive.
• Things like hyperlinking, screenshots, anything except the basic toolbar on software.
• Searching online for helpful things, finding what you need and NOT the first search result.

These may seem like small things, but I think if you don't know how to do these things, you might be able to coast through a class at the start, but I think these things can add to feeling frustrated or lost if on top of this you don't feel like you're being taught, or your professor never asks how you are, or you don't feel comfortable asking for help, or you don't think there's any help to be had. Maybe at first you can make that 10a class but after a few weeks your night shift makes that harder and harder. Maybe your class is scheduled during lunch, and not eating regularly messes you up.

And honestly, we shouldn't even be in this situation during a pandemic. Choices between attending class or being there for your family are ludicrous. Grading really in any way during a pandemic is obscene. I wish I could make my class (all classes) pass/fail and be done with it. I've asked, I've been told no. I've heard from many that after the one semester of pass/fail the next semester students didn't do well in classes, lacked the knowledge, weren't motivated. It was said fairly condescendingly. When I asked if they didn't perhaps think this was because they're all traumatized, exhausted, AND WE'RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING PANDEMIC? I was looked at oddly. I've also heard that students need grades, they need to know how they're doing. We all know those two things are not the same.

I was shocked that so few schools allow pass/fail. And those that do have weirdo rules about it. Some limit the number of classes you can opt into for pass/fail ranging from 4-8. Some warn students that they can opt into pass/fail but to be aware some of these credits may not transfer. Some only allow students to opt in for classes outside their major. I don't understand the logic. As far as I'm concerned the entire GE curriculum should be pass/fail. No student as they're learning and juggling all the other nonsense of the first couple of years should be stressed about grades and GPA, they should focus on finding out what they like, want to do, learning.

I found few actionable solutions honestly. Some were clearly pushing products, like Blackboard aspects or Tophat. Other solutions like "offer more extra credit" misses the point- if your class is about gaming a system of points and not learning the information you need that's a whole other problem. Some schools have detailed plans available online, but knowing how accreditation LOVES these materials on the internet, I'm always a bit wary of what they look like in practice. As with all teaching, asking questions, gathering data, reflecting on what the data says, making changes based on the data, then repeating the cycle, is just good practice.

So I am trying to think of the things I do and the things I want to try. I think my course policies, no attendance, no due dates, no penalty for things, helps a lot.  I think my workshop based classroom for most of the time does too. I survey my students in week 3, 7, 12 and then write follow up emails based on what they say. If students aren't coming to class I check in on them. I explain about uni progress reports, midterms, what the purpose is, the language used, so they don't freak out. I try to early intervene. I will continue to teach the underlying skills, and help, during workshop days.

I think what I'm going to add are some specific questions to the week 7, 12 surveys about DFWs, to both ask students how they're feeling, specifically how the barriers they list may be contributing, then ASK what they think would help. I think then next semester, I want to make sure I identify these issues early in class, and am tinkering with then pairing students with workshops or resources that would help them- like how to take notes, or where to get tutoring help, having them choose the ones that would help them. 

Once again, these are personal things I'll do in my classroom but they cannot overcome the structural issues.  And any data during a pandemic is sketchy, because there are just too many things going on, too much data, too many things that can be influencing how my students do, and they may not even be aware of many of them. I feel like there's just more and more things we're failing students at, some of which have really easy solutions, and the weight of the inertia of so many institutions that just aren't "because" is heartbreaking. 

I have a hard thinking past this week let alone what (if) the world looks like at the end of the pandemic, but I think many institutions are vastly underestimating the damage done, the trust lost, and just how severe the repercussions are going to be once we're on the other side and entire generations have lost total faith in so many institutions.

What's the world look like then?