Looking At The Data

The first quarter data is interesting to look over. The beginning of the year is often referred to as the ‘honeymoon period’ as students tend to be on their best behavior — it once lasted around 4 to 6 weeks but it is now closer to 2 to 3 weeks. The data already hints at trends that have been emerging over the last few years.

Q1 Grades 2024

These are the percentages (%) for each letter grade after multiple interventions by the teacher with most gains in the 'C' grade category coming from the 'D' grade category.

While the data skews towards higher grades with the girls, the data is bimodal with the boys before intervention by the teacher. That means that the boys are split into two groups, with one group of boys (around 33% or 1/3) receiving failing grades. Only after teacher intervention do we see a more even distribution between passing grades (A, B, or C) with the boys.

Percent of Students Not Completing Work At Home

Percentages (%) of students that initially did not turn in projects and/or multiple homework assignments - essentially work that is completed outside of class.

More than a third of boys are not completing work outside of the classroom - which lines up with the 33% of boys receiving failing grades before teacher intervention. It’s easy to see a correlation. They don’t do the work, so that’s why they’re failing. It would be easy to stop there. But with both the boys and girls having similar schedules, commutes, and instruction, then why is there such a large discrepancy in finishing assignments at home? Is it parenting? How do parents’ expectations and subsequent methods for fostering personal accountability differ for boys and girls? All these questions start coming up. Unfortunately, I don’t have data on the parenting of others.