By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

During their meeting on March 10, the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education was joined by the principal of Lake Orion High School, Steve Hawley, who presented additional high school achievement data.

The board had received a presentation regarding student achievement data last month, but had requested a more in-depth presentation specifically for the high school.

“The academic impacts across the country and the state of Michigan are real. We have seen them throughout our state and our county at the high school level and also throughout Lake Orion Community Schools,” Hawley said.

The Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals put out a survey in February that showed 92 percent of high schools in the state have reported a “significantly high rate of course failures” during the first semester of the 2020-21 school year.

“Course failures are typically a really good test for us to see where we are, not only as student achievement but how we’re doing in terms of teaching and learning, so it’s something we monitor very closely,” said Hawley. “That survey also told us that the trend holds true regardless of the size of the school, the location, or the instructional format that was utilized during this time period.”

Over the past couple of years, Lake Orion High School students maintained a high overall course passing rate.

During the 2018-19 school year the overall passing rate was 98.4 percent. The first and second terms during the 2019-20 school year had an overall passing rate of 98.8 percent, a number that increased to 99.4 percent in the third and fourth term after students were transitioned to remote learning, Hawley said.

“Our overall passing rates at Lake Orion High School are extremely high and there are a number of reasons for that,” said Hawley. “I commend, first of all, our community, our parents, our students, but also the tremendous effort of our staff. We really include a lot of supports for our students that begin to struggle in the classroom so that we don’t have failures in the classrooms.”

This year, the overall passing rate at LOHS is 95.6 percent, district documents showed.

“The decrease in 2020-21, down to 95.6 percent of overall passing courses at the high school, is significant…significant in the fact that we have many more students that have failed courses that in previous years had been passing courses,” Hawley said. “That 95.6 percent is something that I think is somewhat striking. Any time you see an impact of three percent or more over the course of a few years, that is very impactful.”

One of the speculated reasons for this decline is student engagement as well as support.

“Engagement has been an extremely difficult, challenging piece for many of our students, for many different reasons. Every household is different, the support levels are different at home and it’s incumbent upon us to find a way and reach every student and help them become successful as they work through their high school career.”

LOCS traditionally has a strong student support team that the high school is expected to continue to utilize.

“I’m very proud of our student support team this year in particular. As I mentioned, as we looked at the data and saw this impact across not only the state but the country and especially at Lake Orion High School, the student support team really jumped into action. We identified those students that were disengaged, and we really have worked hard to re-engage them,” Hawley said.

The modified block schedule at the high school is also something that students can use to their advantage in terms of course recovery options. Often, if a student fails a course, their schedule can quickly be reworked to allow for that student to retake the course during that same school year.

Additionally, the reduction in the graduation course requirement that was approved by the board last spring has taken some of the pressure off of struggling students.

In the future, LOHS is expected to implement Academic Support Advisors who will likely focus on the impact the pandemic has had on individual student achievement.

“We’re very hopeful, as we’re beginning to bring students back into the building, that we’re going to see our percentages beginning to rise. I think everybody in this room and across the district understands that face-to-face, in-person instruction, that kind of quality is difficult and a great challenge to meet in any other setting other than in a classroom,” said Hawley.