How to Explain Covid Year Grades

[Anonymous]

My child is applying to privates. He was all A's through 6th grade and all A's in 8th grade, but he had mostly B's and even a C during the remote year. Privates only want 7th & 8th grade transcripts, so we'll have 4 lousy terms and 1 normal (good) term reported. Has anyone received guidance from the schools on how to address this? I'm thinking about asking if we can submit transcripts for additional years and trying to explain. I plan to call the schools to discuss, but welcome any feedback/experience others have had with this

[Anonymous]

How do you explain it? He was lazy and did not do the work.

[Anonymous]

Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

Sorry typo ‘were there’

[Anonymous]

What happened? Why did he do so poorly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

DP. Not at our private. They shut down one week to plan the move to virtual and then kept the same schedule and assignments. My child maintained honor roll grades but it was a big adjustment for many of the students. Six hours of live online classes including a PE teacher who required an app to make sure the kids were moving is a lot. I think the teachers had higher expectations because the kids were home.

OP, in addition to what you are researching maybe the teacher recommendations can address it. A good score on the entrance exam will help too. It is tough because for private school kids 7th grade is the year that matters most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

DP. Not at our private. They shut down one week to plan the move to virtual and then kept the same schedule and assignments. My child maintained honor roll grades but it was a big adjustment for many of the students. Six hours of live online classes including a PE teacher who required an app to make sure the kids were moving is a lot. I think the teachers had higher expectations because the kids were home.

OP, in addition to what you are researching maybe the teacher recommendations can address it. A good score on the entrance exam will help too. It is tough because for private school kids 7th grade is the year that matters most.

That's impressive but it sounds like OP child was in public and public looked very different. We had 3 hours of online a day and long breaks for lunch and in-between classes, assignments were a joke, etc. I would have much preferred what you described. If in public there is no excuse to get those grades as they also let you redo work.

[Anonymous]

OP, the cruelty in response to this post is shocking even for DCUM. Many students understandably struggled with online learning, including at the schools you are applying your child to. Talk to the schools, explain the circumstances, ask if you can share an additional year of grades. I guarantee admissions officers will have more compassion and understanding than the clearly miserable, very bored, exceptionally judgmental posters on this forum.

[Anonymous]

I participate in interviews for my alma mater. I know your situation is different in that you're talking about a younger kid, but as a general rule, we've not been impressed with any sort of "explanations" (i.e. excuses) for "Covid year grades." All our other applicants maintained their 'A' records throughout the year, so I really don't care that you're such a social person you just couldn't deal with remote learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

Other potential explanations were unaddressed learning disabilities and uncontrolled ADHD, anxiety or depression. The manifestation in grades varied from child to child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers were practically handing out A and B to kids in consideration of covid. Would have had to be pretty lazy not to get an easy A. We’re their other explanations for thiis?

Other potential explanations were unaddressed learning disabilities and uncontrolled ADHD, anxiety or depression. The manifestation in grades varied from child to child.

None of which make a compelling argument why this kid should be selected over others for a selective school.
OP, your kid will be fine at schools that cater to a variety of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I participate in interviews for my alma mater. I know your situation is different in that you're talking about a younger kid, but as a general rule, we've not been impressed with any sort of "explanations" (i.e. excuses) for "Covid year grades." All our other applicants maintained their 'A' records throughout the year, so I really don't care that you're such a social person you just couldn't deal with remote learning.

To what extent does grade inflation and/or watered-down curricula factor in to your applicants' 'A' records? Did your applicant pool contain more weak students (Covid "excuses", etc) than in other years? Are you aware that Covid impacted student progress and performance nationwide and do you attribute 100% of that to personal failings?

[Anonymous]

There are some true haters on this thread. Those of you gloating about your private admissions membership. Guess what? I am in charge of reviewing applications at my university, and you better believe if I see a kid with all As during the COVID year I will assume you were over-privileged and will want to have a vested interest in understanding those kids who did not do "as well".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you explain it? He was lazy and did not do the work.

Nasty. Going to school by video was very difficult for some kids and not compatible with their learning styles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I participate in interviews for my alma mater. I know your situation is different in that you're talking about a younger kid, but as a general rule, we've not been impressed with any sort of "explanations" (i.e. excuses) for "Covid year grades." All our other applicants maintained their 'A' records throughout the year, so I really don't care that you're such a social person you just couldn't deal with remote learning.

To what extent does grade inflation and/or watered-down curricula factor in to your applicants' 'A' records? Did your applicant pool contain more weak students (Covid "excuses", etc) than in other years? Are you aware that Covid impacted student progress and performance nationwide and do you attribute 100% of that to personal failings?

The applicants whom we've ultimate recommended for admission have A averages before, during, and after COVID. The only distinction, for some, is that, during the remote learning period, their scores went from 94/96/93, etc. to 100/100/99/100. Consistent with what I observed with my own kids' remote learning experience, there were more options for re-dos, and more "completion" grades.

For the purposes of our interviewing, I'm not concerned about nationwide averages. We're not selecting average kids.