Problems aggravated by the pandemic, like chronic absenteeism and misconduct, persisted into this year, with 38 percent of MPS students absent for more than 10 percent of school days in 2021-22.
"This is way, way too many — way too many — of our kids" absent from school, board President Jenny Richardson said.
Other metrics of student well-being failed to improve this year, and the data includes signs that the pandemic affected students' mental health.
For example, MPS saw a rise in behavioral issues this year, with 18,807 incidents — more than in any of the previous five school years. And 2021-22 saw an especially sharp increase in aggression, with 5,928 incidents this year compared with 3,681 in 2019-20.
"We know that many of these incidents of aggression and those other policy violations are begging for additional mental health crisis counseling," Associate Superintendent Holly Williams told the board.
This year's official graduation rate won't be released by the state for many months, but during the pandemic, the district's overall graduation rate slid from 82 percent to 77 percent in 2021.
Williams said that COVID and the wave of absences the Omicron variant triggered because of infections and quarantines challenged students' "connectedness" to school.
In surveys, MPS students reported experiencing worse relationships with teachers and feeling less safe this year compared with the 2020-21 school year, giving lower marks in response to questions like, "How much do the adults support you?" and "How do you feel in the school?"
"I think we got a lot better in the fourth quarter," Williams said, "but I think if you take a look at the year overall, students weren't feeling that great."
Williams speculated that last year's numbers might have been inflated by the relief of returning to in-person learning.
"Last year everybody was so excited to be back at school," Williams said. "We wonder how much the positive answers last year were generated by, 'we're so happy to be here.' And this year maybe it was a little more real."
Recently released data from state assessments taken near the end of the school year showed progress in some areas, but disappointments in others.
On the positive side, a higher percentage of MPS third-graders passed the English Language assessment this year, 39 percent, compared to 32 percent last year, as well as the math test, 36 percent versus 35 percent last year.
But in data that Assistant Superintendent Randy Mahlerwein described as "disappointing," MPS ninth-graders scored below the state average on the ACT Aspire assessment in all four categories: English, reading, science and math.
Mahlerwein pointed out the challenging conditions for ninth-graders this year, noting that this year's cohort of ninth-graders missed out on a normal middle-school experience due to the pandemic.
But "all school districts were dealing with the same pandemic," Mahlerwein said.
Kelly Berg, preaident of the Mesa Education Association, told the Tribune: "At just a brief glance, it looks like the high schools are performing how they have been performing in years prior to COVID compared to each other.
"This was a new benchmark test for our students to take this year," she continued. "I think it will take some digging into the data at each school to see where we can improve for our individual schools. However, teachers are being asked to do a lot already. It will be difficult to find the time to dig in to the assessment, locate/create materials to support the students, and implement the support while trying to cover the state standards."
Mahlerwein also expressed concern for the wide disparities in achievement across the district between schools, races, ethnicities and disability status.
Red Mountain High School, Mountain View High School and the Mesa Digital Learning Program exceeded the state average on the ACT Aspire in nearly every category, but other schools fell far short.
MPS also reported differences in achievement between socioeconomic populations, and the "overwhelming majority" of English-learning students and students with disabilities scored below district average in the ACT Aspire test, Mahlerwein said.
Several administrators and board members tied this year's disheartening data back to the issue of chronic absenteeism. During the pandemic, the district loosened rules on the maximum number of absences allowed for class credit.
Now, officials suggested it was difficult to reverse course.
"A lot of students missed a lot of school, and we told them to miss school because we had a pandemic," board member Marcie Hutchinson said.
Administrators also speculated that because the district has more resources available for students who miss class, the temptation to skip in-person instruction has increased.
Hutchinson said the absences create more work for teachers.
"This idea that, 'well, they'll just make me up,' — that's what makes our educators crazy," Hutchinson said. "There is just not enough time in the day to implement new resources, to implement new curriculum, and then if you've got 40 percent of your kids (absent), the make ups alone would take 24 hours in that day."
Assistant Superintendent Monica Mesa said that MPS piloted a program this year called "Positive Family Supports" to address absenteeism at Longfellow Elementary. The district intends to expand it to six schools next year, she said.
"Absenteeism is a family issue; it's not necessarily a child or a student issue," Mesa said. "So, it's an opportunity to bring the family in on the conversation on the importance of attendance and helping the family dive into the root cause of their child's absenteeism and put structures in place to minimize that."
Richardson asked administrators to include data in more of the district's board meetings next year to help monitor how students are doing.
Mahlerwein said it will be important to increase the sense of community and belonging at schools in spite of increased instability brought on by the pandemic.
"I believe very strongly that's how we keep our kids motivated," he said, "but also we've got to keep our teachers motivated. They don't work independently, they're together. If our teachers are happy, we got happy kids. We got determined teachers, we got determined kids."
©2022 East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
