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Tempe Union focuses on increase in failing grades BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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s Tempe Union High School District began a new semester last week in allvirtual mode, teachers and administrators continued to address the learning gap that has emerged since the pandemic disrupted classroom instruction. That slippage was discussed at the final meeting of the old Tempe Union Governing Board last month as the first semester of 202021 – marked by only a month of a limited student presence in classrooms – wound down. “We’re concerned. We’re very very concerned,” Superintendent Kevin Mendivil told
the board as he and his aides discussed learning loss that has emerged over the last nine months of 2020. “This is a less than ideal situation for all school districts,” he said. “Tempe Union is not alone. “I have often spoken with my colleagues in our sister districts of the East Valley and in Central Phoenix and they’re all struggling with this – everybody is. So, we’re not unique to our little area of the town. We recognized there would be learning gaps and (the need) to begin addressing them sooner rather than later and we have been doing that.” That gap was measured both by comparing results of proficiency test results administered in the first quarters of 2019 and 2020 as well
as failing grades in those two quarters and the second quarter of the current school year. Across the district, the latter data sets showed a third or more of students failing in English Language Arts, math, science and social studies. Mendivil cautioned the data on failing grades for the second quarter of this school year was not complete since there a couple of weeks remained at the time the data were compiled. He also said, “The Fs are not static. There’ll be a point where they are, but right now the Fs are going to be – it’s very mobile. They were different a week ago. They were different two
see GAP page 16
Local ASU prof has big role in MLK commemorations . 15
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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artin Luther King Jr. Day commemorations next Monday likely will be different, with many community service projects normally held that day either canceled or curtailed because of the need to maintain social distance. But that doesn’t mean the day will be ignored in Ahwatukee and the East Valley. And Ahwatukee resident Dr. Neal Lester, foundation professor of English at Arizona State University, will be playing a pivotal role. The Tempe Human Relations Commission is awarding one of its MLK Diversity Awards to ASU’s Project Humanities program, which Lester founded 10 years ago to be “a leader
in local, national, international conversations about the breadth, depth and value of humanities study and humanist practice and understanding across disciplines and communities.” In announcing the award, the commission said Project Humanities “is creating virtual and real spaces where all voices are vital. A multiple awardwinning initiative that extends widely within and far beyond the four campuses of ASU, Project Humanities invites people to see diversity, inclusion and equity through the lens of individual and shared humanity. “Project Humanities offers a virtual and real toolbox that promotes and celebrates compassion, integrity, forgiveness, kindness, empathy and selfreflection,” it said. Dr. Neal Lester of Ahwatukee, foundation professor of English at ASU and founder of its Project Humanities program, will be dissee LESTER page 4 cussing Martin Luther King Jr. on two programs. (Pablo Robles/AFN)
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