Special Report
Special Report

Class of 2021: Digging Out From Under COVID

Obstacles Mount for Students as Pandemic Deepens
August 29, 2022
Teacher Dawn Mathis works with student Rylee Humphries, 16, during an after school program at Mountain Education Charter High School in Woodstock, Ga. The Mountain Education Charter High School system has a program that pairs struggling students with adults who have faced similar challenges.
Teacher Dawn Mathis works with student Rylee Humphries, 16, during an after school program at Mountain Education Charter High School in Woodstock, Ga. The Mountain Education Charter High School system has a program that pairs struggling students with adults who have faced similar challenges.
Dustin Chambers for Education Week
COVID-19 dealt a harder blow to members of the Class of 2021 than it did to their predecessors. The number of states with falling graduation rates doubled in the second year of the pandemic, amid another year of quarantines and outbreaks, trauma, and a simmering mental health crisis among teenagers. The declines in graduation rates come after years of steady progress in the percentages of students who finish high school on time.

To reengage the students who fell through the cracks during the pandemic, schools and dropout-recovery providers are having to work harder, going door to door to find missing students and offer them something more than remote course work to get them back on track.

This package of stories looks at the pandemic’s ongoing impact on graduation rates, the students who are struggling to regain their academic footing, and the programs that are working to help them.
  • Students are always greeted by Cheryl Rohmer as they check in for the after school program at Mountain Education Charter High School in Woodstock, Ga. The network, like other dropout recovery programs, has expanded during the pandemic due to rising need.
    Marcia Oliveira, left, and her son Angelo, 18, talk with a graduation advocate in Charleston, S.C., about how to schedule credit-recovery classes around the new restaurant job Angelo had to pick up during the pandemic to help his family.
    Henry Taylor for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness From Our Research Center Plunging Graduation Rates Signal Long Recovery
    In the second year of the pandemic, the number of states with falling graduation rates more than doubled.
    Sarah D. Sparks, August 29, 2022
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    10 min read
    Teacher Dawn Mathis works with student Rylee Humphries, 16, during an after school program at Mountain Education Charter High School in Woodstock, Ga. The Mountain Education Charter High School system has a program that pairs struggling students with adults who have faced similar challenges.
    Teacher Dawn Mathis works with student Rylee Humphries, 16, during an after school program at Mountain Education Charter High School in Woodstock, Ga. The 18-campus school, which serves returning dropouts and other at-risk students, has expanded since the pandemic due to rising student need.
    Dustin Chambers for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness Dropouts Now Face a Steeper Climb to Earn a Diploma Post-Pandemic
    Recovery programs say they have seen more students, further behind, than in prior years.
    Sarah D. Sparks, August 29, 2022
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    7 min read
    LaTosha Walker knocks on the door of a home where a student lives that has dropped out of school due to attendance records to talk to them about enrollment in Lowcountry Acceleration Academy in North Charleston on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.
    LaTosha Walker, an enrollment coach for Lowcountry Acceleration Academy, knocks on the door of the home of a student who dropped out of school in Charleston, S.C.
    Henry Taylor for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness 'Graduation Counselors' Go Door-to Door to Find Missing Students
    On tree-lined streets and trailer parks, workers knock on doors to offer students a second chance at graduation.
    Eesha Pendharkar, August 29, 2022
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    6 min read
    Blaine Franzel, 17, and his mother, Angel Franzel, pictured at their home in Stuart, Fla., on Aug. 15, 2022. After struggling during remote learning and dropping out of public school, Franzel is now thriving at an alternative school where he is learning about aviation.
    Blaine Franzel, 17, and his mother, Angel Franzel, live in Stuart, Fla. After struggling during remote learning and dropping out of public school, Franzel is now thriving at an alternative school where he is learning about aviation.
    Josh Ritchie for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness Anxiety and Isolation Kept Him Out of School. How an Alternative Program Helped
    After years of worsening anxiety that kept him from school, Blaine Franzel’s prospects for high school graduation are looking up.
    Sarah D. Sparks, August 29, 2022
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    3 min read
    Nakaya Domina pictured at her home in Las Vegas, Nev., on Aug. 12, 2022. After dropping out of school during the pandemic, she returned to a credit recovery program, where her "graduation candidate advocate" has helped her stay engaged. She expects to graduate this summer, and will then enter a postsecondary program in digital marketing.
    Nakaya Domina dropped out of her public high school in Las Vegas in 2019 but managed to graduate this year with the help of a "graduation advocate" and a dropout recovery program.
    Bridget Bennett for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness What It Took to Get This Teenager Back on Track to Graduate
    Nakaya Domina had been disengaging from school for years before she left Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas in 2019.
    Sarah D. Sparks, August 29, 2022
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    3 min read
    Gerilyn Rodriguez, 18, poses at Miami Carol City Park in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Aug. 19, 2022. After struggling with remote learning during the pandemic and dropping out of school, Rodriguez is now a student at Miami-Dade Acceleration Academies.
    Gerilyn Rodriguez, 18, struggled with remote learning during the pandemic and dropped out of high school. A "graduation advocate" persuaded her to enroll in Miami-Dade Acceleration Academies in Miami, Fla.
    Josh Ritchie for Education Week
    College & Workforce Readiness Teenager Balances Family Care, Work, and Credit Recovery on a Path to Graduation
    Remote learning didn't start Gerilyn Rodriguez's academic problems, but it accelerated them.
    Sarah D. Sparks, August 29, 2022
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    3 min read