MACON, Ga. — Georgia is helping to make at-home learning easier for students since COVID-19 closed schools.
Anthony Jones with Bibb County Schools tells us about some of the policies they've adopted to help students stay on track for the next school year.
"We did receive the federal confirmation of the approval for the waivers, so for the end of the year, all of our end of the year state testing and CCRPI have been waived," Jones said.
He explains what that means moving forward.
"We're not going to have all those nice accountability reports that show parents where their students were. Were they reading on grade level, what's their lexile level, how did they compare to other students across the state, across the nation -- so we've asked teachers to work with the students to reinforce the standards that they've taught," Jones said.
They're using some of the Georgia Department of Education's suggestions to simplify eLearning.
"Bibb County has decided that we're going to not do any harm. So what we mean by that is we're not going to harm students' grades so much as after March 17th. We ask teachers not to give zeros for grades that have not been turned in," Jones said.
They also listened to parent feedback about workloads and juggling assignments for six subjects everyday online.
"We've come up with some schedules where we're trying to modify the amount of assignments they get each week. Certain classes will give assignments and teachers are available on certain days, so we've had to adjust ourselves," Jones said.
They hope students can advance to the next grade level without any problems.
"We appreciate our parents for supporting us, our teachers for doing great work, and our administrators for keeping things going. So school's happening, that's the main thing, and it's going to happen until the end of the year," Jones said.
The closings are affecting graduation ceremonies too.
Jamie Cassady with the school district says they're working with the state to find the best way to give their seniors the recognition they deserve, while still following the Centers for Disease Control's safety guidelines for COVID-19.
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