Should Schools Be Giving So Many Failing Grades This Year? Copy URL From coast to coast, school districts that have primarily served students via remote learning are seeing dramatic increases in the number of failing or near-failing grades on students’ quarterly report cards and progress reports. About a third of high school students in St. Paul, Minn., had a nonpassing grade at the end of the first quarter. Similar patterns are showing up in Los Angeles, Houston, several districts surrounding San Diego and in the California Bay Area, and two large districts near the District of Columbia—Fairfax County, Va.