I have written about the massive academic fraud that many schools practice to artificially raise the graduation rate, especially the diploma mill high schools, that push out otherwise, failing students, unprepared into the adult world of high education or business. I wrote about the "credit recovery" courses that are simply a packet or an online course that allows students to take the test as many time as necessary until they pass. I also wrote about how some high schools gave double credits for the same course like what happened in Flushing High School or how about the infamous William Cullen Bryant High School? However, the worst abuses, practiced by most every high school in the City is called "scholarship".
What is scholarship you ask? Scholarship is when the Assistant Principal or Principal calls the teacher in for a meeting and goes over the teacher's grading book and ask why student A, B, C, and D are failing? In the school I was in last year, the Assistant Principal had teachers follow the procedures listed below:
- How many times did you call the parent, is it documented?
- Do you keep an online grading book so parents are kept up to date?
- What supports did you provide the student with?
- What do you do when a student is absent?
- Do you supply make-up work or extra credit?
Many high schools require a 80% passing percentage,including no-shows, and if the teacher is untenured, anything less will probably result in their discontinuance. For tenured teachers, especially veteran teachers who are targeted due to salary and seniority, look for the administration to give the teacher either a "developing" or "ineffective" rating. The result is that teachers will pass the failing student rather than put their job in danger. To the school administration good scholarship percentage is more important than actual student learning and teachers know this. In fact, students are not held accountable for their academic achievement only the teachers.
Is scholarship academic fraud? Well if you are passing students simply to please the school administration, knowing full well that these students will fail at the next level then yes, its academic fraud.
8 comments:
The DOE makes the teacher complicit in it's unethical immoral illegal scheme to graduate students that are years behind their current placement. These grads won't make it in college or at work. The DOE knows it, as does the UFT. If the teacher refuses to go along there will be hell to pay, with no help from the UFT.
80% ? In my school it's a 90% rate the teachers need to have
I was discontinued indirectly because of the fact principal Neil Ganesh didn't like my passage rate as he had indicated to me the year before I was discontinued. My passage rate was 70% which according to him was simply too low. So what did he do? The following year he arranged to have be discontinued by conspiring with the then newly hired AP to give me straight ineffective ratings no matter what because that was his way of getting me out of the school. It was so obvious. My advocate who had never me in person yet knew exactly what was going on.
When I worked in a junior high school, I discussed grades with a senior teacher.
I was told:
"If a kid comes to my class and does absolutely nothing, that's a zero. But if that same kid comes to my class and gives me a hard time, then I issue a negative grade. I've gone as low as negative twenty."
When I worked in a high school, I discussed grades with the Guidance AP, and objected to the minimum possible grade being 45.
I was told:
"We don't usually give below a 45, but if you want to give a 20, then give a 20."
And, according to the principal:
"Teachers who fail too many kids are really failing themselves."
I'll put myself in a time out at retirement. Kids that do nothing but disrupt my classes with no consequences but their failing grade are failing themselves. I spend hours preparing. If I bake a cake with the greatest care and finest ingredients and the customer comes in and throws his two fists in it, it's my fault? I don't think so. Let them eat their cake when they graduate, they won't like it one bit.
How dumb is the DOE? You think by now they would've figured to offer teachers a "bonus" for scholarship reports above 90%. I mean how stupid to not offer this to teachers as merit pay. You wanna see 90% scholarships? Offer the bonus baby!!!!!!
I'll be honest.
As a JhS teacher I fail no kids. None.
Lowest grade is 65 I'll put on a report card.
And you know what? Admin doesn't harass me. Go figure
To 11:17
This is my formula too. I work in a high school. I fail no one unless they never came. Admins leave me alone too. I hate the subterfuge. I loathe that I cannot grade them as they deserve, but I need this job a few more years and those teachers who fail even a few in my school get harassed to no end. I've seen teachers fired at my school because they wouldn't go along with the 'program.'
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