A front page article in this morning’s New York Times, “Lacking the Credits to Graduate, Some Students Learn A Shortcut,” chronicles the growing tide of abuse of “credit recovery,” as high school principals skewer standards and undermine academic rigor in a desperate drive to raise graduation rates at any cost, the new prime directive of the DoE’s accountability system.
The schools cited in this article are the tip of the iceberg. These days, the UFT receives more and more complaints about such practices from teachers in high schools from all over the city — most of whom are fearful that they will suffer retribution if they blow the whistle in a public way.
As the article indicates, Chancellor Klein has no intention of ending this practice, or — for all of his talk of accountability — in engaging in the responsible oversight that is the first duty of the leader of the nation’s largest school district. The elimination of the central summer schools and central night schools served this purpose well: there is now no longer any central source of information, no longer any central check and balance, that would require the DoE to confront this growing problem. Klein is “shocked, shocked” that any school would abuse credit recovery.
If the NYC DoE refuses to assume its oversight responsibilities, it is time for the New York State authorities to assume their oversight responsibilities.
4 Comments:
1 MichaelB
· Apr 12, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Compared to the fraud that I’ve seen and heard about, credit recovery, as described in the article, seems downright honorable.
2 jd2718
· Apr 13, 2008 at 9:57 am
It undermines teacher authority. It undermines teacher autonomy in grading. It undermines the value of the diploma for everyone else.
It is hard to describe how insidious it is until you’ve been pressured by an administrator to revise grades, or watch a kid who failed to earn credit in your class move on to the next class anyhow.
Jonathan
3 MichaelB
· Apr 13, 2008 at 4:26 pm
We all know the problem is far worse than what was reported. I’ve suggested before on this blog that we set up our own teacher surveys, as an alternative to the chancellor’s, and that one or more of the questions should deal with the integrity of the grading process at our schools. No one from the union has responded to that suggestion.
4 Selective Accountability in Joel Klein’s Credit-Recovery Schemes | Edwize
· Apr 13, 2008 at 11:10 pm
[...] may or not be true. Either way, Joel Klein’s credit recovery schemes, reported in the Times and covered here by Leo Casey, are even worse than a race to the bottom. They are a tearing up of the entire track. [...]