Eager to boost graduation rates, New York City principals let students “recover” credits for classes they failed — often because they didn’t bother to show up. From the New York Times:
Dennis Bunyan showed up for his first-semester senior English class at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem so rarely that, as he put it, “I basically didn’t attend.”
But despite his sustained absence, Mr. Bunyan got the credit he needed to graduate last June by completing just three essay assignments, which he said took about 10 hours.
“I’m grateful for it, but it also just seems kind of, you know, outrageous,” Mr. Bunyan said. “There’s no way three essays can possibly cover a semester of work.”
Bunyan’s English teacher, Charan Morris, agrees.
. . . she boycotted the graduation ceremony, writing in an e-mail message to students that she believed some were “being pushed through the system regardless of whether they have done the work to earn their diploma.”
Principals can design their own credit-recovery programs. Some offer intensive catch-up classes during break weeks; others let students complete independent-study packets or online assignments.
A (Bronx teacher) . . . said a program there let students earn a year’s worth of science credits by responding to 19 questions on 5 topics. “Research and list all the global environmental issues that science focuses on,” read one, under the “environmental studies” category. “What are some ways that you, as an individual, can help?” read another.
Teachers complain classwork and grading are devalued, and say students aren’t learning the work habits they’ll need after high school. Students who go to class and do the work feel like chumps.
Why does this feel like one of those “Send $500 and an essay on your life’s experiences to receive a diploma” deals?
-Mark Roulo
I like the question about environmental problems - for science credit - even better. “Research and list all the global environmental issues that science focuses on,” read one, under the “environmental studies” category. “What are some ways that you, as an individual, can help?” read another.”
Uh, where’s the science knowledge?
Welfare is taking money from people who earn it and redistributing it to people who don’t earn it…Giving credit for work not performed is not the same form of charity; it’s dishonest. Principals who support this behavior have sold their educational souls to the “graduation rate” demon who belittles the efforts of honorable educators. Charan Morris protested the policy in the only way she could, short of turning her back on her vocation. Her boycott is meaningless; however, without the overt support of other teachers, and especially the students who earned their diplomas through hard work and self-discipline.
Unfortunately, the prinipal-manager-bean counter-administrator population may be irreversibly malignant in public education. Some of them may admit to having an incurable disease, yet they lack the courage to kill themselves, so, I fear we’re stuck with them until the cancer finally overcomes the patient.
Look to your own districts and you might have an unpleasant surprise. My affluent suburban district is implementing “credit recovery” as well. One way to make up ninth grade English includes showing up for four weeks and passing one multiple choice test which isn’t actually based on any specific literature taught. This minimal standard is used despite that during the regular year students are required to do multiple papers and a research paper or project every semester.
Students can also take credit recovery classes online in which a typical “essay” response is required to be only four sentences long.
If anyone asks, lowering the standards this way is referred to as “doing whatever it takes” as a professional learning community or blamed on the unfortunate requirements of NCLB.
Apparently people believe the taxpayers are paying us simply to award credits rather than teach anyone anything.
We’ve become a society where identity is valued more than accomplishments… our current crop of heroes are immature, selfish train wrecks from Hollywood. Is it a suprise that having a diploma means more than earning it or that sax or race mean more than experience in Presidential elections?
All of this is tied together.
This seemed sort of quaint to me. I haven’t run into anyone for quite a while who is still taking seriously the old-fashioned idea that a high school diploma should indicate some mastery of knowledge or skill.
Mark: The only difference between this and one of those “Send $500 and an essay on your life’s experiences to receive a diploma” deals is $500. That might require the kid to work at something to earn the money, if not the diploma.
Rather than forming a team to look into the underlying causes of why little Johnny doesn’t come to school, or why our teaching methods are so disengaging for so many students, a team has been formed to look into why credit has been earned by “at-risk” kids.
School isn’t about learning work habits, but academic achievement. I have no idea what the “credit recovery” plan is, but I sure approve of any plan that takes away power from teachers to assess students. They do a very poor job.
Best would be to allow students to substitute a test performance for a grade.
“Best would be to allow students to substitute a test performance for a grade.”
Perhaps a letter entitled “How Cool I Am” could be substituted for a diploma?
Cal, learning work habits and academic achievement are mutually supportive. Your feelings on teachers job performance notwithstanding, assessing students is not a “power” teacher’s wield, it is instead, a learned and practiced skill.
Our district is trying to change its lousy graduation rates and this is one way they do it. Of course, I seem to remember that the reason we now have exit exams in California is because the public said graduates didn’t know anything when they left high school. How does credit recovery fix that problem?
And Cal, who do you think should assess students? It seems to me that the state has pretty much taken that over with all the standardized tests.
Cal,
I’ve got no problem with credit by examination, but you’ve got to make sure the examination really measures something.
When the test standard is too much lower than the local school’s standard, you’ve got a problem.
Should a high school student get credit for a writing class, for instance, without doing any writing?