How Not To Grade High Schools

WARGA, CRAIG NYDN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Graduation isn't everything

How not to grade high schools

Re the Daily News guide to New York’s best high schools: Graduation rates alone are not the only thing that makes a good school. In fact, as a former NYC high school teacher, I am very wary of schools with rates that are too high. I have seen students pushed through and graduated who can barely read and do arithmetic.

Regents exam scores are skewed so that a 65 on an Algebra test is the equivalent of 29 (or less) raw points out of 100. Students who don’t pass the first time have the option of doing a few online problems or going to a two-week after-school program to make up the course they missed. Teachers are pressured to pass everyone. People should wonder why specialneeds students with 70 IQs are suddenly getting Regents diplomas.

A better guide might be a look at courses offered and the number of students taking these courses. Of course college acceptance rates are important, but knowing if these students will have to take and retake remediation courses before they can begin a path to a degree is also important, probably more important. Linda Silverman

The above article was in the Voice Of The People in today's Daily News.  It was in response to a supplement to the paper announcing the 50 best high schools in New York City.  After years of teaching at Packemin, I know first hand how meaningless graduation rates are. Before I retired I administered a credit recovery program that began with very high requirements and ended up being a joke as the kids just did not do any work.  I was ashamed to have to sign off on it. I have heard of  students graduating with credits earned by having friends and teachers do assignments online for them.  I have heard of special education students who can barely read or do arithmetic getting regents diplomas and have heard of students simultaneously taking 2 courses-signing in for one and attending another, all with the APs approval.

Needless to say, I and most other teachers in the city that care about education were thrilled to see the above in the headline of today's Voice Of The People.

How An A School Keeps Its A

Several years ago I was given a double class of seniors who had at most one math credit.  The school needed them to graduate on time and it was my job to get them to pass.  They were given two credits for the class.  Many were taking the exact same class during the evening and in late afternoon school.  (Multiple credit while learning nothing different.)

I spent the first semester trying to teach them math, along with how to answer the questions just using a calculator.  The second semester I just concentrated on getting them to pass, emphasizing that I was not teaching them math, just skills to get through.  I told them they would need remedial courses in college as they were learning little in class.  Most didn't care.  But, the regents exam is a joke and 27 out of 28 passed.

I occasionally run into these students at the community college.  I am greeted warmly with much enthusiasm and I greet them the same way.  When we talk I find out they are floundering in college.  Math was not the only subject they got through knowing nothing.

Our A school kept their A that semester.  We had a high graduation rate.  No one cared that the kids were prepared for nothing.  No one cared that these kids graduated with ruined lives.  The school was highly rated, the admins got their bonuses and no one cared about anything else.