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The education department of New York City has been raising eyebrows among teachers over concerns it was inflating graduation rates by tanking its standards for passing high school, leaving "kids academically unprepared," according to an investigative report.
Students who are failing classes at NYC Department of Education public schools are being pushed through to the next grade level without meeting the original standards expected, according to an investigation by Chalkbeat and the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
The report comes after NYC announced in February that its graduation rate had increased by 2.5% in comparison to the year prior, which surpass most national trends.
If it was clear a student would fail, they would be given an "NX" grade — meaning "course in progress," the report said. The students will then have to make up for the coursework, which have lower standards than the original curriculum, according to teachers who spoke with the outlet.
New York City is accused of manipulation of its high school graduation rates. (Fox News Digital )
One teacher from Queens said the new material was "a joke."
"You can call that manipulation. It really is a problem of lack of transparency," David Bloomfield, an education professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, told Fox News Digital.
The grading practices were added during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to the challenges of remote learning. However, Bloomfield questions why the practice was made a permanent fixture.
"The school system took advantage of the crisis to make it seem as if students were doing better than they were," he said.
He explained, "The Department of Education took advantage of the pandemic to promote a false story of district success instead of fully meeting the needs of its students. The problem with the ‘NX’ was not that it was given initially, but it wasn't followed up with real schoolwork. And that's at the hands of the DOE."
Thirty percent of students who were slated to fail had their grades converted to "NX," according to the report. Once the student completes the work, the "NX" is removed from their record.
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Children are graduation NYC public schools with lower standards, according to a report. (istock)
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"They lowered an already low bar," said Bloomfield.
Some K-12 teachers told Chalkbeat that they felt pressure to funnel students through despite their concerns of their mastery over the materials.
"One Brooklyn science teacher alleged that his principal explicitly told staff to pass all middle schoolers outright, discouraging them from giving out NXs in the first place, even if the students had never attended class," the report said.
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The NYC DOE told Fox News Digital, "The pandemic-era NX grading policy did not change any requirements for graduation. The State Board of Regents changed graduation requirements during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, which impacted the entire state – not just New York City. The State Board of Regents has since reverted to normal graduation requirements."
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