Fixing the Numbers

I recently read an article in the New York Times that discusses an incredibly dodgy practice that denies struggling students education while increasing the graduation rate and test score statistics for schools. The process of “discharge” as it is called is a practice whereby students leave the New York City public school system before graduating. The practice of discharge seems to be somewhat different from the process of dropping out because on record it is made to appear that students who are discharged have transferred from New York City public schools to another school system, rather than showing that in reality they have failed out or dropped out of school. Critics of the practice assert that low achieving students are being coerced to drop out of school and no such transfers are taking place. Moreover, critics have become more alarmed as of late because of a tremendous spike in the percentage of 9th grade students who are reportedly being discharged from New York City public schools. According to a spokesperson from the City Education Department of New York City, these findings are “of serious concern, as the goal of the public school system is to provide all students with the support needed to persist and successfully graduate from high school. Schools may be responding to accountability incentives to discharge students earlier in their high school careers.” Clearly, the practice of discharging students does not work to service the needs of those whom the system is designed to help.

This practice of discharge reminds me of some of the more insidious practices that occur in Baltimore City. All too often I have heard about certain students with behavior problems becoming the recipients of special “incentives” or cutbacks that are really designed to benefit a school’s record. For example, there are the myriad of cases of undocumented suspensions—or “cool off” days—that are designed to hide the true number of suspensions a school has. Additionally, there are the “half days” that certain students who pose behavior problems (not documented by an IEP however) are allowed to serve in order to allow schools to keep certain students out of the building while maintaining attendance percentages. While these practices might not appear as worrisome as forcing a student to resign from their school career, not holding students accountable for their actions and failing to maintain high expectations for student behavior will, in the end will, produce a student population that is not capable of meeting rigorous graduation requirements.