Thompson: The Credit Recovery Wars Heat Up In NYC

Eric Nadelstern, in his recent SchoolBook editorial, reports that one-third of New York City students fail three or more subjects, often because they were absent, cut too many classes, and/or failed to complete their assignments.

Done properly credit recovery can be beneficial but my students correctly dubbed it as "exercising the right click finger."  Typically, credit recovery teaches the lesson that learning is unimportant and just getting "passed on" is the purpose of schooling. In response to these criticisms, however, Nadelstern reacts as if the state shot his puppy: "The response among opponents of this administration to credit recovery is about politics, not about students. To be sure, there were some principals and teachers who, unable to promote student achievement through other means, corrupted credit recovery efforts in their schools by lowering standards. These individuals need to be identified and held accountable for their malpractice, including by loss of employment."

From what I read, Nadelstern used to be a toughtful and caring educator.  In this post, as in his venomous attack on dissenters in his recent Center on Reinventing Public Education report, "The Evolution of School Support Networks in New York City," Nadelstern sounds like an embittered casuality of the accountability wars.- JT(@drjohnthompson) image via.

Comments

[Bruce]

The credibility of the system as a whole is coming into question, including by insiders who should best know its true value. NYC appears to be on the wrong path, which has generally become true of the education reform movement.

[Sarah]

It’s true. Most schools these days seem to take credit recovery lightly, as a way to keep passing rates high and avoid suspicion.

[Nic]

The whole education system seems to have an issue of corruption. Passing on students just to meet quotas does not fix the problems. This type thinking probably exists in more states than New York, but it needs to be corrected. Looking good on paper does not work in reality if the reality is the opposite.

[Bruce]

One solution to better align reporting requirements and accountability statistics with student outcomes is to track the latter. A good use of data and modern technology would be to keep track of students following their high school graduations, to survey them six months later and find out how well they're doing, and in particular how well prepared for college they were or if they've been able to obtain gainful employment and how happy they are in that. Currently our accountability systems track data that is mostly irrelevant to the students, that is, test scores that have no bearing on their futures.

[new york city]

This is a really too bad news that one-third of New York City students fail three or more subjects, often cause they were non-existent, cut too many classes, and/or failed to complete their assignments. although we are know that education is the backbone our nation. it help us for develop our skill. so all of the student should be attentive towards the study.

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[Outdoor Plastic Furniture]

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