A Brooklyn middle-school principal just made a rare admission: Her school is moving kids up a grade without the necessary preparation.
As The Post reported this week, IS 171’s Indira Mota told parents that the school had promoted their sixth-graders without the need for summer school, even though it would’ve been required “if the budget allowed.” She reminded them that kids must “attain a 75% or above in each subject.”
Kids, in other words, are being cheated. Parents (and taxpayers) should be furious.
A Department of Education spokesperson disputed that, claiming Mota was referring only to students who could’ve benefitted from summer school but were nonetheless qualified to move up.
But if that’s true, why did Mota suggest otherwise? And while it might be tempting to dismiss her comments as just a desperate, if misleading, plea for funds, keep in mind that Gotham spends a whopping $24,109 per student each year, more than any of the nation’s other 10 biggest cities.
Also remember that passing kids along who aren’t prepared is commonplace in city schools, as The Post has often shown.
The state Education Department sets the tone: Last week, we noted that students could pass some Regents tests with as little as 30 percent right — a rate that has been steadily dropping.
School officials have bumped up student grades or test scores and given them answers to tests. And half of the city’s high-school graduates aren’t considered college- or job-ready. So why do they graduate?
At IS 171, parents will have to figure out if their own kids were short-changed. If so, they’ll be among hundreds of thousands of others in city schools who are.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment