Education

NYC High Schools Accused Of ‘Misleadingly’ Inflating Graduation Rates

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New York City high schools have been accused of inflating graduation rates as students advance without meeting grade-level expectations, according to a report by Chalkbeat and the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.

Within the New York City Department of Education (DOE) public school system, students who are on track to fail classes are receiving an “NX” grade which stands for “course in progress,” rather than an “F” and advancing to the next grade while outstanding work is completed, according to a report by Chalkbeat and the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism. For students with an “NX” grade, the coursework they are required to make up in order to pass the class has a lower difficulty level than the regular curriculum, teachers told the outlet.

Once a student completes their outstanding work, the “NX” grade is wiped completely from their transcript, the report states. By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, at least 95,000 high schoolers within the NYC DOE public school system, or 33%, received at least one “NX” grade instead of an “F.”

“Reflecting back on the policy, many educators worry it misleadingly inflated graduation rates and left some kids academically unprepared,” the report states. “Many teachers felt their hands were tied and that the system — which they were a part of — failed to support the most vulnerable students.”

More than 20% of students who received an “NX” grade in June 2021 did not complete their outstanding work, the report shows. Those students may have ended up with an “F” in those courses, as not all are required for graduation, an NYC DOE spokesperson said, according to the report.

Students who received “NX” grades still have to meet state graduation requirements, Nathaniel Styer, NYC DOE spokesperson, told Chalkbeat and the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.

“The NX grades had nothing to do with graduation rates,” Styer said.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused schools to resort to remote learning, students have suffered major learning loss; in 2022, reading levels in K-12 schools dropped to levels last seen in the 1990s, according to the Nation’s Report Card. Despite efforts to make up for the learning loss, students’ academic recovery has stalled, as one report estimates that kids need at least an additional four months of instruction to meet grade-level expectations.

The NYC DOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.