Failing NYC Students Get Credit For Sitting In Their Seats

[matcom]

<snip>

"Seat-time credit," a policy that allows failing students to earn points toward passing a class just by sitting in their seats is treated as an acceptable practice in city high schools two years after Mayor Bloomberg declared the end of social promotion in lower grades.

The policy, which city Department of Education officials say is allowable under state regulations, says failing students may pass as long as they have good attendance and complete an independent project assigned by their teacher. Some teachers are criticizing the policy as veiled social promotion that allows schools to hide failure rates.

"We don't think you should get credit for just being alive," the United Federation of Teachers high school representative, Leo Casey, said. "It just seems to be a way for students to accumulate credits without actually doing the work."

The Department of Education's director of labor policy, Daniel Weisberg, says the policy has long been a fixture in the education system, and there's nothing wrong with it.

"All kids have to demonstrate standards," he said. "The rub here is, how does the kid demonstrate it: they go to class, they take the test, they may get the standards in all the time. Other kids may need to demonstrate their knowledge in different ways."

Mr. Weisberg said the policy gives teachers the freedom to work with students struggling to pass conventional assessments if they can show they've mastered the knowledge and skills covered in the course by completing, for example, a research project. The type of alternative assessment is left to the teacher's discretion, Mr. Weisberg said. The Department of Education does not track the number of students that pass classes using seat-time credit.

"This is good teaching practice," Mr. Weisberg said. "If you only do one size fits all, you absolutely will lose kids who are capable of meeting the standards."

http://www.nysun.com/article/45560

[philosophie_en_rose]

1. They have to complete an independent study project.

Good attendance is only part of the equation.