Officials in Boston are celebrating the highest graduation rates in their history after significantly lowering standards for students and hiring “equitable grading policy” consultants, according to a bombshell analysis.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) announced earlier in March that the graduation rate at Boston Public Schools had reached a new record high of 81.3%. The previous high had been 81%.
‘The increase in graduation rates is more the result of policy changes than of students’ rising academic achievement. And it comes at the expense of students’ readiness for the real world.’
“I say every day around the city that our top priority is making Boston a home for everyone, and that has everything to do with our young people, our schools, school communities, and opportunities for families in Boston,” Wu said at a press conference. “That is the story behind these numbers.”
But another story behind these numbers says that the figure just represents grade inflation and that actual student achievement results have not improved at all.
An analysis from City Journal of the Manhattan Institute found that other metrics showed no improvement despite the allegedly inflated graduation rates.
BPS students did not score any better on the math and reading portions of the SAT, according to the analysis. Math scores for lower income students declined by 5%, even as their graduation rates improved.
Reading and math scores for English language learners fell by 9% and 13%, respectively, as their graduation rates improved by an astounding 21%, the analysis claimed.
And only about 40% of BPS 10th-graders meet expectations for reading and math in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing, both of which are lower than those from 2019, it said.
While Wu claimed they had not lowered student expectations or moved goalposts to artificially jack up graduation rates, the City Journal report claimed they had done just that.
One policy had teachers assign “incomplete marks” rather than give students failing grades, and the district spent $120,000 on education consultants who advocated for “equitable grading policies.”
RELATED: School credit ‘recovery’ plans are apparently being misused for racial equity — and disadvantaging students even more
Critics are noting that many schools are offering “credit recovery” programs where students are able to make up failing grades with minimal effort, allowing them to move on to the next grade will remaining woefully uneducated.
“The increase in graduation rates is more the result of policy changes than of students’ rising academic achievement. And it comes at the expense of students’ readiness for the real world — a cost that the students themselves will ultimately pay,” the report concluded.
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