Faking the Grade -- Columbia Heights Education Campus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If these keep making news during college application season, do you think it will affect the acceptances for students at these schools? What about other DCPS high schools?

The students' transcripts are sent to the college with the application. The colleges will see exactly what the reporters saw. So no, a student with good grades, matching SAT and AP scores, and a transcript that does not show months of unexcused absences will not be tarnished by this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt this is happening at ALL schools.

And much more.
SAT's and AP's are being taken at school. Some schools (small charters for example) have no more than a dozen or so students taking these exams. It's so easy to manipulate the results which is a much serious issue than changing the attendance.

[NathanBacaABC7]

I'm the reporter that wrote this story on CHEC. I'll try to answer any questions I can about what the records show or the interviews we aired.

[NathanBacaABC7]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If these keep making news during college application season, do you think it will affect the acceptances for students at these schools? What about other DCPS high schools?

The students' transcripts are sent to the college with the application. The colleges will see exactly what the reporters saw. So no, a student with good grades, matching SAT and AP scores, and a transcript that does not show months of unexcused absences will not be tarnished by this.

I'm not certain that attendance reports are sent along with transcripts. Those are two different documents. It's up to the school to cross-check the two, not the colleges.

[Anonymous]

Why didn't they fake attendance? Why aren't kids kicked out of the school when they have so many unexcused absences? I can see plenty of parents walking them right back in the next day.

[NathanBacaABC7]

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they fake attendance? Why aren't kids kicked out of the school when they have so many unexcused absences? I can see plenty of parents walking them right back in the next day.

DCPS policy states after 10 absences a class, they get a "failure from absence" grade. 30 unexcused absences in a year nets a final failing grade. But those records are not cross-checked with transcipts to see if those policies are being violated. The Chancellor says that changed after the story broke and is in effect this school year.

[Anonymous]

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they fake attendance? Why aren't kids kicked out of the school when they have so many unexcused absences? I can see plenty of parents walking them right back in the next day.

DCPS policy states after 10 absences a class, they get a "failure from absence" grade. 30 unexcused absences in a year nets a final failing grade. But those records are not cross-checked with transcipts to see if those policies are being violated. The Chancellor says that changed after the story broke and is in effect this school year.

So we should expect to see faking of attendance records in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt this is happening at ALL schools.

And much more.
SAT's and AP's are being taken at school. Some schools (small charters for example) have no more than a dozen or so students taking these exams. It's so easy to manipulate the results which is a much serious issue than changing the attendance.

How? The tests are taken offsite and are graded offsite and the results are posted online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt this is happening at ALL schools.

And much more.
SAT's and AP's are being taken at school. Some schools (small charters for example) have no more than a dozen or so students taking these exams. It's so easy to manipulate the results which is a much serious issue than changing the attendance.

How? The tests are taken offsite and are graded offsite and the results are posted online.

DCPS administers the SAT once a year for all students. And AP exams are also taken at school. They are sent to the College Board for grading.

The College Board has stringent procedures and will sanction any test site or system that violates them — and all students scores would be invalidated. Just last spring, every student at a high school in California had their scores invalidated because the students’ desks were the wrong size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt this is happening at ALL schools.

And much more.
SAT's and AP's are being taken at school. Some schools (small charters for example) have no more than a dozen or so students taking these exams. It's so easy to manipulate the results which is a much serious issue than changing the attendance.

How? The tests are taken offsite and are graded offsite and the results are posted online.

DCPS administers the SAT once a year for all students. And AP exams are also taken at school. They are sent to the College Board for grading.

The College Board has stringent procedures and will sanction any test site or system that violates them — and all students scores would be invalidated. Just last spring, every student at a high school in California had their scores invalidated because the students’ desks were the wrong size.

Maybe DCPS should have their students take the APs offsite with the rest of the schools, if this is really true.

[Anonymous]

The only place you can take an AP exam is at a high school. It is not like the SAT.

For example if a home schooled student wants to take an AP exam they have to call around to high schools to find one that will let him join their tusents for test day.

[Anonymous]

Are there not truancy laws? Why aren’t kids and their parents reported after the max number of absences?

[Anonymous]

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they fake attendance? Why aren't kids kicked out of the school when they have so many unexcused absences? I can see plenty of parents walking them right back in the next day.

DCPS policy states after 10 absences a class, they get a "failure from absence" grade. 30 unexcused absences in a year nets a final failing grade. But those records are not cross-checked with transcripts to see if those policies are being violated. The Chancellor says that changed after the story broke and is in effect this school year.

Educator here! We just had a mandatory training on this, teacher's have NOT been allowed to fail students or follow the policy before. Go back and look at Rhee's rhetoric, which was that if a students is failing it is a teacher'a fault. We were not allowed to fail students, the only reason was due to non-attendance, though clearly Ballou missed this memo! That is why when students' take state tests, scored by outside agencies, the scores are abysmal. It will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward. Graduation rate, student test data and "happiness" at school are all used to determine the effectiveness of teachers and principals - not students' ability to master standards! Do you see how far removed from reality we have become at DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they fake attendance? Why aren't kids kicked out of the school when they have so many unexcused absences? I can see plenty of parents walking them right back in the next day.

DCPS policy states after 10 absences a class, they get a "failure from absence" grade. 30 unexcused absences in a year nets a final failing grade. But those records are not cross-checked with transcipts to see if those policies are being violated. The Chancellor says that changed after the story broke and is in effect this school year.

So we should expect to see faking of attendance records in the future.

Yes, we already have this. If a student puts a foot in the door, then walks out they have to be marked present. In fact this is a good issue to ask our reporter to follow up on... please get clarification from DCPS on how long a student must remain in a class to be marked present. We are all now required to mark attendance in the first 5 mins of class period, if the student walks out and doesn't come back they are still considered present!

[Anonymous]

Question for the reporter, can you also evaluate Wilson and other area high schools in the suburbs?