Jane Addams High School In The Bronx Probed For Course Credit Scandal

A Bronx school in New York is under investigation for allegations of credit irregularities that could threaten some students' abilities to graduate this year.

The New York Department of Education is examining Jane Addams High School for Academic Careers and its principal, Sharron Smalls for alleged credit padding -- by giving students credits for classes they didn't take -- by "double dipping" and crediting students for two courses when they only took one.

"Clearly, there's an agenda of credit accumulation, and it certainly plays into this," Jane Addams math teacher told The New York Times. "There's tremendous pressure to get students to graduate, but what has to be understood is that they've got to graduate the right way, according to the standards of New York State. And the principal made it a point to break the rules."

Jane Addams is an F-rated school, and has long struggled with academic performance and low graduation rates. And as school administrators grappled with bringing it up from the bottom through alleged unorthodox tactics, some of the city's most troubled students are paying the price.

Students are confused about how many credits they need to graduate, The New York Times reports. About half of the school's 200 students are short on required math and science credits. Students received geography credits for tourism classes and chemistry credits for cosmetology courses, the New York Daily News reports. The school doesn't have a chemistry teacher.

"They put me in cosmetology because we don't have chemistry," 16-year-old senior Clarissa Williams told The New York Times. "This could really affect me, my graduation -- I wanted to go to NYU for criminal justice. Now I don't know if I'll graduate."

Small remains on the job as principal through the investigation, CBS New York reports. She received some of the lowest marks of any administrator in the Bronx this year on a survey filled out by teachers.

Education Department spokesperson Margie Feinberg tells the Daily News that agency officials are working with the school to examine transcripts and rework schedules so students can obtain required coursework towards graduation. Investigators are also looking into several allegations against other school officials.

The school's consistently low performance on citywide school report cards had city officials "considering phasing it out and providing students with better options," according to a Education Department statement.

In October, the city's Education Department released its High School Progress Reports for the year, which revealed a 15 percent decrease in high schools earning an A. This year, 3.6 percent of the city's schools received an F.

News of Jane Addams' credit irregularities comes on the heels of another investigation in Dallas, where an elementary school that was given "exemplary" status for academic achievement was discovered to have only taught its 3rd graders reading and math last year. School administrators fabricated scores for every student in other subjects like social studies and science.

Field Elementary School Principal Roslyn Carter is on paid leave and under investigation because she allegedly "directed and caused false school records to be created" so that teachers could focus on student excellence in reading and math -- the only subjects 3rd graders are tested on for the state-wide standardized exams. Student performance on those exams helps determine a school's status.

Comments

[Chinawanderer]

04:41 AM on 12/06/2011

Clearly, there is something very wrong with this school. Manipulating credits to ensure an essentially meaningless diplomia is scandalous. It seems as though the school and its principal are too caught up in the numbers game and have forgotten what education should be all about--learning.

But you have to wonder about the whole school system when there are schools without even the most basic requirements for education like science teachers. No one in the central office noticed that this school didn't have teachers in basic fields?

This is a crime against those students--the principal and anyone from the central office that knew this school was understaffed should be fired.

[geddy lee is a god]

10:32 PM on 12/05/2011

Schools are only concerned with test scores, manipulating data, and funding. True education is gone...now it's all about "teaching the test" and keeping numbers/scores elevated.

[Venicelady]

09:57 PM on 12/05/2011

Only 34 comments on this story, and over 2,000 (???) on the other Huffpo story about Sharon Smalls and her FB picture.

Do we have our priorities straight, or what?

[dirtydog1776]

01:29 AM on 12/05/2011

Public education caters to the lowest common denominator? What did you really expect?

[Chinawanderer]

04:44 AM on 12/06/2011

Public education which is overly concerned with graduation numbers and test score are a scandal especially when no one notices that a school is inadequately staffed.

But public education should not and does not in all areas cater the lowest common demominator and has been, historically, the path to success for a great many people.

(In your heart, you know Ayn Rand is wrong.)

[tsjwalker]

01:28 AM on 12/05/2011

I'm confused. I remember the days of being in one class room except for gym and lunch. Being taught every subject known to man. Getting spelling words, writing them 5 times each, and using the dictonary to get the meanings of these words. Every year, I was on Honor Roll and undersood what was being taught to me. In the first grade, I was on 5th grade reading level because grades 1,2, and 3 were in the same clasroom and we learned the same things. No one got left back. I mean, what has become of our educational system?

[jcm424]

04:25 PM on 12/05/2011

youre thinking of grammar school; this article is about high school. and a nyc public school aint no little house on the prarie.

[PotholesInMyLawn]

11:55 PM on 12/04/2011

We call that "dark liquid substance"... Chocolate Rain

[jimbarry1946]

09:35 PM on 12/04/2011

Why does this principal have a job?

[Charles Ossa]

09:11 PM on 12/04/2011

Only God knows how she got her degree(s) in the first place.

[lcr999]

05:22 PM on 12/04/2011

Obviously a badly managed school, and school district. How can a school not have a chemistry teacher!

[Streamline]

06:34 PM on 12/04/2011

That, too, was my first question. The next move is yours, Bloomberg.

[edtastic]

02:55 PM on 12/04/2011

When adults show a lack of ethics on this level we might as well make it a crime and prosecute them. I think it's time we hold teacher's and administrators legally responsible for their cheating and falsifying official records. It would be fair for these kids to sue the school system if they can't graduate for failure to provide the fair and equal education they have a right too. We need more parents in schools and they should have the power to report wrong doing to the superintendent. I suggest the PTA's be allowed to elect a full time parent representative twice a year that will provide external oversight of the schools activities. Schools are public institutions and it's time they are held accountable to the public they are serving. It might even help to have a student representative for the higher grades so we can foster a climate of mutual respect between teachers and students. So often kid's are being treated like cattle instead of the future of this nation. We spend so much and get the bare minimum in return.

[Americanwoman55]

02:27 PM on 12/05/2011

The board of education is responsible for much of this the teachers do little to my knowledge to decide chemistry over make-up class. No lab maybe in this school. A chemical licensing problem for the area. This is not at the principal leave though. A "F" school however start at the school board leave and a community level and trickles down. It is not at the principal level down. It takes a community with no funding, no community support, low staff esteem, etc... to get an "F', not just a bad principal, who has fun on FB. Just sayin'......

[edtastic]

09:00 PM on 12/05/2011

Bad principals ruin schools and good ones turn them around. When you see low staff morale, look to the leadership, their is your problem.

[madcityy]

02:15 PM on 12/04/2011

rotten admin folks and rotten teachers?????????????????

poor kids get it in the ear..................

[poeticjustice4all]

12:16 PM on 12/04/2011

Another confidence inspiring headline about the cheaters and liars charged with educating our children.

At what point do the defenders of the status quo have to admit, the system -- and the people in it -- have completely failed?

[PaulaMV]

05:26 PM on 12/02/2011

Clearly, the kids are the losers here. But how are we pressuring school administrators so that they have to lie to get by?

[Venicelady]

08:45 AM on 12/03/2011

Because, our Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, wants to prove to the world that he has been a successful "Education Mayor". So, administrators and teachers feel that they have to manipulate the "data" coming out from their schools in order to satisfy these requirements of the NYCDOE and the Mayor.

Students? Who cares about them, so long as the school administrators and NYCDOE bureaucrats look good on paper? Incidentally, this has been going on for years, under the stewardship of this Mayor. It's time that the real problems are addressed in this system, rather than putting a band aid on the cancer, in an effort to gloss over the very real problems in the system, such as poverty, dysfunctional families, gangs, etc, particularly in such inner city neighborhoods as where this school is located.

Does the political will exist to do so? I don't think so.

[PaulaMV]

11:23 AM on 12/03/2011

Thanks for your insight.

[foresure]

11:03 PM on 12/03/2011

Venicelady:

You are so right, with the training, education and ethics of the majority of the people in the Education Industry, setting productivity standards will only result in cheating.

Funny I haven't ever seen any suggestions from teachers relative to improving any of the problems you mention.

It seems that teachers seem to think a hefty raise for the teachers each year will automatically take care of all the problems. That and the elimination of any accountability.

[foresure]

11:00 PM on 12/03/2011

PaulaMV

You are so correct. We know that teachers and administrators, when asked to meet standards, must cheat. They have no real alternative, such as being honest.

The only possible solution is to abandon all attempts to ask any of the adults in the school system to be productive, and just guarantee them a 3-6% raise every year.

That should reduce the cheating.

[poeticjustice4all]

12:20 PM on 12/04/2011

Teachers just have to cheat! They are so pressured! They have no other choice -- and it's all the fault of [FILL IN THE BLANK].