Muted response to Regents' call for credit recovery comments

New York State education officials kicked off a statewide information-gathering tour in Brooklyn on Wednesday about a controversial practice: credit recovery.

Credit recovery involves a variety of alternative academic programs used in schools to offer students a way to make up credits for incomplete or failed courses. It has been lauded by city officials and principals, who have used it as a way to help both failing students and advanced students earn credits that were otherwise unavailable at schools to them.

But critics in New York City have accused Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Education principals of abusing the policy to juke citywide graduation rates, a hallmark accomplishment of his administration. Last year, the city audited about 60 city high schools’ data, including how many credits they issued through credit recovery practices, but has not yet released the results.

The State Education Department formalized the policy in 2010 with a regulation that allows students to gain credits without meeting “seat time” or attendance requirements in limited circumstances. But Associate Commissioner Ken Slentz said on Wednesday that state officials had grown “concerned” that the policy was “not meeting its original intent.”

Testimony from two former teachers, and education expert, and anonymous letters from educators read by parent activist Leonie Haimson appeared to confirm Slentz’s concerns.

They described how principals used credit recovery to boost their schools’ statistics and how students opted for it as an easier way to collect credits.

“Unfettered discretion for principals, who are themselves graded based on the number of credits students earn each year, does not work,” said Marc Korashan, a retired teacher who was active in the UFT’s leadership.

Some credit recovery programs lack rigor, the testimonies said, and others were offered inappropriately. Students at some schools earn credits for completing online gym classes, one educator said. Speaking after testifying, another even described encountering a student whose transcript from a previous school showed seven credits for physical education classes in a single year.

“Allowing credit recovery to address deficiencies piecemeal is an adult-created shortcut which is a disservice to struggling students,” said David Bloomfield, an education professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Bloomfield called for abolishing credit recovery entirely, but others said they thought it could be a useful practice if it underwent major reforms. In fact, the purpose of the town hall meeting, which Regent Kathy Cashin hosted and Chancellor Merryl Tisch attended, was to solicit suggestions for how to overhaul the state’s credit recovery regulations.

Only about two dozen people attended the event at St. Francis College. Slentz said the Brooklyn town hall was the first of several he planned to make on a tour of New York State to solicit advice and insight from educators on how the regulation could be adjusted. He said he expected an updated regulation would be presented to the Board of Regents this spring and in place by September.

Department of Education officials contend that the use of credit recovery happens far less than critics allege. At a City Council hearing on college- and career-readiness last month, Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky said just percent of credits earned last year were through credit recovery.

Grace Zwillenberg, principal of John Adams High School, testified in support of her schools’ credit recovery programs. She said her school offered a variety of programs — over the weekends, on vacations, before and after school, as well as online — and said they were necessary for students who had fallen behind because education was not a priority earlier on in their lives.

“I think the kids sometimes wake up late and really need the opportunity to make up for the lost time,” Zwillenberg said. “Those kids have the right to make up full credits.”