Baltimore City Schools has new policies this school year to ensure the grade on a student’s report card is the one they earned. The changes follow five years of FOX45 News investigations into allegations of grade changing and a damning report from the Maryland Inspector General for Education.
Now, with the first quarter of the school year complete, the new policies are going to be put to the test.
It was 2017 when Project Baltimore first interviewed teachers who were scared to identify themselves on camera but determined to sound the alarm.
“Some earn the grades, some don’t,” stated one City Schools teacher in August 2017.
“When we see things like grade changing, that’s self-serving. That’s not helping the kids,” said a Calverton Elementary/Middle School teacher in October 2017.
One after another, the teachers spoke with Project Baltimore about the pressure to pass students who had not completed the necessary work. In some cases, their students failing grades were changed to passing by City Schools administrators. And it wasn’t just teachers. Concerned parents came to Fox45 News too.
“My son is really in desperate need of tutoring in math,” said Baltimore City parent Gregory Gray. “And, how did my son pass if he didn't know none of this math? They pass them; they just passed them along.”
After FOX45 News sued the school system in 2017 for withholding public records related to grade changing, the judge ruled in our favor saying the school system knowingly and willfully broke the law.
As a result, Project Baltimore received thousands of internal emails from Baltimore city schools which showed a culture of pushing students through the system. The emails showed examples of teachers saying they were pressured to round up failing grades to passing.
In 2019, following Project Baltimore’s initial reporting, City Schools passed a new grade changing policy, which included additional training for grade reporters and required principals to notify teachers in writing before student grades are adjusted. But did it work? Apparently, not.
Earlier this year, Rick Henry, the Maryland Inspector General for Education, released a report that found between 2016 and 2020, City Schools changed at least 12,542 failing grades to passing. According to the IG, at least 3,000 of those improper grade changes occurred after the 2019 policy was put in place.
“The allegations are very strong. And, you know, to pass students along or just round up the grades, it's it does a disservice,” said Henry in a June interview with Project Baltimore.
The inspector general believes up to 10 percent of students at some schools may have graduated when they should not have. His report called for a full audit of City Schools grading practices, which the district has refused to allow.
“To me, it would show that they're continuing the same practice now, in this particular school year,” said Henry.
In response to the IG findings, the Maryland State Department of Education requested City Schools provide an overview of its grading policy and a plan to make sure grades are accurate.
The school system’s response to the state is seventeen pages. And details what City Schools is doing to improve the grading system.
Starting this school year, North Avenue announced new checks and balances so that “no single school staff person is solely responsible for any aspect of the grading entry.”
Grade reporters must now be “certified instructional employees.”
As far as the rounding of grades, there’s a clear line. A decimal of .4 and lower is rounded down, and if the decimal is .5 or more, it is rounded up. So, a failing grade of 59.5 will automatically be rounded up to a passing grade of 60.
When Project Baltimore first began interviewing City Schools teachers in 2017, they tried to blow the whistle, saying grade changing, which we now know is pervasive throughout the district, hurts students more than it helps them.
“You’re doing a disservice to the kids,” said an educator in August 2017. “When they get out there in the real world, they cannot compete because they are not prepared.”
It took five years, but perhaps what these teachers wanted will finally happen.
“I want to see the students at Calverton, and other schools across the city, get a fresh start. And it’s going to be hard because the students are used to this now. But the students deserve better, and our city deserves better,” the Calverton teacher told Project Baltimore.
While City Schools will not allow an outside audit of previous school years, in their reply to MSDE, the district did agree to an audit of the current 2022-2023 school year. By next year, FOX45 News should know if this most recent round of grade changing policies worked to ensure students received the grades they actually earned.