{"id":616809,"date":"2026-06-11T12:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=616809"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:52:37","slug":"outcry-erupts-over-claims-of-no-fail-policy-in-philadelphia-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=616809","title":{"rendered":"Outcry erupts over claims of \u2018no-fail\u2019 policy in Philadelphia schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A bombshell report published Wednesday has revealed that teachers in the Democratic utopia of Philadelphia are being pressured into passing failing students.<\/p>\n

Citing interviews with two dozen local teachers, the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a> reported that \u201cit is nearly impossible to fail a student\u201d because of massive pressure from district officials and school administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of kids in my class that have F\u2019s in reading, and I\u2019m probably going to pass them \u2014 I\u2019ll bump it up to a D and call it a day,\u201d one K-8 teacher told the Inquirer. \u201cI don\u2019t know of anyone who\u2019s been able to keep anyone back, and we\u2019re just setting kids up for failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201c\u2018I\u2019LL BUMP IT UP TO A D AND CALL IT A DAY\u2019\u201d \u2014 Philadelphia Inquirer
\nBy @newskag<\/a><\/p>\n

@phillydotcom \u2014 Wednesday 10 June \"\ud83d\uddde\"<\/p>\n

The story uses anonymous teacher testimonies to highlight a discrepancy between official school district grading policies and the practical pressure to avoid\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/GFXQcQp7Ug<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Paperboy (@frontpagestoday) June 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Inquirer notes that \u201con paper,\u201d teachers can technically fail students. But in reality, it\u2019s deeply \u201cdiscouraged\u201d or even outright \u201cforbidden\u201d by principals and other higher-up officials.<\/p>\n

The unnamed K-8 teacher said things weren\u2019t always like this, but changed as pressure increased to show improvements in schooling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pressure was on the schools to show promotions and graduation rates, and the district was so focused on showing data, it shifted grading, and now it\u2019s a joke,\u201d the teacher said.<\/p>\n

The big change happened in 2017, when the district reduced the grading floor to 50 out of 100 and decreed that a student can score a D with a 60 percent grade versus a 64 percent grade.<\/p>\n

The K-8 teacher also works in the service industry and said that the results of allowing anybody to pass can be seen in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see people who don\u2019t come to work on time, they can\u2019t take orders, they can\u2019t use a computer or figure things out, and this is why,\u201d they said. \u201cThey\u2019re not being held to standards for all their years in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is a policy mandating that teachers bend over backwards to try to help students who are performing poorly by, as an example, \u201ccontacting guardians, giving extra time for work, breaking down assignments, allowing extra credit, or extending deadlines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho has time to do that when you have 30 other kids?\u201d a second teacher asked. \u201cAnd the system is inherently causing laziness from teachers also, to just shut up, pass them, and you don\u2019t get grief.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third teacher revealed that so-called \u201cgrade inflation,\u201d as they call it, usually comes at the end of the year, when administrators and other officials start pressuring teachers, asking them, \u201cIs there anything you can do to bump these up?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why such pressure? To make the city look good. And unfortunately, it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district has posted academic improvement over the last several years. \u2026 The district\u2019s four-year graduation rate has also risen. In 2024-25, it was up to 84%, from 69% in 2014-15,\u201d according to the Inquirer.<\/p>\n

But it appears to be predicated on bogus stats.<\/p>\n

\n

In a decade, Philly\u2019s graduation rate jumped from 69% \"\u27a1\" 84%<\/p>\n

Dozens of teachers say it\u2019s b\/c admin forces them to pass failing students:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of kids in my class that have F\u2019s in reading & I\u2019m probably going to pass them \u2014 I\u2019ll bump it up to a D and call it a day\u201d pic.twitter.com\/cUvkuz3HbV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Neetu Arnold (@neetu_arnold) June 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all this pressure from the district to increase the graduation rate \u2014 there are so many layers to it,\u201d the third teacher said. \u201cI know that it happens in a lot of places. It\u2019s not just our school. But this year, it was huge margins and huge numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, but it gets worse. There have even been reports of administrators jumping in and changing students\u2019 grades on their own without even letting the actual teachers know. The third teacher cited an example where a student\u2019s score just shot up out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis student had a 50 yesterday,\u201d the teacher said. \u201cHow did he have an 82 today? This was a student who didn\u2019t turn in any additional work and missed 63 of 84 classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of a cycle wherein Democrats spike everybody\u2019s taxes and then waste that money on propping up failing public schools where students can\u2019t even perform basic math or writing, yet graduate anyway.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bombshell report published Wednesday has revealed that teachers in the Democratic utopia of Philadelphia are being pressured into passing failing students. Citing interviews with two dozen local teachers, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that \u201cit is nearly impossible to fail a student\u201d because of massive pressure from district officials and school administrators. \u201cThere\u2019s a bunch… Continue reading Outcry erupts over claims of \u2018no-fail\u2019 policy in Philadelphia schools<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":616810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/616810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}