Philadelphia Teachers cite intense push to promote

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

The pressure to pass students - even those who rarely go to class or can't read - is pervasive in the Philadelphia School District, teachers around the city say.

The push comes in memos, in meetings, and in talks about failure rates that are too high, the teachers say. It comes through mountains of paperwork and justification for failing any student. It comes in ways subtle and overt, according to more than a dozen teachers from nine of the city's 62 high schools.

"We have to give fake grades," said a teacher at Mastbaum High in Kensington. "The pressure is very real."

A teacher at University City High described getting pressure from the school's administrators to pass a student who had 89 absences over a half-year.

Public sector fraud.