2,000 grades boosted at CPS' Hyde Park Academy :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education

2,000 grades boosted at CPS' Hyde Park Academy :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education

2,000 grades raised at Chicago Public Schools' Hyde Park Academy

SUN-TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Hyde Park Academy, which also lowered 1,100 scores, among many schools being audited

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March 10, 2010

BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters

Last school year at struggling Hyde Park Academy High, more than 2,000 grades were boosted at least one notch — including more than 870 F’s that were changed to passing marks, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows.
And this school year, blanket A’s were ordered issued to all students of five new Hyde Park teachers after the students suffered through a string of substitute teachers for most of the first quarter, a letter obtained by the Sun-Times shows.


“I would say it’s shocking that all those students got automatic A’s,’’ said former Hyde Park teacher John Kugler, who served as the school’s union delegate last school year. “There’s other things that could have been done.’’
Hyde Park is one of several schools Chicago Public School officials say they are auditing for what appears to be excessive grade changes entered into a new electronic grading system, called GradeBook, after the close of each marking period last school year.
However, Hyde Park’s numbers jump out from high school data obtained under a Freedom of Information request. Last school year, it:
• Had nearly three times more grade changes — 3,162 — than the next highest school, Farragut Career Academy.
• Had more than twice as many F’s upgraded to passing grades — 873 — as any other high school.
• Saw the equivalent of nearly one grade changed upward per student, or 2,031 boosted grades.
To be fair, an additional 1,129 Hyde Park grades were changed downward, raising questions about whether some or all of the grade changes were based on mechanical problems teachers encountered as