When Schools Try to Cover Up Their Failures

The Wall Stree Journal ^ | June 16, 2026 5:19 pm ET | Jason L. Riley

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Social promotion and efforts to ban standardized tests are ways of shielding adults from accountability.

If you stare really hard—and maybe squint—at last week’s federal report on long-term K-12 education trends in the U.S., there is some good news. Math and reading scores among 9-year-olds have improved a little since 2022, and most of the gains were driven by struggling students. It’s a signal that those in the youngest cohort of test takers are recovering from the disastrous pandemic school closures.

The good news pretty much ends there. Among 13-year-olds in nearly every demographic group, test scores in math and reading were flat. And most youngsters continue to lack proficiency in both subjects. Standardized tests have no shortage of detractors, but these evaluations have become more important in an era of grade inflation and meaningless graduation rates.

Last week several readers pointed me to a recent investigative report in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the pressure on teachers to pass students regardless of classroom performance or even attendance. The paper said it was “an open secret that in many schools, it is nearly impossible to fail a student.” The result is a school system full of children unable to perform academically at even the most basic level.

“On paper, Philadelphia students can fail courses, or be retained in a grade, so long as they are offered appropriate interventions and supports,” according to the Inquirer. “But many teachers said that they were discouraged or forbidden by their principals from flunking students, or that they have given out failing grades that were overridden. Others said failing students was permitted if justified, but the administrative burden to rationalize failure, even for students who did not show up to school, is onerous or impossible.”

The downstream damage of promoting students...

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS:

[T.B. Yoits]

Too many people still suffer under the false notion that schools are about educating children.

[T.B. Yoits]

[1ScrappyArmyMom]

Public schools are an absolute disaster.
The teachers unions are full of woke communists.
All public schools are good for indoctrination.
Any other business would be shut down for having such disastrous results.
Home school or private school are the only sane choices.

[1ScrappyArmyMom]

Public schools are an absolute disaster.
The teachers unions are full of woke communists.
All public schools are good for indoctrination.
Any other business would be shut down for having such disastrous results.
Home school or private school are the only sane choices.

[T.B. Yoits]

[proxy_user]

“But many teachers said that they were discouraged or forbidden by their principals from flunking students, or that they have given out failing grades that were overridden. Others said failing students was permitted if justified, but the administrative burden to rationalize failure, even for students who did not show up to school, is onerous or impossible.”

This is the key point. The teachers want to teach, they want the kids to learn, but the students have found out they don’t have to do any work. All policy is made by the administration, and their policy is that everyone passes, and their school ranks high. They don’t care what is actually going on.

If a riot breaks out in the classroom, it’s the teacher’s fault for not engaging the students. The mere fact that the kids are savages who have no interest in learning is not taken into consideration.

So let’s stop blaming the teachers for what they can’t control. They are at the bottom of the totem pole, and have to put up with whatever crap their management tells them to do. Of course, many of the good ones have left - wouldn’t you?

[Vehmgericht]

Let’s not blame the teachers. But let’s not excuse the teachers. Teachers are individuals. Some are good and some are bad. Unfortunately the profession has attracted the wrong types. Most are the lowest achievers in college. Incompetence is not the only problem. There is a significant number of mentally unbalanced individuals teaching. If you want to advance in education you have to follow the ideology. You can be nearly illiterate and “earn” a master degree in education. Then you can be called Doctor. We live in a clown world.