For Ring, it’s bad to pass kids unprepared to their sophomore year—she still sees that as fundamentally unjust. But maybe it’s not as bad as putting them on a path to the streets. Statistics show that 9th graders who flunk two core subjects are four times less likely to graduate.

Morrow says students come to Robeson so far behind it’s unrealistic to expect them to master the curriculum the district has laid out. If he did, EVERYONE would flunk. As it is, 40-percent of freshman failed at least two of their core courses first semester. Morrow says Robeson teachers aren’t pressured to give kids passing grades.

MORROW: No. They’re challenged to come up with different ways in which they can instruct a kid, they’re challenged to come up with different ways in which they can evaluate a kid who’s come to them below level.

Teachers aren’t just adapting to students’ low academic level at Robeson—they’re also adapting to dismal student motivation and really low expectations of what it means to be a high school student. Teachers don’t hand out books because students won’t bring them to class. They change what they teach because they know so many students will be absent. They don’t assign homework.

PETERS: We would have over 75-percent of the kids would not do it.

This is Jeremy Peters, Mykelle’s civics teacher.

PETERS: And that would throw the failure rate wildly off track.

High schools across the district are under increased scrutiny this year for the number of freshman they keep “on track” to graduate. But the only way for schools to do that is to get fewer students to flunk. Paige Ponder heads up district efforts to improve the graduation rate. She says grade inflation is a concern.

PONDER: Efforts to keep kids from failing are not bad. That is exactly what we want them to do. Now do we want them to give a kid a C who never showed up to their class? Of course not. We want the grades to reflect true learning. That’s what we’re going for.

She says the district needs clearer grading guidelines—it’s something CPS is set to tackle in the coming months.

PONDER: I think it’s really been very much left up to the struggle of the individual teacher—and I think they really feel that. Especially as we really turn the spotlight on the freshman on-track rate—which is…all it is is grades.
ambi: English class So, at the point where we left off, Jack just got to Cape May, right? They’re just about to arrive in New York, where they’re going to meet Rick…

Mykelle’s teachers say he does well on quizzes and tests, and that helped him earn his passing grades, even though he’s cutting classes again. First semester, Mykelle was absent 21 days—about a quarter of all class time. He passed his courses despite a CPS guideline that a lot of teachers don’t agree with—it says students should flunk after missing 18 days in the semester. Some Robeson students missed 25, 30, even 35 days without receiving a single F.

RING: Mykelle, do you want all the make up work?
ambi: You’ve got a lot of writing, baby! You missed this whole week of school, didn’t you?!

After being out sick for nearly a week, Mykelle did four days of makeup work in about 20 minutes one day, by copying off another student in the back of class. He filled out answers to questions about a novel he hadn’t read, then called on Ring to get his grade for that work—he got a C.

RING: So, Mykelle, I want you to come to 9th period so you can read this book. And we’re going to have to go over these concepts. You’re gonna have to get that before the exam next week.

Mykelle didn’t go to ninth period—in fact, only five students did.

ambi: It’s three boys and two girls up in here!

Mykelle has learned this lesson well in ninth grade—he’s calculated how little he can do and still get a passing grade. If he keeps it up, he’ll probably graduate.