Some CAPA students got fake grades, and parents are getting mixed messages about it

Amid parent, student, and teacher concerns about myriad issues at Philadelphia’s High School for Creative and Performing Arts, one pressing concern looms as the school year ends:

What about the fake grades?

Multiple parents and teachers with knowledge of the situation told The Inquirer that some math classes this school year went months with no instruction but that students got grades that were seemingly plucked out of thin air — an 89 for one marking period, an 80 for another.

» READ MORE: CAPA will get a retired principal back amid ongoing turmoil that includes an intruder entering the building

Between the affected math classes and a freshman physical education class in a similar situation for months, nearly 300 students — about 280 students — were affected, more than 40% of the student body.

When some students and families raised concerns, they were given various answers — the grades wouldn’t count, or they could be removed, but not until the end of the year. They were told that this person could fix it, no, that person, or that the grades couldn’t be changed. Some students received incompletes for a physical education class that had no teacher, but students in algebra and precalculus class got made-up grades instead of incompletes, despite having no instruction for months.

All of the dozen people interviewed declined to be named publicly. Since The Inquirer first reported last month on CAPA’s turmoil, those suspected of speaking out have faced reprisal.

But those interviewed detailed a complicated, troubling picture of the situation at the historically well-regarded magnet school — some students languishing without teaching or assignments, haphazard policies, appeals to officials about incorrect information on kids’ records with no recourse, concerns about knowledge gaps, and fallout for untrue grade-point averages on college applications.

“Everything is completely messed up,” one teacher said.

Monique Braxton, a spokesperson for the district, said the district was aware of the parents’ and students’ concerns “in a limited number of math classes.”

Braxton said that grades have been “confirmed and entered into the grading system, which parents may access and review to ensure that students are being graded on the work that has been completed.”

District leaders “have met with the administrators and families at CAPA to resolve the issue,” Braxton said. “We always appreciate the opportunity to engage with our families to make sure students’ experiences are positive.”

Some parents, students, and teachers who spoke to The Inquirer say some grade records have been corrected, but only after appealing to the district; others say their issues still have not been resolved.

Amid a national educator shortage, the school year began with CAPA down a math teacher. The Philadelphia School District’s teacher vacancy rate has improved slightly year over year, with 96.7% of teaching jobs filled as of this April. But that still means that about 300 classrooms had no permanent teacher.

Some of those empty posts were staffed by long-term substitutes, but students in schools across the district said that while some long-term subs teach, others do nothing.

The first long-term substitute who filled the algebra and precalculus vacancy at CAPA had prior math experience and taught, giving assignments and grades, but left after the first quarter.

No teaching happened in the second quarter, according to multiple students, teachers, and parents; there were various substitutes, but no lessons.

“Math class became a free period,” said one parent. “Someone came in and told them that they should watch math videos. Some kids just wandered around.”

“There was literally no instruction whatsoever,” a second parent said. “There was a teacher, a substitute teacher that took attendance, and that was all that would happen. The kids would just sit there and talk, or leave the classroom to go to another teacher’s classroom.”

In some classes, no videos were even assigned.

The school’s principal, Alonzo Fulton, determined that students in the affected math classes would all get grades of 89 that quarter.

“The number was truly out of thin air, there was no explanation,” said one teacher.

Some students and families began complaining, the teacher said.

“I wrote a letter saying, ‘Where is this grade from?’” said the first parent. Her child “has been telling us it’s a free period, they’re not learning. We’ve been asking questions, not getting answers.”

A third parent said she talked to Fulton about the grade.

“He had said that grade is not going to count towards the final grade, don’t worry about it — Term Two didn’t count because there was no instruction,” the second parent said.

Families who complained generally had students who would typically have earned grades higher than 89, said the teacher.

“They were saying, ‘Why did we get this grade when we didn’t even do any work? This is going to destroy my GPA,’” said the teacher.

Administrators told families that the second-quarter 89s would not count but said there was no way to remove them, many said. Internally, administrators said whatever students earned in the third marking period would duplicate as both second and third marking period scores.

But that plan didn’t work; there was no teacher for part of the third marking period, and when a teacher was hired, he had no computer, access to curriculum, or ability to formally record attendance for weeks.

When it came time to record third-quarter grades, students were given a grade based on the single quiz they had been given, though only some pupils took the quiz. The quiz grades were calculated by the teacher as a ratio — 28 out of 30, for instance. Administrators took that quiz grade and translated it to either a 70, 80, 90, or 100.

Four students got third-quarter grades higher than their quiz scores, 36 stayed the same, and 120 grades dropped, according to someone familiar with the matter. District officials were notified, but there was no response.

Eventually, school officials added a more seasoned math teacher to the algebra classes to help with instruction, and work has been assigned in recent weeks.

But this has mostly been a lost year, one student in one of the algebra classes said.

“I haven’t learned anything, and I had to take the Keystones,” the student said of the statewide exams in 11th grade that are a graduation requirement. “I didn’t know really anything on it.”

But students in precalculus still aren’t getting adequate instruction, according to multiple sources; their teacher is not equipped to teach that class, and there is no one else assigned to help.

The lack of precalculus instruction is particularly worrisome, some parents said.

“These are 11th and 12th graders who are taking the SAT, who are preparing for college, and this is a critical time for them; some of them want to take calculus next year, and they’re not going to be able to do that,” said the second parent.

A fourth parent, whose child is in one of the algebra classes, said she was not pleased at first but trusted school officials to do the right thing.

“I thought, they’re on it, they’ll get it figured out. But it kept going and going. And now I’m really worried. What do you do — hire a tutor for after school? But I don’t need tutoring. I need someone to teach my kid from scratch, and that’s expensive. It’s really concerning to be at the end of the year and realize this never got worked out,” said the algebra parent.

Families said they were told that their children should not re-take the math class because it would look bad on transcripts. Some were told that summer courses or outside classes were a possibility.

Others were told that next year’s math classes would be restructured to incorporate missed concepts.

It’s still not clear what will happen with the incorrect grades that remain. Parents and students say they have been told that they will be fixed by the last day of school, Friday.

“But that implies that they received instruction and assignments most of the year, which is unfortunately not the case,” the third parent said. “That’s fraud.”

The third parent said she has had plenty of back and forth with the administration about her child’s grades, to no avail. Everyone interviewed said the messages they have received have been inconsistent and sometimes contradictory.

“There’s been ongoing problems at CAPA; it’s so much worse than I thought,” the third parent said.

That parent said Fulton explained the second-quarter grade to her this way: “He said, ‘for Term Two, if that grade helps your student, we’ll keep it. If it doesn’t help, it will go away.’ But that’s actually fraudulent.”

(In 2013, a CAPA principal was removed from the school after allegedly giving out fake grades.)

Math classes aren’t the only ones that have had no teacher. Ninth graders have had a series of subs for physical education and health. They were given incompletes for the second quarter that turned into 50s — the lowest grade the district can assign, because it does not give zeroes. Some of those 50s have disappeared, but some remain.