Res. No. 2198

Resolution calling upon the New York City Department of Education to implement recommendations of the Comptroller to ensure that the student tracking program reflects that a student has met graduation requirements before a diploma is issued, that controls are implemented that ensure the school’s compliance with state requirements and that the system is updated regularly to reflect credits earned, grades received and attendance.

By Council Members Lappin, Barron, Brewer, Fidler, Jackson, James, Mark-Viverito, Mendez and Sanders Jr.

Whereas, The Department of Education (DOE) is responsible for providing primary and secondary education to over 1 million students, pre-kindergarten to grade-12, in more than 1,400 schools; and

Whereas, To graduate from one of the City’s 425 high schools, a general education student must accumulate 44 credits in designated subjects, pass five New York State Regents examinations, and maintain a 90 percent attendance rate; and

Whereas, From July, 2008, through July, 2009, the City Comptroller’s office conducted an audit to determine whether the DOE properly calculated high school graduation rates; and

Whereas, The audit, which was released on July 21, 2009, found that DOE needs to institute stronger controls to ensure that official records corroborate the classification of students as graduates; and 

Whereas, The audit included a review of 197 sampled graduates and found that the permanent records of one out of every 10 graduated students sampled did not indicate that graduation requirements had been met; and

Whereas, In addition, the audit found that 18% (36 of 197) of sampled graduated students received credits for passing the same course two or more times; and

Whereas, According to the audit, more than a quarter of sampled graduate transcripts had been revised - many within days of graduation, or even after the students had graduated - without adequate documentation that all transcript changes were properly approved; and

Whereas, Finally, the Comptroller’s audit found that New York State parameters for classifying students as dropouts, if not property followed by the DOE, could result in a reported rate that does not reflect the actual number of students who have dropped out of school; and

Whereas, Among the recommendations in the Comptroller’s audit is that DOE should ensure that data in the DOE transcript system reflects that a student has met the graduation requirements before a diploma is given; and

Whereas, The Comptroller also recommended that DOE should implement controls to ensure that school transcripts and the permanent records of general education graduates reflect that they have accumulated the required number of credits overall and in major subjects, and that the respective student has passed all required Regents exams; and

Whereas, According to the audit, DOE should also ensure that all grade and exam score changes made to student transcripts are permanently traceable in the DOE transcript system; and

Whereas, The Comptroller further recommended that DOE should implement controls to ensure that schools only classify students as having been discharged when the discharge has been appropriately documented, and ensure that it is properly recorded in the DOE attendance system; and

Whereas, Finally, the Comptroller’s audit recommended that DOE should implement controls to ensure that schools follow the proper protocol and follow up in a timely manner with students who do not attend school; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Department of Education to implement recommendations of the Comptroller to ensure that the student tracking program reflects that a student has met graduation requirements before a diploma is issued, that controls are implemented that ensure the school’s compliance with state requirements and that the system is updated regularly to reflect credits earned, grades received and attendance.

LS#7767

JA

9/11/09

11:55 am