An anonymous teacher from Baltimore's Patterson High School has come forward with crucial information to support the claim that fully 77 percent of students at the troubled institution have an elementary school – or lower – reading level.
The Post Millennial has previously reported on the fact that Baltimore high school students' performance is often several grade levels below their actual grade, but new information brought forth shows us the depth and scope of the issue.
According to a Fox outlet in Baltimore, despite the fact that Patterson is "one of the largest high schools in Baltimore," only 12 of the group of students, or 1.9 percent, tested in the ninth through 11th grades were reading at grade level.
The teacher, who interviewed with both his appearance and voice disguised in order to avoid "retribution," confirmed that the school practises what's known as "social promotion," and practised it widely.
"They're pushed through," the anonymous teacher commented, when asked how kids wind up in that sad situation as late in the game as the 11th grade. "They're not ready for the workforce. They're not ready for further education."
"Our children deserve better. They really do. As a whole, the system has failed them," continued the teacher.
The scores are a matter of public record, separated from personal data of the students themselves, but school districts do everything in their power to keep them out of the eyes of the public, and especially out of the eyes of the students' parents:
"These numbers aren't lying. We truly need the families to see these numbers and to understand what it is."