What Exactly is Makeup Work?

It has been a year since the New York State education programs began looking at credit recovery and independent study programs. According to the most recent New York Times article,

A year after reports showed that New York City high schools were offering failing students a chance to earn credit simply by completing worksheets or attending weeklong cram sessions, educators say the system of making up schoolwork is still abused, and the state is seeking to crack down on it.

At William H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn, for instance, a nearly illiterate student racked up many of his credits through after-school remediation programs. He was promoted to 12th grade still unable to write full sentences or read a line of text, his teachers said.

However, the Department of Education's chief spokesperson, David Cantor, stated the following,

“We’re not conceding that the schools were a kind of Wild West of ad hoc credit recovery on the cheap, with bizarre sorts of makeup opportunities for kids...Most schools were making a diligent attempt.”

You can read the full article here.