Boston schools made it impossible to fail then took victory lap when no one failed

Boston schools made it impossible to fail then took victory lap when no one failed


The city of Boston has been crowing over vastly improved graduation rates in it’s schools, but officials have neglected to mention the district’s recent changes banning teachers from giving failing grades.

Boston Public Schools (BPS) boasted an 81.3% graduation rate in 2025, a more than 20-point increase from the 59.1% in 2006 and an all-time high for the district. Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at a March press conference insisted the improvements were due to pushing students more, but new reporting paints a different picture.

“When students feel challenged, they stay engaged,” Wu said, according to the Boston Globe. “We didn’t get here by lowering any expectations for students who might be experiencing challenges or moving the goal posts and making it easier for people to get by.”


Despite the improvement to graduation rates, test scores in the district have remained stable, or in some cases, even declined. But several policy changes at BPS since 2020 have made it easier for students to pass by softening requirements and providing multiple opportunities to make up for poor grades, the City Journal discovered.

For instance, the district banned teachers from giving failing grades to students, instead requiring them to hand out “incomplete” marks, allowing students to recover the grades later in often softer settings, such as through online courses.

Massachusetts in 2024 even removed the requirement for high school students to pass state tests in order to receive a diploma, saying it was a “barrier to graduation.”

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