Graduation season is almost over, but hundreds of newly minted high school graduates in New York City have yet to recieve their diplomas thanks to a computer system glitch. Turns out that the company tasked with grading the students’ Regents exams, which are required to graduate, failed. So instead of diplomas, some students got post-it notes with their names written on them in Sharpies.
From the New York Times:
The computer system, created by McGraw-Hill Education as part of a $9.6 million contract over three years, broke down this week, leaving students and teachers anxiously awaiting results. Passing grades on Regents exams in English, science, math and history are required for graduation in most public high schools. Students can retake an exam even after the school year ends in order to get a diploma; the next round of tests is given in August.
Erin Hughes, a spokeswoman for the city’s Education Department, said the city would hire extra teachers for the weekend so that exams could be graded before the school year ends on Wednesday. She said that the problem affected fewer than 3 percent of the roughly 57,000 seniors and that each year there was a relatively small number of students who received their scores, and their diplomas, after graduation ceremonies.