John Dewey, one of the city’s dwindling number of large high schools, was once hailed as a national model of progressive education, but by the late 2000s it was struggling with increasing violence and sharply declining graduation rates. The Bloomberg administration tried to close it in 2012 but was prevented from doing so by a lawsuit.
It did, however, replace the principal that year, bringing in Kathleen Elvin, who had previously founded a praised small high school. Since she took over, the percentage of students graduating in four years has increased, to 79 percent in 2013-14 from 72 percent in 2011-12.
But last year, the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the city’s school system began receiving complaints about courses at the school in which students made up credit for classes they had failed. Some alleged that administrators pressured teachers to pass students in these courses or told them to pass students based solely on attendance. That office referred the complaints to the Education Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which conducted the inquiry.
