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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Students in a crunch to make up classes they have failed are increasingly turning to packets and workshops offered by private educators.
While teachers don't criticize every program, they say some are nothing more than credit factories that leave students without skills.
Spencer Taiti, a junior at Woods Cross High School, guesses he has failed or will fail as many as 10 classes, often because he skipped class.
But the teen says he will graduate by making up all those failed credits by completing packets provided by private companies such as Layton's Northridge Learning Center.
It took a friend of his five hours to complete a similar packet, which gave her the credit she should have gotten attending nine weeks of class for about 90 minutes every other day for about $45.
"I want to get done with school the easiest way possible," Taiti said.
At a time of increasing academic standards in Utah, teachers report more students are making up credits by turning to the packets or attending workshops provided by private companies.
"All they're doing is selling diplomas," says Dan McGuire, a math and physics teacher at West High School in Salt Lake City.
When Kenneth Grover was assistant principal at West High, he saw students two classes short of credits needed for graduation make them up "miraculously" over a weekend. Nearly 300 quarter credits, the equivalent of one term, were completed by West High students through Northridge in 2005-06, West records show.
A new Utah law also has forced districts to eliminate policies that prevented students from getting credit from questionable institutions. Now, all credit from any program accredited or approved by the state or the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools must be accepted. The law does not limit how many credits can be made up outside of school.
When Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, sponsored the law, he was reacting to parents concerned that some public schools weren't accepting credits transferred from accredited private schools.
"A student shouldn't have to take algebra twice because somebody in public school thinks they're the only people who can decide if a credit is worthy," he said.
Dixie Evans, who owns Northridge and taught in public schools for 30 years, agrees the best education is provided by teachers in classrooms. But she says that's not always possible and Northridge offers another option to students who are at-risk, on probation, learning-disabled and others.
"What about students who aren't successful in a classroom situation? What do you do with those?" she asks. "Public education is mandatory in our country. We have to find some way to help these people succeed."
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
