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Credit recovery: Is it a second chance to pass or permission to fail?
Jeremiah Dickerson, THE BELL, Chalkbeat
Dec 12, 2025, at 5:11 pm EST
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This originally aired on The Bell’s Miseducation podcast.
Thousands of New York City students rely on credit-recovery programs to earn the course credit they need for the next grade or graduation. But do these second chances to pass give the system permission to fail?
A 2018 audit at a Brooklyn high school found that 96% of recovered credits were improperly awarded, exposing how uneven oversight and underqualified instruction can shortchange students.
In this episode, I share my own observations, along with my classmate Hawa’s firsthand experience navigating credit recovery. I also sit down with Shante Martin, a Williamsburg Charter High School administrator who sees the program’s promise but also proposes changes such as limiting eligibility to seniors and raising the minimum grade requirement for a student to enter credit recovery.
A genuine second chance shouldn’t mean cutting corners. If credit recovery remains part of our school system, then it must deliver on the education it promises.
This is a video-first episode. You can watch it now on YouTube.
Miseducation is The Bell’s flagship podcast, which gives New York City public high school students the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.
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https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025/12/12/how-credit-recovery-programs-help-or-hurt-students/