Former teacher to Nashville school district: Stop managing your reputation and start protecting our kids

What This Story Is About

• Metro Nashville school administrators are publicly defending the district’s grading system after WSMV4’s “Making the Grade” investigations, in which former teachers, a school counselor and a former superintendent alleged that students received grades they didn’t earn — including through grade overrides and the district’s credit recovery system.

Why It Matters

• Former educators allege grade manipulation ties to graduation rates, with one former counselor calling the practice a “diploma mill.” The credit recovery system named by administrators is the same system used at Stratford High School, where grade falsification was documented in 2019 and is now the subject of a state investigation into claims that manipulation continued in recent years.

What Happens Next

• A state investigation into Stratford High School’s credit recovery practices is ongoing.

For Context

• Teachers, including Samira Hardcastle, along with a school counselor and a former superintendent, have documented what they call falsification of grades in Metro schools. They say the district’s intent is to improve graduation rates.

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Metro Nashville school administrators defended the district’s grading system Tuesday afternoon following WSMV4’s “Making the Grade” investigations, which have featured former teachers, a school counselor and a former superintendent alleging that students received grades they didn’t earn.

Teachers, including Samira Hardcastle, along with a school counselor and a former superintendent, have documented what they call falsification of grades in Metro schools. They say the district’s intent is to improve graduation rates.

“It has just become a diploma mill,” said Constance Wade, a former school counselor.

Former teacher describes dispute over grade change

Since her resignation, Hardcastle has become an advocate for teachers, criticizing how she says she was treated after a dispute with a parent who wanted a student’s failing grade changed after the student didn’t turn in an assignment. An administrator overrode the grade.

“If a recognized teacher of the year gets targeted and silenced, what chance does anyone else have?” Hardcastle said before the school board Tuesday.

“Stop managing your reputation and start protecting our kids,” Hardcastle said.

Hardcastle had also been critical of how the district handled early teacher complaints about Antioch High School shooter Solomon Henderson.

Dr. Leslie Wiggins, executive director of Metro Schools’ South middle schools, spoke before a board committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Wiggins addressed Hardcastle’s claims, saying that under district policy, the student should have been able to make up the assignment.

“This was not about providing preferential treatment to a student or arbitrarily changing a teacher’s grade,” Wiggins said. “It was reviewed by an executive director and ultimately determined that the principal acted in accordance with the proper policies.”

“Can a grade be changed? The answer is yes,” said Dr. David Williams, deputy chief of academics. “And when we talk about changing grades, it’s a formal procedure after the grade has been calculated and posted. An administrative grade change cannot be made without prior consultation with the teacher of record.”

Credit recovery system reviewed

Board members also received a presentation Tuesday about the district’s credit recovery system. WSMV4’s investigation found it is the same system used at Stratford High School, where grade falsification was documented in 2019. That system is at the center of a current state investigation into claims that grade manipulation continued at the school in recent years.

Stratford’s former school counselor said students who should never have been able to recover credit in the first place were given passing grades.

“I am surprised that it has continued for so long without someone really holding the district accountable for these practices,” Wade told WSMV4 Investigates.

District says grades are part of a bigger picture

Administrators said they are following state policy regarding credit recovery and argued that grades are only part of a bigger picture.

“Grades do not determine a school’s academic success. Grades are not used to evaluate schools or principals, and grades do not drive funding decisions,” said Williams.

Williams said Tuesday that graduation rates are one of the measures of accountability for the district — the same reason educators told WSMV4 that grades are being manipulated.

If there’s something you want us to know for this investigation, please email jeremy.finley@wsmv.com .