The FBI, the U.S. Department of Education, and the District of Columbia’s inspector general’s office are investigating the city’s public schools, The Washington Post reports.
The newspaper says the probe is focused on graduation practices. A report released two weeks ago by the D.C. state superintendent’s office found that roughly 1 in 3 students who graduated in 2017 were awarded diplomas in error because they missed too many classes or improperly took makeup classes.
The city commissioned the study in the wake of an investigation by public-radio station WAMU showing that one long-troubled school awarded diplomas to many students last year despite the fact that they were chronically absent. The study also found that teachers felt pressure from school administrators to find ways to graduate students, even those who did not come close to meeting requirements.
In the past year, the district has also come under fire for misrepresenting suspension rates and faced questions about the former schools’ chancellor skirting the school lottery system to help well-connected parents land their children spots in coveted schools.
