NEW YORK CITY — A computer glitch caused by a city contractor tasked with automating the grading of Regents exam scores left hundreds of NYC high schoolers without official diplomas, a report says.
McGraw-Hill Education, a company contracted by the city for $9.6 million to develop a computer program for grading the final exams, among other things, experienced "intermittent slowdowns" during the grading, a spokesman told the New York Times.
Passing grades on Regents exams are required in order for students to graduate
As a result, hundreds of students were not delivered a diplomas at their high school graduation this week, like Carlton Swindell, Jr., the paper reported.
The senior instead received a Post-it note with his name on it in magic marker. "It's a bit of a disappointment, " the Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School graduate told the Times.
A spokesman for the Department of Education could not immediately be reached, but told the Times the city was hiring extra teachers to grade exams over the weekend so the scores could be tallied before the school year's end on June 26.
She added that only 3 percent of the 57,000 graduating seniors were affected by the glitch.
