Teachers also must fill out paperwork for each failing student - a dozen pages, at least - under the district's Comprehensive Student Assistance Program (CSAP), which also requires calls to parents and meetings with other school staff.

Silverman said that while he realized that change was difficult, the new measures were crucial.

"You need to ask, 'What do I as the educator need to change in my classroom to successfully educate kids?' " he said.

But if every effort has been made to give students help and they still fail, Silverman said, then they should receive an F.

At 3,300-student Northeast High, teachers received a memo this spring informing them that they could not fail students who earned a 63 or 64 - a student passes a course with a D at 65 - unless they had an administrator's signature.

If no administrative signature is secured? "You must override the final mark to a 65," read the memo, from principal Linda Carroll and other leaders.

The Gratz teachers said they had to submit lists of failing students before grades went in. At Bartram High in Southwest Philadelphia, teachers were told they needed to fill out separate forms - in addition to CSAP documentation - for each student they planned to fail, a teacher said.

Some teachers said that when a student's grade was 60 or higher, the pressure was most acute to give that student a 65.

A Northeast High teacher reported having three students who should have failed with 63s and 64s, but that was not what their report cards reflected.

"I bumped them up to a 65," the teacher said. "It's not worth the fight. I passed them, and they don't deserve it."

Teachers say students often game the system. For instance, if they receive an 80 for the first two marking periods, they could skip the rest of the year and still squeak by with a D.

"I've had kids who've told me in the fourth marking period, 'Based on my first three marking periods, I don't have to show up at all, and I'll still pass,' " the Gratz teacher said.

It's infuriating, the teacher said.

"It's not that subtle an educational issue that the kids who work should get higher grades than the kids who don't," said the Gratz teacher.

A Strawberry Mansion High teacher also said there was increased pressure in the 540-student school to halt failures at any cost.

Like the other teachers interviewed, the Strawberry Mansion teacher supports giving students who work and are close to passing extra chances. But giving free passes to those who put forth little effort is galling, the teacher said.

"I feel pretty crappy about passing somebody that has only been in my class five or six times," said the teacher, who passed 10 failing students.

The University City teacher failed a handful of seniors, the teacher said, and has heard about it.

"They all had excessive absences. They didn't do work. They blew off the course. I've had several meetings now," the teacher said, "and my grade records have been requested."

When the teacher turned in a list of students failing one marking period, it was suggested that the grades of 59 percent of them be changed. Ultimately, the teacher said, only one student who did not deserve to pass did so.