The teacher and two other South Philadelphia High teachers said they especially took issue with having students sign contracts and complete packets of makeup work to pass.

"They want them to be able to waltz in, do a dumbed-down packet, and pass," the math teacher said. "That's not fair to anyone in that classroom who's been working."

The packets "in no way make up for a year's worth of work," said another teacher, who also asked not to be identified.

A third teacher claimed to have been told explicitly that too many students were failing the class.

The teacher was asked to pass anyone who passed the final, regardless of previous grades or attendance. That teacher also asked not to be identified, fearing dismissal.

"The system has passed so many of these kids along," the third teacher said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have a kid with a fourth-grade reading level in a ninth-grade class."

The second teacher said the perceived pressure "puts me in a very difficult position ethically. What do I do? This is my livelihood, my job."

Ultimately, the teacher offered the makeup work, but few students who signed the contracts are making good on them, the teacher said.

Heller said students were offered the chance to do makeup work regardless of past performance. However, they will not pass the class unless they complete the makeup work, she said.

"They have to deliver on that contract," she said. She said she had planned to implement the contract system earlier in the next school year; struggling students would be identified and asked to sign pledges early on.

Her plan stems from the district's initiatives and South Philadelphia High administrators' ideas to help students succeed, Heller said.

As for not leaving ninth graders behind, Heller said the vast majority of high school courses - with the exception of foreign-language courses and Algebra 1 and 2 - are not sequential, so students can succeed in 10th grade without having ninth-grade credits.

"For many kids, the lightbulb doesn't go on until 10th grade. Ninth grade is a rather difficult transition year, and rather than being self-defeating, we're letting them get back on track," Heller said.

The math teacher said that the pressure to pass students was widespread and that most teachers bowed to it. The math teacher is willing to "help a kid who's trying, but I won't pass a kid who's not trying.

The math teacher understands that the students come from tough backgrounds but said it was not right to give them a pass.

In the math teacher's class, half of each student's final grade is derived from a daily quiz that comes straight from homework assignments.

"I don't change a thing," the teacher said. "The kids have my home number. They can ask questions."

But many students rarely do their homework and often fail the quizzes, the teacher said.

All the teachers who came forward said attendance in their classes was poor. The third teacher said that in one class, five students of an original roster of about 30 show up.

That teacher said the class represented what was happening throughout the school: Many students don't come to school at all. Or they enter the building but skip classes. Or they've been transferred to disciplinary schools.