Metro

Principal bent testing rules: sources

A Bronx principal knowingly broke testing rules and ordered math instructors to teach science in a bizarre bid to show that all of his eighth-graders could earn high-school credits, sources said yesterday.

Aspire Preparatory Middle School principal Steven Cobb faces disciplinary action for flouting state and city requirements that students fulfill 20 hours of lab work before they’re allowed to sit for the Living Environment Regents exam.

Teachers told Department of Education investigators that none of the 190 test-takers met the eligibility requirement in 2010-11 because science lab had been offered for only a few months.

“He wanted kids leaving his middle school to leave with Regents credits,” said a source. “He wanted to impress the DOE.”

Teachers also said a number of math instructors complained that they weren’t comfortable teaching science but that Cobb simply told them to “figure it out.”

The sixth-year principal told investigators he believed any teacher was capable of following the science curriculum, according to the investigative report.

“Of course I couldn’t comment,” Cobb told The Post outside his Bronxdale school.

Roughly 35 percent of Aspire Prep students, or 67 out of the 190, passed the Living Environment Regents test last year.

The year before, only 33 students at the school even took the exam.

Despite Cobb’s efforts, Aspire Prep received an “F” grade from the city for the 2010-11 school year.

It was named to the city’s list of “persistently dangerous” schools earlier this year, and was approved for phase-out in February.

Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan, Natasha Velez