[loneboat]

Imagine an elementary school teacher told you that many of her students had failing grades, so she had implemented a new reading curriculum.

If she told you that afterwards the failing grades had "soared", it could easily be read either way:

- The (previously failing) grades had increased, so the program must be working very well.

- The percent of grades that count as failing had increased, so the program must actually be terrible.

[littlexsparkee]

It's not the best phrasing but it's still quite clearly the latter

[loneboat]

Yeah, it was quite clear once I started reading the article. It just threw me for a loop as I read the title - Usually if I hear of grades "soaring" that's a _good_ thing.