Schools Report Cards Released
Perhaps the kerfuffle over Brooklyn Heights’ PS8 will be mollified by the other news about New York City schools: lots of ’em earned A’s. Nine of those A’s came from schools that had been marred by F’s the last time around, the NY Times reported, including Clinton Hill’s PS270, which the Post reported rose to…
Perhaps the kerfuffle over Brooklyn Heights’ PS8 will be mollified by the other news about New York City schools: lots of ’em earned A’s. Nine of those A’s came from schools that had been marred by F’s the last time around, the NY Times reported, including Clinton Hill’s PS270, which the Post reported rose to sixth place overall. We poked around ourselves on the New York City schools’ Web site, where you can scour the records of your neighborhood school. Here’s what we found:
· Park Slope’s much hyped PS 321 received a B: A for school environment, C for student progress and B for student performance;
· Boerum Hill’s PS 261 earned a C: C for student progress, and B’s for environment and performance;
· The Slope’s PS 107, home to “Readings on the Fourth Floor,” earned a solid A in all categories;
· Clinton Hill’s PS 11 earned a B: a C in environment and progress and an A in performance;
· Cobble Hill’s PS 29 earned a C, with a D in student progress, and A in environment and a B in performance.
More New York Schools Get A’s [NY Times]
Clinton Hill School Goes from F to A [NY Post]
Photo by bitchcakesny.
Interesting to see that PS 10 in the South Slope, which has been gaining notice as one of the Park Slope-area up-and-comers, got the highest elementary school score in Diestrict 15 (by a significant amount0 and one of the highest scores in the city. (The reports go into much more detail than the letter grades.)
Will be interesting to see what kind of impact these scores have on real estate values in certain neighborhoods.
Thanks Biff. I’ve been busy sewing my jewelry into the hems of my clothes (as my Aunt’s mother did before fleeing Hitler’s Germany) and stuffing my mattress with money. I’m a little rattled to be living in such “interesting” times, to say the least.
A good point well taken, Sam. The issue I take with this grading system is that it turns on the ability to score well on tests, moreover, a certain kind of test, and when the test is emphasized above all else, important educational elements get lost: a spirit of inquiry and exploration, the willingness to experiment and perhaps fail, independent thought, research. Please don’t misunderstand, I am not so niave as to think that the basics can be shuffled aside, in fact, I think a commitment to the basics from the beginning of life is essential (0-3 being the foundation of a lifetime of learning).
I am not an educator nor an expert by any means, but I am a parent of a small child and an avid reader, and I see this grading system as just another piece of the sickness that pervades our public school system. I just finished reading Paul Tough’s “Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America,” which is about the creation of the Harlem Children’s Zone, and found it inspiring and deeply heartbreaking in equal measure.
I think it is human nature to blame the test and the test giver when one flunks. But the purpose of the test is to expose, a little bluntly it’s true, how well the school is teaching the basics and how much progress it is making. I think the formula was devised so as to give schools in poorer neighborhoods the incentive to improve and get an “A” for that effort. What’s so wrong with that?
PS 8 failed miserably on its own. It didn’t need the Columbia University test formula. I read it got a score of 16. Many schools got scores in the 80’s and 90’s.
The BOE reallly needs to address the problem at PS 8 and first, it needs to address the depth of denial of the parents. Everyone I have spoken with is blaming the chancellor and the administration for an unfair evaluation of their “excellent” school.
Architerrorist, I wouldn’t be surprised if your theory was at least partially valid.
I_haz_TWO_toilets, nice to see you back! We missed you.
It’s a corporate model. I’ve been a desk jockey since 1994, and this grading system is analogous to the yearly reviews we generate. I was told very early in my career that, although I was doing a fantastic job, there’s no such thing as getting a perfect review, because then there’s nowhere to go but down. With this kind of blunt tool, there’s no way to measure (or a limited way to measure) sustained achievement. It requires constant growth. In any event, many factors make a school great, beyond test scores.
I truly believe that the system, among many other things, is designed to take pressure off overcrowded, popular schools, like 321 in the Slope, by making neighboring schools seem more desirable.
Even putting aside all of the strong arguments against this absolutely ridiculous rating system included in the various articles on the subject, just the fact that “nine of those A’s came from schools that had been marred by F’s the last time around” speaks volumes. Does anyone truly believe a school and its students can turn around like that in one year? As John Stossel would say, “GIVE ME A BREAK!”
Carol Gardens, to your point, from the NY Times article Wednesday, “…And since the school’s overall report card is based heavily on student progress — 60 percent of its rating is based on how students test from one year to the next — students with nowhere to go but down, even if just a few points, would falsely suggest that the school was in decline.”
If you decide to uproot your family from one zone where the school received an “F” this year to a school that received an “A”, best of luck that the reverse doesn’t happen the next year. (full disclosure – I live in BH – home of PS8; still an excellent school by all sane measures)
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. Am I reading this correctly? The emphasis is on “improvement” so if a school with really low scores improves they get lots of credit, but a school with consistently has great test scores might not increase them as much percentage-wise so they end up with a worse rating? Or am I not getting this? Also ratings are “adjusted based on demographic peer performance”. Huh?
I am a very happy parent at ps 11. Clearly the grades are kind of nutty. A C for progress but an A for performance. I guess when you already get and A -progress is going to be hard to come by. I would also have to take issue with the idea that the environment is a C. The school is very welcoming, great art on the walls (an artist friend who I toured a ton of schools with always focused on the art- if it all looked the same she pointed out that the art teacher was stifling creativity- very diverse art on the walls at 11). Again in terms of environment I know that I felt an steady gain in positive energy last year and this year it’s even better.