Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today released the first-ever Progress Reports on the City's public schools. Based on the searchable listing published by the NY Times today the local primary / middle school earned a “B” grade.
Double click the above image to enlarge it.
Per the official news release issued by NYC the grades are based on three major categories including:
“….school environment (15%), student performance (30%), and student progress (55%). "School environment" includes the results of surveys taken by parents, students, and teachers last spring, as well as student attendance rates. The "student performance" category measures actual student outcomes-whether elementary and middle school students are proficient in reading and math and whether high school students are graduating. "Student progress" has the highest weight because it measures how schools are helping students improve year-to-year-gains in reading and math proficiency for elementary and middle school students, and credit accumulation and Regents exam pass rates for high school students.”
I will admit I am a bit confused by this scoring system. When I was a kid in school passing was a 65 or better. Or was it 55? Either way how a 59 warrants a grade of a "B" makes no sense. The new math?
As per the Gothamist: "The Daily News' Errol Louis likes the report cards, Diane Ravitch doesn't and Inside Schools explains what the different components, from the grade to other factors like "student progress," mean. You can download the Excel file of grades here (XLS)."
Links:
New York Times article re City Issued Report Cards
Inside Schools.org profile of 217
Inside Schools Blog
NYC Public School Parents Blog
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I think they give out letter grades on a curve. The scores ranged from -0.45 to 104.4. It looks like it is more an open scale at the bottom and the top.
ReplyDeleteThat said those grades are pretty much useless when you want to have a quick look at how good a school is and how it compares to others. 55% of the score is about student progress, a very relative measurement as part of an absolute number. Schools that are known to be very good (see yesterday's NY Times) got a C or a D and schools that are known for very rowdy student body, for example, got an A.
I really don't know what we should make out of those grades. If you really want to know how a school fared you have to read the complete report.