Grades

The Department of Education released its schools report card today. By and large, the local schools fared very well, almost without exception earning strong As and Bs. The one exception is the much-maligned PS 84 (Jose de Diego), which lives up to its reputation with a D. 84 has been the subject of a nasty fight between one group of parents (generally newer residents) pushing for a “progressive” curriculum and another group parents (generally older residents) and the teachers favoring “traditional” education approaches. Based on this report card, it looks someone needs to focus on basic quality, pedagogy be damned. Unfortunately, this will probably not convince the traditionalists and teachers that change is needed, and its also going to do nothing to stem the tide of progressives to private or out of district schools (including 132).

From the Times:

A “not insignificant number” of those F schools, and even some of the 99 schools that received D’s, could be closed or have their principals removed as soon as this school year, Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference announcing the grades. He added: “Is this a wake-up call for the people who work there? You betcha.”

Here’s the local rundown (by no means comprehensive, I’m sure I missed some):

PS 13 (Roberto Clemente, S3 & Keap) B
PS 17 (Henry Woodworth, N5 & Driggs) B

PS 18 (Edward Bush, Maujer & Leonard) A


PS 31 (Samuel Dupont, Meserole & Guernsey) A


PS 34 (Oliver Perry, Norman & Eckford) A

PS 110 (The Monitor, Driggs & Monitor) B

PS 132 (Conselyea, Manhattan & Metro) A

PS 184 (Jose de Diego, S1 & Berry) D
PS 250 (George Lindsey, Montrose & Manhattan) B


JHS 50 (John Wells, S3 & Roebling) A

JHS 126 (John Ericsson, Leonard & Bayard) D

El Puente Academy HS (S4 & Roebling) B
Automotive HS (Bedford at McCarren) “under review”

Harry van Arsdale HS (N5 & Roebling) does not appear on the list that I can see (it may show up as a series of mini schools).

Some caveats: The rankings appear to weight very heavily performance on standardized tests, which is different than academic achievement; they also give weight to schools that have shown year over year improvement. The grading was on a curve, so 60% of the schools received As or Bs (50 received Fs, and 99 received Ds).