Well, this is disturbing: The City Comptroller's office audited ten high schools in the city and found that they did not report 41% of the violent/disruptive incidents that occurred. Schools are supposed to file information about incidents, which range from vandalism to assaults, through a computer system so the state has the information, part of the No Child Left Behind law. The state then uses that information to determine which schools are dangerous, persistently dangerous, etc. more ›

After the Daily News revealed that a school officials actually forbade school deans to call 911 (in order to lower crime stats) only for a 14-year-old student who suffered a stroke to wait 90 minutes for medical attention, the Department of Education is launching an investigation. The News now reports that Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will launch a probe, saying, "We'll look into it and take appropriate action." more ›

If you have kids, we sure hope they like taking tests. Not only do they face regular tests in classes, but the city is set to expand their regimen of periodic tests for the 1.1 million students in the city's public schools. The tests, which the city is paying $80 million over five years for, will be administered 5 times a year for students in the grades 3-8 and four times a year for high schoolers. Students in the 3-8th grades are only taking periodic tests 3 times a year now, while high school students don't take them at all. While the tests currently cover only math and English, they will be expanded to include science and social studies. The new system will also allow for faster feedback on student performance and for administrators to track teacher and student progress. more ›

President Bush visited New York City yesterday to encourage Congress to reauthorize his No Child Left Behind program. Bush gave a speech at the Harlem Village Academy school and praised its founder, faculty and students and emphasized the importance of the NCLB Act. Bush made it a point to visit all eight classrooms and shake every student's hand, prompting one student to tell the Sun, "I think it was the best day of my life," and a teacher to ask Bush for more money to be added to NCLB. more ›

President Bush is taking his No Child Left Behind Act education platform to Harlem today, with an afternoon visit to the Harlem Village Academies charter school on West 144th Street today. Yes, that's what all the traffic and security is for- as well as the lack of garbage cans. The school and Department of Education are proud that Harlem Village Academy was selected; founder Deborah Kenny tells the Sun, "We take in kids that are really struggling, but they just get better and better, and stronger and stronger." more ›

A report from the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice says that many city middle schools are "pathways to failure." Ouch. The group also has some damning statistics: Though 50% of white students can read at eighth grade levels, only 25% of Hispanic and African-American students can (and only 22% of eighth grade students at high poverty schools can read at eighth grade levels). From the Sun:

Accelerated math courses are offered at 57% of high-performing schools, which have higher proportions of white students and lower proportions of high-poverty students, and only 17% of low-performing schools, which tend to have more minority and highpoverty students. Among teachers at the low-performing middle schools, 25% weren't highly qualified under No Child Left Behind requirements, compared to 17% at high-performing schools.

There's an interesting story and graphic (above) in the Post today about public school teachers. Though the city has been attempting to hire more minority teachers, very few minorites are teaching students. Over 71% of public school students are black or Hispanic, but only 33% of the teachers are black or Hispanic. And recruitment of black and Hispanic teachers has dropped in the past years. Why is this a problem? Well, a 2004 National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force study finding: "Students of color tend to perform better – academically, personally and socially – when taught by teachers from their own ethnic groups." more ›

Officials all over New York got some bad news yesterday: Reading and writing scores of students drop dramatically between fifth and sixth grades. State Education Commissioner Richard Mills said, "Despite improvements in elementary school over the past several years, the Grade 3-8 results show substantially lower achievement starting in the sixth grade. The neediest children require more support. The problem is literacy in the middle grades. These results demand improvement in curriculum, instruction, and professional development.” And it's going to be a big problem - here's the NY Times on the federal issue:

The steady erosion of student achievement through eighth grade offers a particularly bleak outlook on New York State’s chances of meeting the goal of No Child Left Behind, which seeks 100 percent proficiency in reading and math among all categories of students by 2014 and imposes sanctions on schools and districts for failing to make annual progress.

Did the sidewalks and subways seem a little more crowded this morning? See more yellow school buses? That's because New York City public schools are open for the 2006-2007 school year. This year, the Department of Education is continuing to change, most notably with one-fifth of school principals becoming more autonomous (aka "empowerment schools") - they'll have more oversight over budgets, no more superintendents, but needing to meet DOE's performance goals. Here that principals with supers? You're empowered. more ›

Interesting statistical news from the Department of Education today regarding the state of our city's public schools. Under the so-called No Child Left Behind act 185,016 New York City students in 287 schools were eligible to apply to transfer from their underperforming schools this year - that's about a fifth of the students in the charge of the DoE. But while the number of children eligible is up from the 183,960 who were eligible last year the number who actually applied to do so (10,832) is down from last year (11,011). Of those who applied, 6,451 have had the move OK'd by the DoE with 90 percent being allowed to choose their new school. While the DoE is definitely breaking the law by only allowing roughly 60 percent of eligible students to transfer it should be noted that they managed to do much, much better this year than last. In 2005 only 3,614 of those who applied were allowed to transfer and of those only 80 percent were allowed to pick their new school. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg, you remain an enigma wrapped in a mystery, cloaked in a conundrum. Our mayor, who recently said he'd support Joe Lieberman's independent bid for Senate, wrote an editorial in the Washington Post about the No Child Left Behind Act with Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Clearly, Dubya isn't talking all the calls from Jebby these days. Bloomberg and Bush's editorial outlines how the NCLB Act could be more meaningful and effective, and Bloomberg's involvement does make sense, since he has trumpeted himself as an education-minded mayor (though it's unclear whether or not his policy changes have resulted in real progress). The two Republicans propose four "lessons" for Congress as they reconsider the act:

- Make standards meaningful. Ensure that every state sets a high standard for proficiency. The existing law left room for states to define proficiency levels, and some have dumbed them down to create the illusion of progress. We need a uniform measuring stick... more ›

The Board Department of Education got a bit of black eye yesterday when it was announced that 17,710 students in the Department's charge are likely to be held back a grade next year. But that's not even the big issue. No, what critics are harping on is the fact that of those 17k students 8,921 of them are fifth-graders, from the same class who did "surprisingly well" last year as Bloomie was heading into mid-term elections by riding on his education record. To put some numbers on to this, last year 8.6% of fifth-graders were at risk of being held back at this time. This year the number is at 15.2%. more ›

Gothamist remembers many things about elementary school...paper airplane experiments, painting murals in art class, playing the clarinet (poorly). What would our education have been without all those exciting activities that reached beyond reading, writing and 'rithmatic? Well, it would have been an education under George Bush's No Child Left Behind policy (not so affectionately called 'Every Child Left Behind' by many educators). Nationwide, schools are cutting everything but the basics in order to satisfy the reading and math times called for by NCLB. Wait, let's clarify...schools that are testing low are making cuts. Yes, UWS and Park Slope, your kids are fine. more ›

Did you notice that it's an election year here in NYC? Oh, you did. So you've probably also noticed that education is being touted as one of the "big" issues? Yeah, us too. So it'll probably come as no surprise to you that this weekend, the first after public schools started and the last before the democratic primaries, has a flurry of edu-centric stories floating around. Of those stories the two main ones are that fewer city schools are on the "failing" list this year (424 total vs. last year's 457) and that Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is pushing for the State to lift its cap on the number of charter schools allowed in the city. more ›

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At the same time, Senator Charles Schumer says the federal government owes NY State schools about $1.1 billion in money from the No Child Left Behind Acts as well as Individuals with Disabilities Act. The Daily News spoke with one teacher who will personally spend $1000 in supplies for her Brooklyn class. The article also notes that while cause for the shortfall is unclear, the funds need action from local government, so Gothamist can only hope that the Department of Education has is bothering the right people on the Hill about this money. more ›