Seek Fine-Tuning: Report Cards Still Backed by Unions

Seek Fine-Tuning:
Report Cards Still Backed by Unions

Education union leaders last week remained broadly supportive of the city's new policy of issuing school report cards, even as they raised concerns about aspects of them.

ERNIE LOGAN: Not perfect, but a start. "This is not perfect," said Ernest Logan, the president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. "This is the first time anyone has done something about accountability, which we support. It's not a definitive model, but it's a start."

Surprising Grades

Last week's release of letter grades assigned to every city school provoked controversy among parents and educators as some traditionally high-performing schools received D's and F's. Other schools struggling to push their graduation rates above 50 percent received A's. The grades were calculated through a complex series of factors, with the most weight given to improvement on standardized tests. The union leaders expressed faith that the Department of Education was trying to make the system fair but questioned some of the results. They also cautioned that the grades should not be used in a punitive manner.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: 'Use data constructively.' "It's imperative that we use the data to inform instruction rather than punish schools," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in a statement.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has threatened to use the data to close failing schools and/or remove their leaders. "There will be consequences for nonperformance," he said at a briefing prior to the release of the reports. "There will be changes in leadership; schools will be held accountable based on their performance, as well as other factors that we may want to consider."

'Shouldn't Be Gotcha'

Mr. Logan emphasized that there was a process in place to review Principals' performance that still needed to be followed. "This is about a partnership with the DOE, CSA, and the UFT, working together," he said. "This is not about a 'gotcha;' it shouldn't be about a 'gotcha.'''

Ms. Weingarten also argued that the reports should rely less on standardized test scores and incorporate more aspects of a school's environment, such as class size, safety and whether a school provides access to college-level courses, music, art and physical education.

She asserted that the formula to calculate the grades and the ways in which schools were being compared to one another "still leave too many parents and educators questioning their accuracy."

As an example, some advocates pointed to P.S. 35 on Staten Island. About 87 percent of the school's students passed last year's state reading test, and 98 percent passed the state math test, but the school got an F, primarily because its students did not show sufficient improvement on the tests.

'Clean Up the Bugs'

Mr. Logan also noted that the city's and state's assessment systems were not aligned, which could lead to confusion over how "progress" was assessed. "I've been hearing from my members that there are many, many issues with the reports," he said. "If we do this again next year, let's see if we can make it a better model and clean up some of the bugs." About 23 schools are still under review after educators challenged some of the data.

School scores were calculated by looking at student progress on test scores (55 percent), overall performance (30 percent), and attendance rates and parent, Teacher and student surveys (15 percent). Graduation rates, credit accumulation, and marks on state Regents' tests were included in high schools' progress and performance scores.

Schools were then compared to 40 others that were considered similar. Elementary schools were grouped according to racial background, poverty level, English Language Learners and Special Education status. Middle schools were grouped by their fourth-grade test scores and high schools by their eighth-grade test scores. Two-thirds of the grade came from comparison by cohort and one-third came from comparison to the highest-performing school citywide of its kind - elementary, middle or high school.

Bonuses Riding

School-wide bonuses for UFT members in selected schools will be based in part on the report cards, as will bonuses for administrators.

Graded on a curve, about 23 percent of schools received A's, 38 percent got B's, 25 percent earned C's, 8 percent earned D's and 4 percent got F's. Queens had the highest percentage of A elementary and middle schools at 32 percent, while Manhattan had the highest percentage of A high schools at 26 percent. Every high school on Staten Island scored at least a B.

Schools that earned A's and scored well on their quality reports last year will receive additional funding for agreeing to serve as demonstration sites for other schools. Schools that earned D's or F's will have to submit an action plan to show how they will improve.

Progress Reports are available by school at www.nyc.gov by clicking on "Find a School" and then clicking on "Statistics" on each school's Web page menu.