Teachers Mixed on Ratings
Can't Tell Winners By Scores

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

"I saw the grade, and it felt like a knife went through my chest," said Susan Perez, who teaches at I.S. 216 in The Bronx.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'TIME TO RE-EVALUATE': Special Education Teacher Carlos Rosado said that his school, P.S. 22 in Brooklyn, deserved the low grade it received on the city report cards issued last week. 'I think it's fair,' the fifth-grade Teacher said. 'It reflects the relationship between the administration and the staff.'

"I'm glad we got a D," said Carlos Rosado, a special education Teacher at P.S. 22 in Brooklyn. "The Principal would only do things her way, and she suffered for that. Now maybe she'll re-evaluate."

Widely Varied Reactions

An almost-failing "D" grade filled some with hope and others with despair, as Teachers digested the letter labels slapped on their schools last week.

Some educators, including those whose schools scored above average, decried the emphasis on test scores and the decision not to use poverty as a factor in grades for middle and high schools. Others hoped a negative rating would light a fire under their school's administration. And some claimed they would mostly ignore the grade while making use of the vast amount of data to target areas for improvement.

"I think we got a fair grade," said Emarilis Lopez, whose Metropolitan High School in The Bronx got a B, "but I think a lot of Teachers see it as something the city is doing that doesn't have much to do with the quality of teaching."

Basis for Grades

The progress reports released by the Department of Education last week were crammed full of data on test scores, the school's learning environment and progress from the previous year. The overall score was 85 percent test scores and 15 percent attendance and responses on parent, student and Teacher's surveys. The letter grade, which will be used to determine a school's future, was calculated by comparing the school to others determined to be similar and also weighing it against the best-performing school of its kind in the city.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'SHOCKED': Susan Perez, who teaches at I.S. 216 in The Bronx, said that she thought the school deserved a B on its city-issued report card, not the D that the school received. She said the low level of parent involvement and high number of English Language Learners had an impact on her school's progress. "I was pretty shocked,' she said. 'We're not perfect, but we have a great administration and the Teachers work really hard.'

Middle schools were grouped based on the incoming students' fourth-grade test scores and high schools by eighth-grade test scores, which DOE officials said were the best predictors of students' future performance. In elementary schools, poverty, English speaking ability and Special Education status was taken into account.

Ms. Perez said that she believed it was a mistake to only use incoming test scores as the basis on which to compare secondary schools to one another. The South Bronx Teacher argued that even if her children had the same incoming scores as others, "that still doesn't mean we're on equal footing as a school in Riverdale." Most of the parents of her students work full-time, some are single parents and many do not speak English as their first language. "Most of our children don't have parents assisting them at home," Ms. Perez said, "and that makes a huge difference."

Shortened Their Days

But given that the system is in place, other instructors were hopeful that the outside evaluation would motivate their Principals to adjust their practices. Mr. Rosado explained that he was pleased thathisschoolgotaDbecausetheschool needed major changes. "If you asked the Teachers to grade how they felt at work from A to F," the chapter leader said, "they would say D."

He contended that before the current Principal came to the school, Teachers would come early to school, work through lunch and stay late. "Now, the day ends and they're out," Mr. Rosado said. He argued that if the school administration treated Teachers properly, they would go "beyond the call of duty" and that test scores would automatically rise. "If you are in a position of power and you abuse it," he said, "the test scores will suffer."

Other Teachers were not so convinced that the test scores were directly connected to motivated Teachers and a higher level of learning. "Why is a test score more important that a child feeling safe?" said Tyona Marrimon, whose school, M.S. 587 in Crown Heights, received a C. "Basing everything on a test score leaves out so much of a child's learning and intelligence."

But some Teachers who agree that test scores were overemphasized are hoping the report cards will provoke needed changes. Leigh Warre, who teaches at P.S. 16 in Williamsburg, believes the "D" grade her school received, which she thought was appropriate, will lead to change. "We've been trying to get the administration to address our concerns, and we've been met with denial," she said. "It's an outside document that we can use to bolster our concerns."

Questions Fairness

There was much outcry by parents and educators last week over schools with high-performing students who nonetheless received low grades. Jose Rivera teaches at P.S. 30 on Staten Island, where most of the students score well on state exams.TheschoolreceivedaC,justhalfa pointshortofaBscore."It'snotfair," he said. "If you have a 94 average and you don't get a 96, why should you be punished?"

But he has joined a team to help utilize the information from the massive data system to target 15 low-performing children and see if they can make progress over a period of 10 weeks. They are going to try to locate the children's learning deficiencies and if there is no improvement, Mr. Rivera believes they can then pinpoint larger problems, such as dyslexia or other learning disabilities.

But with regard to the school's grade, Mr. Rivera believes that Teachers should stick to their own evaluations of their schools - both their strengths and weaknesses.

And he's not taking the sub-par C grade too hard. "I personally am not bummed out about it," he said. "We have a good school. I know that. I just don't think the grades are useful."