New York's elementary school students seem to be thriving - but the results haven't yet translated to middle-school success:
Nearly half of [New York City's] elementary schools made Albany's honor roll of "most improved" schools - but most of its middle schools flunked, according to new state Education Department statistics.
Statewide, about one-third of New York's 2,500 elementary schools made the state's honor roll as most improved in math and reading. That's more than 800 elementary schools - 322 in the city - showing dramatic improvement on the fourth-grade English and math exams since 1999...
By comparison, when it came to the middle schools, only six of the city's 390 sites made the list for English. Even more stunning, only nine other middle schools in the rest of the state improved enough to make the list.
The middle schools in NYC also "bombed" the math tests as well. City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is disappointed with the scores, which I assume are the result of more intensive reforms at the elementary school level. If these students are being tracked over time, hopefully we'll continue to see gains as they progress through the school system.
One NYC middle school has done well by discovering the obvious:
One city middle school bucking the trend was MS 340/North Star Academy in Brooklyn, which made both the English and math honor rolls...
All instructors at the Park Slope school are trained to be "reading teachers" regardless of the subject they teach. The philosophy is that students can't master any subject unless they can read and write - and that has paid off, Principal Gloria Dupree said.
And this philosophy isn't in place in every NYC middle school because...?
Posted by kswygert at February 24, 2004 11:08 AM