GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

 I think your words are somewhat paranoid, but I understand your concern with having students be such a large determinant in teachers being granted tenure, etc. I suspect, being in special education, that the amount of teachers interested in something like special education will drop significantly, since the students often do not perform very well and/or grow much from one year to the next.

the story about the 3 yr olds going to tutoring made me sad on so many levels. i understand the intense pressure the middle and upper middle class parents feel to get their children into the gifted and talented programs and the best elementary schools, but this just further highlights the gulf between the haves and the have nots, who also want the best for their children. i have had parents almost make me cry at parent teacher conferences, asking what more they could do for their children, because they truly want to give them the best education possible, but are poor and live in a bad neighborhood and don’t know what to do.

for the past two years, i have had at least one student get into bronx science. last year, the student didn’t want to go because when he went to the orientation, he was so intimidated by the fact that he was one of what felt like only a handful of latinos. i am so happy that he ultimately decided to go, because i know his life will be changed. but, where is the equity? my students have never had special tutoring and prep programs that pave the way for them to ace these tests. i have many wonderful students, who if they had been born to rich parents, would have had access to all these opportunities. who knows how many of them i would be sending off to bx sci then? 

The School Progress Reports are not a reliable way to compare schools, even within a given year.

Not if you’re interested in comparing schools across the city, across a borough, across a school district, etc., etc.

Why?  The grades — even within a given year — still rely on a) year-over-year “progress” (so by definition, they’re not single-year items), and b) the grades are based on metrics defined by “peer groups.”

So… if anyone thinks an “A” school in what might be a weak “peer group” is a better school than a “B” school what might happen to be all-G&T kids from well-off neighborhoods, I have a bridge to sell you.