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September 7, 2012

Five city schools earn ‘Blue Ribbon’ honors for their test scores

by Philissa Cramer, at 2:59 pm

Two city charter schools and three city public schools were among just 20 schools in the state and fewer than 300 nationwide that today found out they earned “Blue Ribbon” status from the U.S. Department of Education.

The designation is given annually to schools in each state that meet certain performance standards. It does not bring any financial rewards, but it considered a feather in the cap for schools that earn it. Schools that win get a plaque and are expected to share their strategies for success.

To be nominated, schools must have top scores on state tests. They must also not have any achievement gaps within their student bodies. And after they are nominated, they must complete lengthy applications that includes short essays about their curriculum, their leadership, and how they measure success. New York State was allowed to nominate 19 schools.

The five city winners are Bronx Charter School for Excellence, P.S. 34 in Brooklyn, P.S. 191 in Queens, P.S. 203 in Queens, and Harlem Success Academy 1. This was the first year that any city charter schools took home the honor.

In at least a third of the schools each state nominates, a minimum of 40 percent of students must be considered “disadvantaged” according to federal guidelines. All of the city winners except for P.S. 203 fell into that category, along with just one other school in the state.

New York did not nominate any schools for a designation honoring improvement, nor did any middle or high school in the state win accolades.

City charter school advocates said the addition of charter schools to the winners’ roster showed that the sector was meeting high performance standards.

“This first time recognition for New York City charter schools is further evidence of their success at building great teams of leaders, teachers and staff that deliver outstanding results,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, in a statement.

“This Blue Ribbon Award goes directly to our exceptionally hard working and talented teachers and amazing scholars whose intelligence, great skill and love of learning surprise me every day,” HSA 1 Principal Jackie Albers said in a press release from the Success Academies network. Success CEO Eva Moskowitz is set to congratulate students from the school, the first in the network, at the end of the school day.

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  • Pogue

    “This first time recognition for New York City charter schools is
    further evidence of their success at building great teams of leaders,
    teachers and staff that deliver outstanding results,” said James
    Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, in a
    statement.

    Do charters get to cream?  Do they remove kids who are a bad fit and send them to regular public schools?

    I just wonder…EVERYTIME I read about the “success” of a charter school.

  • Pogue

    “This first time recognition for New York City charter schools is
    further evidence of their success at building great teams of leaders,
    teachers and staff that deliver outstanding results,” said James
    Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, in a
    statement.

    Do charters get to cream?  Do they remove kids who are a bad fit and send them to regular public schools?

    I just wonder…EVERYTIME I read about the “success” of a charter school.

  • NYC Mom

    I would like to see the amazing curriculum and teacher development at Success Charter Schools replicated in poor-performing NYC Public Schools. Then every child would have a great education. For that to happen we need to give Principals control of their budgets/hiring/firing and maybe even extend the school day to help kids get ahead. Thoughts?

  • Tarheels9900

    They absolutely do not get to “cream”.  They serve a high number of students with special needs, and pull from a completely random lottery. Please do not put quotes around the true success of charter schools.

  • Z111m

    BS loads of special needs kids are showing with IEP’s up at their local zoned public schools from charter schools who don’t want them….I know because Ihave to welcome them AND TEACH THEM!!!

  • Pogue

     Was this an advertisement?

  • http://twitter.com/leoniehaimson leonie haimson

    We know that Success Academy charters push out kids all the time; we hear from parents about this frequently.  Here’s one whose story was published and documented in the NYT: Charter School Sends Message – Thrive or Transfer http://goo.gl/Sv5Nx

  • Guest

     ”every traditional public school that is housed with a Success charter
    has more special-education children as well as students for whom English
    is the second language”

    New York Times, July 10th 2011

  • Guest

     ”every traditional public school that is housed with a Success charter
    has more special-education children as well as students for whom English
    is the second language”

    New York Times, July 10th 2011

  • Gideon Stein

    Leonie, you keep talking about that one Sprowal case (and all communication and evidence supports Success’ position, not Ms. Sprowal’s). It’s more than four years old. Success has hundreds of kids with IEPs, several schools with 12-1-1 classes, CTT classes, etc. Saying Success pushes kids out all the time is irresponsible and patently untrue.

  • Gideon Stein

    Leonie, you keep talking about that one Sprowal case (and all communication and evidence supports Success’ position, not Ms. Sprowal’s). It’s more than four years old. Success has hundreds of kids with IEPs, several schools with 12-1-1 classes, CTT classes, etc. Saying Success pushes kids out all the time is irresponsible and patently untrue.

  • Stefan Koster

    So what do I make of this Blue Ribbon Award in comparison
    to this:

    New York City schools also made up a good portion of the
    state’s list for top-performing schools, called “Reward and
    Recognition Schools.” Of the 250 schools on this list, 55 were from New
    York City. These are schools that have either made the most progress on student
    achievement and do not have significant achievement gaps.

    Aug.30, 2012 (http://gothamschools.org/2012/08/30/state-names-city-schools-to-improve-or-close-by-15/)

    In the world of rankings, what am I, as a parent, to believe? Are we now saying that HSA I, located in D3, is a “better” school than either D3’s PS 199 or Anderson, the city’s top G&T program. Please… 

  • Student

    Go PS 203! Go PS 203! Go PS 203! It is a place I want to be!

  • Yes We Can and We Will

    Success Academy Harlem 1 is an EXCELLENT school on par with some of the most prestigious G&T programs (including Anderson), which by the way does select its students. Nothing wrong with that  I’m all for choice. The real difference between Anderson and Success Academy is that  49% of our kids are poor  (79% of them black, 18% latino), vs. only 5% poor and 59% white at Anderson. So you find impossible to believe that poor black and latino kids can do as well as white affluent white kids when they have access to same educational opportunities and high academic expectations? I find this view pretty offensive. But anyway, you don’t have to believe anything I said, you can check the fact by yourself if you are really interested:

    http://projects.nytimes.com/new-york-schools-test-scores/counties/new-york/districts/new-york-city-district-3/schools/harlem-success-academy-charter-school  http://projects.nytimes.com/new-york-schools-test-scores/counties/new-york/districts/new-york-city-district-3/schools/anderson-school

  • Tiredofyou

    How many special needs kids are in the program and what happens to kids who can’t keep up?
    i want an honest answer and it has nothing to do with children who are black or latino.

  • Larbi-hanin

    congratulitions charter school for excellence my son is so happy because he study in this school.

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