GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A student at Forest Hills HS was arrested after the “Harlem Shake” went awry. (YouTube/DNAInfo)
• Folks in D.C. are getting more pessimistic about the prospect of common tests. (Curriculum Matters)
• Israel’s schools for ultra-Orthodox students are getting tests, unlike in Brooklyn. (YNet via HuffPo)
• Discuss: Is the quotation on a KIPP teacher’s door offensive or inspirational? (Gary Rubinstein)
• Chicago school officials have stopped disclosing whether murdered teens are students. (WBEZ)
• A union activist says his ire at the UFT’s leaders started with their school closure response. (Ed Notes)
• Thousands of California teachers don’t have credentials to be in the classroom. (Ca. Watch/Hechinger)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo won’t be able to penalize New York City for failing to adopt teacher evaluations while a lawsuit against the penalty makes its way through the courts, a State Supreme Court judge ruled today.

The judge said Cuomo’s latest ultimatum — that the city adopt a system or have one imposed — proved that a financial penalty was not the only way to motivate districts to adopt new evaluations.

Cuomo announced last year that he would withhold increases in state school aid from districts that did not adopt new teacher evaluation systems by Jan. 17. New York City missed the deadline, and Cuomo said he would take back $250 million from the city’s schools.

But parents and advocates of equitable school funding sued, and a judge today issued an injunction against the penalty, at least until he has had more time to consider the merits of the lawsuit. (more…)

M.S. 45 eighth-graders Ciara Shack (L) and Karla Lorenzo (C) and sixth-grader Eliza Fuentes (R) do an impromptu step cheer at a hearing about the school’s proposed closure. They chanted the school’s motto: “M.S. 45 going down the line, we gotta get an education to survive.” (Photo: Carey Reed)

A citywide sprint through dozens of public hearings about the Department of Education’s plans to close, open, and move schools this year continued on Wednesday with spirited meetings at multiple schools.

At M.S. 45 in East Harlem, which the city wants to close at the end of the year, supporters said the school was on the verge of turning around after years of poor leadership. Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, on the chopping block for the second time in a year, got praise for serving its many immigrant students. And at the Tilden Campus, also in Brooklyn, students and teachers argued that three schools’ success could be undone if a new charter school moves into the building.

The hearings are a required part of the city’s process to close or open schools. The Panel for Educational Policy, which has never rejected a city proposal, is set to vote on the plans March 11.

M.S. 45

Frustrations ran high at M.S. 45 S.T.A.R.S. Prep Academy as community members pleaded with city officials to allow the school’s current principal more time to continue making improvements. (more…)

Of the country’s five largest states, New York had the highest percentage of low-income students score proficient on a national exam. But the state’s scores did not compare favorably across the board.

New York State students’ scores on a test known as “the nation’s report card” have not risen as quickly as scores in other large states, according to a new report.

The report compares student performance in five states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a biennial assessment administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. The reading, math, and science tests are considered the only reliable yardstick for measuring educational progress across states.

In 2011 — the last time that fourth- and eighth-graders took the tests  — New York was one of only two states to post significant score declines since the previous test administration. (New York City’s scores were flat.)

The new report shows that New York has also posted smaller gains over time than most “mega-states.” The states are California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas, and with New York, they enroll 40 percent of the country’s students. (more…)

Assistant teacher Miguelina Valeria takes attendance as students exit the bus at Manhattan’s P721 Wednesday.

Five weeks ago, what happened at P721 in Manhattan on Wednesday would not have seemed extraordinary: Yellow buses pulled up by the main entrance and assistant teacher Miguelina Valerio took attendance and greeted students as they headed into school.

But after a bus drivers’ strike that lasted over a month, the yellow buses marked the end of nightmarish commutes for many parents and, for many students with special needs, a long-awaited return to class.

P721 is a District 75 school that provides occupational training to high school students. During the strike, Valerio said, only 70 or 80 students came to school each day out of a student body of 200. “More than half the students were missing,” she said. “Little by little they’re coming back.” (more…)

• An annual survey of American teachers found that job satisfaction is at an all-time low. (HuffPo)
• Facing a lawsuit, the city dropped plans to add a charter school to a transfer high school’s space. (NY1)
• The state could set evals June 1. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, Daily News, NY1, WSJ, SchoolBook)
• The Post is befuddled about why Gov. Cuomo would allow a state evaluation plan with a sunset clause.
• A new study found mostly gains for city charter schools. (GothamSchools, Post, SchoolBook, NY1)
• City school bus drivers faced confusion Wednesday as they returned to work after their strike. (Times)
• Some school bus workers say they were told that they were replaced during the strike. (Daily News, NY1)
• The state teachers union filed suit against the state’s cap on local tax increases. (Times, Times-Union)
• New York is among dozens of states considering dropping the GED test for less costly options. (WSJ)
• Nationally, one in five Advanced Placement test-takers passed last year, an increase. (Times, WSJ)
• Kids these days are eating fewer calories, after years of rising obesity rates among children. (Times)