GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

A fourth grader explains how his classmates mapped their families' origins during their unit on immigration.

I spent this morning at PS 27, the Red Hook school that the Department of Education announced in December would close at the end of the school year because of its persistently poor performance. I wanted to see what kinds of learning are happening at a school deemed so bad that it must close.

Today, the school’s gym and auditorium had been converted into a mini-museum to show off last semester’s projects, and I saw some creative ones. Some of the highlights: a video about how to solve algebraic equations by three seventh-grade girls; the fourth grade’s giant timeline of Red Hook’s history; and a model of nearby Coffey Park produced by second graders who had explored the neighborhood in depth. You can view a slideshow of these projects and others.

But overall, the caliber of the work on display wasn’t strong. (more…)