Report: Schools' grad rates up, a little

Convening for the first time since summer break, the School Reform Commission received preliminary data yesterday that showed what Superintendent Arlene Ackerman called the "good and the bad."

Test scores, up for the seventh straight year, rose to 52 percent performing at grade level in math and 48 percent in reading, an increase of about 3 percentage points in each category from the previous year, according to district figures released yesterday.

If students continue to improve at this rate, the district will not achieve total proficiency until 2123. The federal No Child Left Behind Act mandated 100 percent proficiency by 2014.

Scores rose among all races in reading and math, but an achievement gap persists. Whites and Asians scored consistently higher in reading and math than did blacks and Latinos, though the achievement gap has decreased year over year by nominal amounts.

"We will not stop until the pockets of excellence we have throughout the district are made into a system of excellence where all our students are achieving," Ackerman said during her opening remarks at district headquarters.

Students with disabilities, English-language learners and economically disadvantaged students also posted gains on test scores.

Although scores rose in empowerment schools, the district's lowest-performers, only 36 percent scored proficient or better in reading, and 40 percent in math.

The tests are given to students in grades three through eight and grade 11 to measure whether schools make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The report also stated that the high-school graduation rate for 2008 was up to 57 percent - a modest increase from the previous year but a stark difference from 44 percent in 2002.

Graduation numbers for 2009 will not be available until summer-school grades are tallied later this month, said David Weiner, deputy of the Office of Accountability.

A higher percentage of girls graduated than did boys, 64 percent to 49 percent, according to the data.

In other business, the district's Charter School Taskforce presented recommendations to the commission, asking for the creation of standards for charter renewal, requiring visits and reviews from the Charter School Office and a broader communication between charters and the school district.

"It's about providing high-quality choices of schools for parents and students," said SRC Commissioner Heidi Ramirez.

After the task force presented its recommendations, representatives from one charter school pleaded with commissioners for mercy. The SRC is to vote next week on the fate of New Media Technology Charter School, the beleaguered multimedia school that's come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement, said Benjamin Rayer, associate superintendent who oversees charter schools.

The school, with campuses on Thouron Avenue near Sedgwick Street, in West Oak Lane, "is important because the school has become a necessary and desired institution within the community," New Media teacher Al Greene read from prepared statements to the commission. "To take away New Media is to take away part of the community. . . ."

A vote on whether to allow actor Tony Danza to teach and film a reality-TV show called "Teach" will come up for a vote next week.

Mayor Nutter and the district support the show, but Evelyn Sample-Oates, the district's new chief communications officer, said that Danza, who is supposed to help teach a 10th-grade Northeast High English class, will undergo training and be monitored while in the classroom.