Report Cards Out New York Schools Show Progress In Student Achievement But Graduation Rates In Trouble

Report Cards Out New York Schools Show Progress in Student Achievement but Graduation Rates in Trouble

Summary: The spring statewide report cards for New York Schools show that more schools are making progress in meeting their achievement goals for improvement in English and mathematics, as mandated by the state. Though achieving standards in middle school English is still a problem, fewer students have serious academic problems at the elementary and middle school levels, while more of these students are demonstrating higher standards in mathematics.

New York Schools

Article Body: The spring statewide report cards for New York Schools show that more schools are making progress in meeting their achievement goals for improvement in English and mathematics, as mandated by the state. Though achieving standards in middle school English is still a problem, fewer students have serious academic problems at the elementary and middle school levels, while more of these students are demonstrating higher standards in mathematics.

The performance of the elementary and middle schools has improved significantly. For example, the percentage of students meeting all standards almost doubled from percent in year to percent in . The percentage of fourth graders with serious academic problems declined from percent in year to only eight percent in .

At the high school level, percent of the students in the Class of graduated in a four-year period. More students are graduating each year and more are earning Regents Diplomas, but the graduation rate still is too low.

The New York schools report cards also showed a correlation between attendance and graduation rates. When attendance falls below percent, the graduation rate declines significantly. When attendance is below percent, the graduation rate plummets.

State Education Commissioner Richard Mills believes the graduation rate is much too low. Though student achievement is improving, Mills believes that new reforms are needed to improve the graduation rates of the future New York schools classes.

During the next few months, the New York schools will take a series of aggressive actions to solve the problem. Actions under consideration are:

Set both graduation and attendance goals, measuring the results annually, and raising the levels each year; Hold each school accountable for meeting the targeted goals in both graduation and attendance by accelerating the Schools Under Registration Review (SURR) requirements; Reform current teaching standards by requiring all teachers to teach only in their certified areas by a certain date; and Monitor safety plans and violent incident data, and requiring reforms to ensure a safe learning environment for both students and teachers.

Additionally, the New York schools have partially completed a student record system, giving each student a unique statewide identifier. In the future, the identifiers will ensure that each student is counted within the school report cards. This allows for a more accurate measurement of a schools progress and student achievement.