News

The Success Academy charter school network recently received a $5 million grant from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to continue expanding in New York City. The network of successful charters currently has 20 schools and plans to open seven more next year.

According to DNA Info, one source says Success Academy will aim to operate 100 schools in New York by the end of the decade:

A Success Academy spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the 100-school goal, but she did note that Success was trying to accommodate a "very very high demand" for seats.

The charter received 10 times as many applications for the 2012-2013 school year as there were open seats, Success officials previously said.

"They'd serve more [students] they just don’t have the number of seats," said DiBiase, noting the large applicant pool for the school's lottery. "We want them to serve more kids. We want them to expand so they can serve more and more students."

This week NYC released the latest statistics on teacher tenure. Fifty-three percent of teachers eligible last school year received tenure, which is down from 55 percent the previous year.

This number shows a continued commitment to raising the standards for tenure and a refusal to return to the old status quo. In the 2006-2007 school year, 97% of teachers were given tenure.

SchoolBook reports on the announcement:

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott pointed to a "higher bar" and more rigorous tenure rules instituted three years ago for the decrease in teachers earning tenure outright.

“If you turned back the clock, tenure was an automatic right and not something earned," Walcott said in a written statement. "But that’s changed. We expect more of our teachers as we raise the bar for students like never before. I want to congratulate all those who were granted tenure."

A study commissioned by research group MRDC found that students enrolled at NYC's smaller schools are more likely to graduate on time, compared with students in the City's larger high schools. The study examined student outcomes from the fall of 2006 6o the present. According to WNYC, the city has opened over 200 small high schools during the Bloomberg Administration:

"On average, the four-year graduation rate for students in the small schools was 74.6 percent compared to 65.1 percent in the control group. The researchers also looked at students entering small high schools in the fall of 2004 and 2005. When all three groups were averaged, with 12,000 students attending 85 small schools, the total graduation rate was 70.4 percent compared to 60.9 percent for students attending other schools. The results build upon a previous study released last year.

"'It seems pretty clear now that these small high schools are much, much stronger than some of the traditional high schools,' said MDRC president Gordon Berlin. 'So we came away very impressed by the size of the result.'"

The study results were especially noteworthy since NYC's overall graduation rate had increased during the time period, and small high schools saw their graduation rates rise even faster.

Read the full article here.

Over Mayor Bloomberg's 12-year tenure, reforming NYC's public school network has been one of his main focuses. There has been intense scrutiny over the mayor's control of the Department of Education over the last ten years. Crain's New York Business has put together a dozen different interactive charts that capture how NYC's schools have changed, for better and for worse, under Mayor Bloomberg and mayoral control of the City's schools.

Read the full article and explore all the charts here.

Last year, the City of Newark, New Jersey and the Newark Teachers Union approved a contract that included a "controversial merit-pay program," the first large school district in New Jersey to undertake such a program. Last week, 190 Newark teachers received a total of $1.4 million in bonuses - teachers received a $5,000 bonus for being rated as "highly effective," another $5,000 for working at a poorly performing school, and an additional $2,500 for teaching subjects such as math and science that are difficult for the district to staff. According to The Wall Street Journal, the new merit-pay system does more than just reward effective teachers:

In the past, Newark teachers—like most local educators across the nation—were rewarded for longevity and for obtaining higher degrees. The new pay system, which covers about two-thirds of Newark's public schoolteachers, eliminated automatic annual raises for experience, made teachers eligible for bonuses and did away with automatic pay increases for advanced degrees. The school district is among the poorest in New Jersey and has long posted some of the state's worst results on standardized tests.

Read the full article here.

Low-income students have never had the same advantages as their wealthier peers, and a new study proves that disparity still exists in the 21st century. According to The New York Times, only 34 percent of the highest-achieving high school seniors coming from families in the bottom quarter of the income distribution were attending one of the nation's most selective colleges. In contrast, 78 percent of similar students from the top quarter of income distribution were. But programs financed by wealthy benefactors in NYC are trying to change that:

"In New York City, where a neighborhood like Bushwick, in Brooklyn, can seem like a satellite campus of Wesleyan and a prewar apartment building on the Upper East Side can feel like an Ivy League dormitory for 46-year-olds, there has been considerable philanthropic attention, of the kind other cities ought to envy, paid to finding the most gifted low-income students and putting them on a similar path."

Thanks to programs like Prep for Prep, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, low-income students are receiving a fair chance at a good education:

"Programs like LEDA and S.E.O. are popular with wealthy, supremely educated donors, precisely because of outcomes like Mr. El-Bey's. Just this May, the financier Henry R. Kravis pledged $4 million in matching gifts to S.E.O."

Read the full article here.

Starting next school year, NYC students will begin weighing in on teacher performance. As part of the city’s new teacher evaluation system, students in grades 3-12 will fill out surveys to give firsthand assessments on their learning experiences with teachers.

According to the New York World:

While during the first year of the new teacher evaluation system the results of these surveys will not be included in the teacher evaluation formula, next year teachers’ marks on these surveys will account for five of the 60 percent of teacher evaluation scores not determined by student performance on state tests.

With more than 700,000 students enrolled in city public schools in those grades, the year-one survey contract will cost about $8 a student.

A new poll shows that parents see standardized tests as a helpful way to measure student performance and school quality.

In particular, the poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that parents want state tests used to evaluate teachers, and that parents believe it should be easier for schools to fire teachers who perform poorly.

According to the Associated Press:

The polling results are good news for states looking to implement increased accountability standards and for those who want to hold teachers responsible for students' slipping standing against other countries' scores. Teachers' unions have objected to linking educators' evaluations to student performance.

Under Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s leadership, NYC has greatly expanded school choice options for New York families, raised graduation rates, and now has some of the best charter schools in the country.

In an opinion piece on U.S. News, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Nina Rees argues NYC’s next mayor has a lot to live up to on education reform:

Whoever replaces Bloomberg will soon realize that his legacy of data driven decision making and accountability for student achievement is now embedded in the fabric of every school around the city. And that the national discussion around school reform has been elevated thanks to a leader who has not only introduced but implemented rigorous reforms.

A new poll shows that parents see standardized tests as a helpful way to measure student performance and school quality.

In particular, the poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that parents want state tests used to evaluate teachers, and that parents believe it should be easier for schools to fire teachers who perform poorly.

According to the Associated Press:

The polling results are good news for states looking to implement increased accountability standards and for those who want to hold teachers responsible for students' slipping standing against other countries' scores. Teachers' unions have objected to linking educators' evaluations to student performance.