StudentsFirstNY's new report released January 10 shows that students in high-poverty areas of New York City are more likely to be taught by teachers considered "unsatisfactory." Therefore, our students who need the most help are more likely to be in classrooms with ineffective teachers.
The NY Daily News quotes StudentsFirstNY’s Executive Director, Micah Lasher, in the article:
"It's a double hit," said Micah Lasher, StudentsFirstNY's director. "These kids start out with challenges, and then we give them a sub-par education. We're making the challenges worse."
The Daily News shared some of the reports concerning findings and reported that the Department of Education is already considering implementation of the report's recommendations:
Nearly half of the city’s schools had no U-rated teachers at all. Yet U-rated teachers were concentrated in certain schools, particularly in struggling neighborhoods of central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, southern Queens and lower Manhattan. At a stunning 30 schools, 20% of teachers had unsatisfactory ratings. Two schools had lemons in at least a third of their classrooms.
Read the report “Unsatisfactory: The Distribution of Teacher Quality in New York City” (PDF).
View an interactive map of NYC schools with the highest percentages of “Unsatisfactory” teachers.