NYC Magazine » NYC Public Schools

Budget Cuts Cause Even Bigger Classrooms in NYC Schools

Yelena Mandenberg — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:42:24 +0000

While all class sizes rose this year, high school students and kindergartners are particularly feeling the increase in class size.

Supposedly, in 2008, the average size of an English class was 24.7 students, although most high schools have at least 30 students in each class. The average number is up to 26.4 this year, according to preliminary figures from the Department of Education. The number of students in high school science classes has also risen from 26.1 to 27.4.

There was also a spike in enrollment in kindergarten classes, by about 5 percent, which is contributing to the increase in class size. In ...continue reading

Students’ Standardized Test Scores Will Factor Into Teachers’ Tenure According to Mayor

Yelena Mandenberg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:18:16 +0000

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced in a statement on Wednesday that, starting immediately, New York City public schools would begin to use test scores to gauge which teachers should or should not receive tenure.

This move has been bitterly opposed by the teachers union, which claims that this is putting too much weight on standardized exams, such as the citywides, and regents exams.

Although most do agree that standardized tests are not a good measure of students’ capabilities, the state government still puts a ton of stock in them. Standardized tests are used to decide teacher and principal bonus pay, assign A through ...continue reading

NYC High Schools Get Report Card (It’s Not Good)

Igor Derysh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:00:57 +0000

In the third year of the A-F grade system, the Education Department has handed down plenty of As but numerous C’s and D’s as well.

In total, 40 schools received better grades than they did last year but 67 schools received lower grades and six schools received an F. In total, 7% of New York City public schools received a D or an F.

While the grades are largely based on test scores, the Education Department claims to also use student progress, graduate rates, and overall performance. Since the grades were introduced in 2007, the city has ...continue reading

CUNY Freshmen Can’t Do Simple Math

Igor Derysh — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:25 +0000

Last week we discussed the record numbers of people that were applying to Community Colleges and City University of New York schools in general but a new study suggests that the colleges have their work cut out for them.

According to a report done by CUNY itself, 90% of students who graduated from city high schools and are entering a four-year (not two-year) CUNY school cannot do a simple algebra problem. More than a third of the students tested could not convert a fraction into a decimal.

More than 70% of the CUNY system is made up ...continue reading