Millon dollar ads say NYC schools are making progress

Posted by Philissa at 7:24 PM

I've spent so much time blogging and visiting schools that I haven't had much time to watch TV lately. But I've settled in for a Thursday evening of "Jeopardy!" and "Ugly Betty" and I just saw for the first time the Fund for Public Schools' ad touting the turnaround at Evander as proof of the DOE's improvement. It's a slick ad — part of a campaign called "Keep it Going NYC" — but as other bloggers have noted, it makes some questionable claims. Gotham Gazette's Wonkster has a roundup of opinion from the excellent Eduwonkette to Edwize to NYC Public School Parents. All of these blog say Evander's "turnaround" has less to do with leadership than with the fact that the types of students the building serves has changed, an outcome forewarned by a Parents for Inclusive Education report last year that highlighted new small high schools' failure to serve students with disabilities.

The Fund for Public Schools, which encourages private donations to the schools, is running several ads, all of which can be viewed on the fund's website. What do you think of them?