School report card grades coming out this week

Posted by Philissa at 7:12 AM

It's a big week for the city's public schools — the DOE is releasing their report card grades. The grades, based on quality reviews, test scores, and student, parent and teacher surveys, range from A to F; a top grade can mean more money, while a failing grade — assured for 15 percent of schools — could cost principals their jobs. Some schools, such as IS 289 in Manhattan, are getting low scores despite high performance, according to a New York Times article, and others are getting high scores despite low student performance and bad reputations.

Gotham Gazette has a brief roundup of opinion, ranging from Daily News columnist Errol Lewis' defense of the grades as "exactly what parents need to know" to Diane Ravitch's criticism of them as "simplistic and misleading." And while principals certainly care about their schools' grades — after all, their jobs may be on the line — I think Clara Hemphill is right when she says in the Times that a grade alone are unlikely to change parents' opinions about schools — especially when the grade doesn't jive with a school's reputation.