P.S. 8 School Report Card: Take a Look for Yourself

By on September 17, 2008 9:17 am in Brooklyn Heights, News, schools

The 2007-2008 NYC DOE’s Progress “Report Card” for P.S. 8 can be found here. Notice the chasm of difference between PS 8’s performance relative to City-wide schools and Peer-wide schools, particularly in the School Performance section. Whereas it is an “F” school compared to it’s “peers”, it looks like around a B or a B+ school compared to the city as a whole.

I should also note that the list of schools considered “peers” to PS 8 has changed from last year, with some added and some placed in other “peer” groups. If the peer groups change from year to year, and one doesn’t find out until the report is published, this seems to be like a moving target for a school. What if the next year they consider your “peer” to be the elementary school equivalent of Harvard?

Another difference between the 2008 report and the 2007 report is that in 2007 Student Performance counted for 30% of the grade and Student Progress counted for 55% — in 2008, Student Performance counted for 25% and Student Progress counted for 60%. So, the importance placed on performance from year to year has gained even more undue influence on the grade.

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  • nabeguy

    When a school in which 1/2 the students failed the state English test and 3/4 failed the Math gets an A grade, as reported in the NYT, it’s small wonder that PS 8 parents are scratching their heads about the true meaning and worthiness of this grading system.

  • ABC

    This grading system is whack.

    BUT, these break-down scores are terrible.

    I’ve heard the school will be getting more money to try to improve the situation (and that Seth Phillips may or may not be going). I don’t know much about education, but I do know that more than anything the teacher:student ratio is often the most important thing in the welfare of the students. Let’s hope they can get more teachers and smaller classes with the extra money.

    Thank God the annex was approved before these grades were released. Not sure they could have gotten it done after…

  • nabeguy

    BTW, I should have made clear that the school in question was definitely NOT PS.8 which IMHO is the the best F’ing school around

  • http://studioe9.com Paul

    “What if the next year they consider your “peer” to be the elementary school equivalent of Harvard?”

    That would be great.
    We should evaluate all public schools against the highest standards, not peers, and parents should demand no less.