Report Cards GiveQueens Schools High Marks

Report card season, a time many students dread, brought high marks for Queens public schools last week. The Board of Educations annual report showed that the boroughs schools are performing higher than the citywide average, with two districts ranking among the top three in the city in the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade statewide reading and math tests.
The overall statistics indicated that citywide reading scores for grade school students are on the rise, while math scores fell slightly. On the high school level, English, math, global studies,biology, and U.S. history regents exams improved across the borough and the city. This year is the first time that the English Regents will be required for city high school students to receive a diploma.
"These results show the higher standards are achievable goals," said state Education Commissioner Richard Mills. "Students are performing far better than many predicted two years ago. Many are doing well on tests they dont have to pass this year. Others need extra help, and they must get that help."
Although the improved numbers paint a rosy picture of the citys educational system, Interim Schools Chancellor Harold Levy was not pleased with this years report card. "Until this system can provide students with a longer instructional program and more certified teachers, our school report cards will continue to paint a disappointing portrait. Too many of our students read below grade level, fail Regents exams and need to spend more than four years in high school. We also now face a nearly two-percent increase in the dropout rate. The efforts we are making now to improve student outcomes, such as the remedial program this July and the teacher recruitment initiatives, are at best first steps toward getting all of our youngsters up to standards."
Queens School District 26, which encompasses Bayside, Little Neck, and Douglastan ranked the highest on standardized tests among all 31city school districts. "We are very pleased," said District 26 Deputy Superintendent Stan Weber. "When you do well, you should be pleased." Weber said that in his 24 years with the district, they have consistently placed atop the city in percentage of students meeting reading and math standards.
Individually, district 26 had five schools among the top 10. Ranking highest within the borough were P.S. 188 and 98, which both tied for third among elementary schools. P.S. 203 , 41, and 221 also made the list, finishing sixth, ninth, and tenth respectively.
School Board 25, which covers Flushing, slipped from second last year to third this year, losing its spot to Manhattans District 2. "This tells us, citywide, we are maintaining," said School Board Vice-President Arlene Fleichman, who noted that district 25 is the most populated among the top three. P.S. 209 in Woodside finished seventh in the city, the only school in the district to finish among the top 10.
Fleichman insists that although the standardized exams offer a valid insight into student performance, they must be kept in proper perspective. "A test should tell educators what the students dont understand," said Fleichman. "But, one test does not tell the whole story."
Several Queens high schools also ranked highly in the borough for overall Regents scores. Townsend Harris High School finished second overall with a 99.2 percent pass rate, behind Staten Island Technical at 99.4. Also finishing highly were Thomas Edison, Robert F. Kennedy Community, and Benjamin Cardozo high schools. Cardozo recently finished among the countrys top high schools in a Newsweek magazine survey, ranking 221 out of 472 recognized schools.
"Performance in New York City is very strong in English for seniors," said Mills. "Eighty-eight percent of New York City students have passed the English exam as of last August, but there’s a historic pattern where a third of the students repeat either the ninth or the tenth grade."
The news was not good for District 27 in Ozone Park and Far Rockaway, which finished last in the borough. Only 44.8 percent of students-grades three, five, six, and seven met the reading standards, while 45.5 percent met the math standards. P.S. 105 finished the worst in the borough, ranking number 676, with only 12.6 percent of their students reading at or above grade level. P.S. 45 (589) and 43 (579) also finished among the worst in the borough, as did Jamaicas P.S. 40 from District 28, which finished at 638.
"This shows that New York is right to require all schools to provide extra help for students and right to invest in that extra help with large increases in state aid," said Regents Chancellor Carl Hayden. "The drive to higher standards is opening up many opportunities for students to succeed."