By Alex Davidson
Three Queens schools were taken off the state’s registration review list while another four remained under Albany’s supervision following a review of the sites’ standardized test scores.
In an announcement last Thursday, state Education Commissioner Richard Mills took PS 13 in Elmhurst, PS 43 in Far Rockaway and PS 45 in South Ozone Park off the Schools Under Registration Review, or SURR, list. He said the process of reviewing schools has improved education for thousands of students and will continue to be a leverage tool for reform.
“The school accountability that has come about through the SURR process has been successful in improving or, where necessary, closing and reorganizing many schools,” Mills said.
The four schools that remain on the state list are JHS 198 in Arverne, IS 192 in St. Albans, Franklin K. Lane in Woodhaven and the Humanities and Arts Magnet in Cambria Heights, according to a state Education Department release. Eight schools in the city were added to the list but not one was from Queens, Mills said.
Statewide, 11 schools were added to the registration review list while 22 were removed, Mills said. That means the state is monitoring the standardized test scores at a total of 66 underperforming schools in New York, with 46 of them in the city, the statement said.
City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he was pleased the city had more public schools coming off the SURR list rather than going on it, and that statewide, the city had the largest proportion of schools being taken off.
“We are very proud to have reduced the number of SURR schools in our city to this historic low,” Klein said. “Nonetheless, one school on the SURR list is one too many, and we will work hard to turn around the eight schools placed on the list. Our goal is to create a system of 1,200 great public schools (where) every parent would be proud to send his or her child.”
Since 1989, 260 schools have been identified for registration review, Mills said. Of these, 167 have been removed because of improving academic performance, including 90 in the past five years. An additional 39 schools that did not meet their performance targets have been closed by school districts, including 30 in the past five years.
The 66 schools on the list currently represent the lowest number of SURR schools since the 1993-1994 school year, Mills said.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
