The city just released grades for public schools all over the city, including the ones in District 3, which includes the Upper West Side.
The grades are controversial, and they can be hard to decipher — the city tends to talk a lot about “Progress” grades, which are dependent on students’ year-to-year progress, their racial and socioeconomic background, and comparisons to “peer” schools. Thus, students at a school where most of the students can read and do math at the appropriate grade level may end up with lower scores than a school where fewer students can read but the demographics are different. One school’s F is another school’s A. That’s why a lot of people were upset when PS 84 was tagged with an F last year even though students there certainly aren’t failing.
Therefore, take the ratings with a big grain of salt. And if you’re interested in an individual school, go to this city site to look up a much wider array of data, much of which is quite useful. Individual school websites also tend to have more data (as a parent, though, it can be exhausting figuring out how to read some of it). Let us know in the comments what you think of the grading system, and if you have a child at one of the schools let us know what you think of the grades.
| SCHOOL | OVERALL GRADE | PROGRESS GRADE | PERFORMANCE SCORE | PERFORMANCE GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.S. 009 Sarah Anderson | B | C | 22.50 | A |
| J.H.S. 054 Booker T. Washington | B | C | 17.90 | A |
| P.S. 075 Emily Dickinson | C | D | 11.70 | C |
| P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph | C | C | 13.10 | B |
| P.S. 084 Lillian Weber | B | C | 11.80 | C |
| P.S. 087 William Sherman | B | C | 17.80 | A |
| P.S. 145, The Bloomingdale School | C | C | 9.20 | C |
| P.S. 149 Sojourner Truth | F | F | 4.50 | F |
| P.S. 163 Alfred E. Smith | B | C | 19.40 | A |
| P.S. 165 Robert E. Simon | B | B | 15.90 | B |
| P.S. 166 The Richard Rodgers School of The Arts | B | C | 15.20 | B |
| P.S. 180 Hugo Newman | C | C | 13.90 | B |
| P.S. 185 John M. Langston | B | C | 14.60 | B |
| P.S. 191 Amsterdam | C | C | 9.70 | C |
| P.S. 199 Jessie Isador Straus | B | C | 19.40 | A |
| P.S. 208 Alain L. Locke | B | C | 10.50 | C |
| P.S. 241 Family Academy | F | F | 3.10 | F |
| PS M242-Gwendolyn Powell Brown Computer School | D | F | 4.90 | F |
| M.S. 243 Center School | A | C | 21.40 | A |
| M.S. M245 The Computer School | B | C | 19.50 | A |
| M.S. M247 Dual Language Middle School | A | A | 20.70 | A |
| M.S. 250 West Side Collaborative Middle School | B | D | 18.90 | A |
| M.S. 256 Academic & Athletic Excellence | B | B | 15.30 | B |
| Community Action School – MS 258 | A | B | 22.80 | A |
| P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children | C | F | 9.10 | D |
| The Anderson School | A | B | 24.60 | A |
| Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & V | D | D | 8.40 | D |
| WEST PREP ACADEMY | C | D | 12.20 | C |
| Special Music School | A | A | 23.40 | A |
| Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School | B | A | 13.60 | B |
| Mott Hall II | A | A | 21.80 | A |
Photo via flickr.
P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children C F 9.10 D
nuts!!! makes no sense to me… Thanks, Neal Hurwitz