NY1 Exclusive: Budget Documents Reveal Troubling Figures For City Schools
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Though the state has not announced the required score for students to have passed this year’s exams, city budget documents reveal some grim figures that may actually significantly underestimate the amount of students that didn't meet requirements. NY1’s Lindsey Christ filed the following report.At IS 142 in The Bronx, the Department of Education thinks 247 students probably failed the state tests.
That’s more than 30 percent of the school’s student body.
These students are now in summer school. They have to pass or they'll repeat their grade.
“What they was teaching us in school for the test, everything wasn't on there,” said one girl.
“I think I didn't pass because I hadn't paid attention too much in class, and I didn’t put enough effort into everything,” said another.
State officials haven’t announced what score students needed to get this year to pass, but since city officials know how many questions each student got wrong, they've guessed how many failed.
NY1 discovered those school-by-school estimates buried deep in a budget document.
Officials estimated that nine percent of third through eighth graders failed citywide.
However, NY1 found that at many schools, the percent is much higher.
At 200 schools, more than 10 percent likely failed. At 100 schools, more than 15 percent did.
The 13 schools where the DOE thinks more than 25 percent didn't pass are all in Brooklyn and The Bronx. Most have struggled for years, and the DOE has considered closing or is in the process of closing some of them.
The lowest-performing elementary schools are even more concentrated. They are in just two Brooklyn neighborhoods: Brownsville and East New York.
A teacher at IS 142 supports holding so many students back. She said the reason so many fail in middle school is that they leave elementary school unable to read or write.
She hopes the higher standards will lead to better prepared students.
Last year, like this year, the state was late in releasing the final results, and the city vastly underestimated how many students failed. At IS 142, only 80 kids were required to attend summer school when 220 should have.
This year, city officials think their estimates are much more accurate, but they'll have to wait to find out. State officials say they hope to announce how many students officially failed by the end of summer.