1012 elementary and middle schools make the list of New York State's "most improved" schools! In New York City alone, 206 schools improved in English, and 218 schools improved in math.

New York City's 4th and 8th graders scored at the top of most rankings for performance in math and English. But what does this mean? As reported by Joe Williams in the NY POST, Randi Weingarten believes that this does not show that Joel Klein's micromanagement is successful, because the scores reflect performance levels reached before Klein's new curriculum was used. Also, New york City's participation was less than 75%, which many educational policy makers say make any statistics from New York City questionable and/or invalid.

Another recent study shows that students in the largest urban public-school systems showed improvement in reading and math in the first year under the federal No Child Left Behind law, according to a coalition of inner-city schools.
The study by the Council of the Great City Schools reviewed test scores from 61 urban school districts in 37 states. It compared 2002 and 2003 test results.


The jump in the 4th and 8th grades could be, of course, excellent teachers applying dedication to the math/english curricula...or, these scores could be the result of "dumbed down" tests given to high achieving students and/or low achieving students left out of the reporting and/or testing altogether. You pick.