Improvements In New York
City’s Public Schools
By Mayor Michael Bloomberg
I’ve always believed that a good public
education is one of our nation’s basic civil rights. But for much too long, it
was being denied to too many New York City children. Fixing that serious problem
was a big reason why I ran for Mayor—and it’s why we’ve been working so
hard to turn around our schools and give every single student the chance to
succeed.
We still have a lot of work ahead, but last week, we received two very strong
indications of how much real progress we’re making.
First, our City’s high—school graduation rate, which was essentially flat
from 1996 to 2002, has steadily improved over the past four years and is now at
an all—time high—60 percent for the class of 2006. That’s still
much too low, but it’s nearly 20 percent higher than it was four years ago. The
State uses a different formula to calculate graduation rates, but anyway you
slice it, graduation rates are up nearly 20 percent since 2002—and that’s
great news.
It’s encouraging that this progress is also helping to narrow the graduation
rate gap between different ethnic groups. The four—year graduation rate
for black students rose to nearly 55 percent in 2006, up from 44 percent in
2002 and Hispanic students have seen similar increases.
The second piece of good news last week came when we learned the scores from
the statewide reading and writing tests. The scores for all grades—3
through 8—were very encouraging, and the gains made by
middle—school students were among the largest.
In fact, more New York City eighth graders met standards than in any year since
the testing began. That’s especially encouraging because 8th grade is a pivotal
year—a time when, traditionally, student achievement has dropped. Now,
we’re starting to turn that around.
These new test scores and graduation rates are clear signs of our
progress—and I want to commend our students, teachers, parents and
principals, who all deserve enormous credit for making such important
improvements. And now, to build on that progress, we’re taking the next steps
to help more students succeed—from ensuring fair student funding at all
schools, to cutting the bureaucracy and improving programs for alternative
schools, to expanding our efforts to engage parents, while also increasing the
accountability of principals and teachers. By continuing our reforms, we can ensure
that all students have the opportunity to gain a high—quality education,
which will give them the skills they need to succeed in today’s 21st century
economy.
Public schools were closed for Memorial Day—a special day in our city.
Thousands of sailors, Marines, and members of the Coast Guard were in town for
New York’s annual Fleet Week celebration. If you had a chance to go over to the
Hudson River you would have seen the majestic ships that help protect our
nation. And if you ran into some members of our Navy or Coast Guard along the
way, I join with you to say a simple ‘Thank you.’ We must never forget the sacrifices
they make, and honor all the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in
service to our nation.#
