Do School Report Cards Miss Full Picture?
Principal Eddice Mebane-Griffin, whose school, PS 15 in University Heights, scored better than 94 percent of all New York City public schools on Education Department latest School Progress Reports, isn’t going to let the achievement go to her head. “I wouldn’t say I’m ecstatic,” Mebane-Griffin said in a phone interview last week when asked if she was excited to learn about her school’s “A” on the city’s Progress Report’s controversial new grading system implemented last year by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “I’d say we’re doing the best that we can possibly do.” That’s generally about the level of excitement you’ll find from the city’s public school administrators about the new progress reports, which assign each school an overall letter grade (the highest being A, the lowest an F) based mostly on the school’s test scores in state math and English language arts exams. The grades will be used to either reward or penalize schools based on their results. A number of advocates and educati
