How does closing schools help? Shouldn't the focus be on IMPROVING schools? I am by no means against testing as a way of judging the performance of schools. But the solutions seem lacking. Many students who score poorly have just been abandoned by the system. And schools that score poorly are in danger of being shut down. But we need classroom space. Overcrowding is part of the problem. Abandoning either students or classroom space seems counter productive.

How about putting more resources and teacher training and parent outreach into the problem schools and focus the same on the low scoring children?

is to play 52 Pick-up. The principal and the staff are sent to personnel headquarters to be reassigned. (Some go to the rubber room, a brooklyn facility where teachers with tenure but no job assignment wait and wait and wait. The building, classrooms and equipment are not shut. Instead a new set cast of characters, prinicpals, adminstrators and faculty occupy the space. Perhaps the old-set will get re-assigned.

Monday’s release of progress reports for New York City’s public schools by The New York City Department of Education provides helpful information for parents, but falls short of accurately assessing a school’s ability to provide a well-rounded education for its students. While The Center for Arts Education (CAE) supports increased accountability, these reports only paint part of the picture of what is happening in our city’s public schools.

Tracking overall performance of a school based overwhelmingly on standardized test scores may be informative. However, relying too heavily on these measures, and penalizing those schools and principals that receive failing grades, ultimately cheats our students and our city. The Center for Arts Education believes that a quality education is one that is balanced and includes learning in the arts, sciences, social studies, physical education, as well as reading and math. Students from all income levels, families, and in every community deserve a well-rounded education. All students should have access to a wide array of educational opportunities that will enrich their lives and provide the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in a new global economy and become good citizens.

Good schools have arts. We are supported and encouraged by the fact that 60% of our partner schools received an A or B grade, reinforcing that good schools are those that include the arts. The arts provide students with unique opportunities to learn and grow, to develop creative and critical thinking skills and the ability to problem solve and innovate―all skills that employers in New York City and around the world are looking for.

The Center for Arts Education encourages parents and school communities to continue assessing the quality of programs in their schools that include the arts in order to ensure that New York City children are receiving a well-rounded education. We hope that these reports will not discourage those receiving lower grades from continuing to provide access to the arts for their students and instead venturing down a harmful path of a limited, less dynamic curriculum.

Richard Kessler
Executive Director
The Center for Arts Education

the pressure on schools to ensure performance on standardized math and English tests seems to have led to a curriculum of test prep. While I share your hope that arts education is not abandoned I think it will lose out more and more.

Unless and until we can install more sophisticated and textured leadership in our school system, after the 2009 elections, perhaps, Mr. Bloomberg's mechanistic views of school success will stumble on and will be reflected in narrowing of our schools' mission.