Diane Ravitch uses selective data to tarnish the achievement of New York City students under the Bloomberg administration ("Progress report on mayoral control in NYC," March 22). At the heart of Ms. Ravitch's argument is a claim that Mr. Bloomberg should not receive credit for gains in 2002, the year he became mayor, even though he and the chancellor managed the schools during the 2002-03 school year and implemented several policies and personnel changes.
But even if we omitted that year for argument's sake, New York City's students' gains would still be substantial--especially when compared to students in the rest of New York State, which is the best comparison group because it holds constant the difficulty of the test. From 2003 to 2006, the city's fourth-graders gained 6.4 percentage points on state reading tests. During the same period, students in the rest of the state gained 2.7 points. On state math tests, our fourth-graders gained 4.2 points; children in the rest of the state decreased 3.1 points. Results for eighth-graders follow the same pattern.
Nationally, New York City fourth- and eighth-grade students outperformed their peers in comparable big cities in both reading and math in 2005, with fourth-graders achieving gains in both since 2003. Our black, Hispanic, and low-income fourth-graders not only outperformed similar students in other large cities but also outperformed similar students nationwide. In addition, our graduation rate since 2002 has climbed 7.4 points to 58.2%--the highest level in the 20 years the city has used its current method for calculating the rate. Our new small schools graduated about 80% of their students last year, up from about 40% at the schools they replaced.
The Broad Foundation has identified New York City as one of the five highest-performing urban school districts in each of the past three years. Its latest findings are based on an analysis of results since 2003.
David Cantor
Press Secretary, NYC Department of Education
