One-Third Of New York City High Schools Get An 'A' On Their Report Card

NEW YORK (AP) - One-third of New York City's public high schools earned an A on report cards released Monday, down slightly from last year.

The progress reports for the 2010-2011 school year are based on factors including graduation rates and student performance on New York state regents tests. Data measuring college readiness were collected for the first time and will be included in the 2012 report cards.

LINK: Official Release from Department of Education

Those numbers show that just 25 percent of students who entered high school in 2006 were fully prepared for college four years later, with high enough scores on regents tests or SATs that they weren't required to take remedial college courses.

Of the students who graduated in four years - a smaller number than the ones who entered in the ninth grade - 71 percent started college in 2011 but just 37 percent were ready for college.

"It's unacceptable that the number is so low,'' Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky told reporters at a briefing at the department's headquarters.

Polakow-Suransky said the college readiness data were not factored into this year's report cards because the Department of Education didn't want to take high schools by surprise with a new yardstick.

"We want people to know what they're shooting for and adjust,'' he said.

Scores on the high school progress reports were down slightly from last year, when 38 percent got an A.

This is the fifth year that the city Department of Education has given out progress reports for schools. Overall, 26 percent of schools received an A, 34 percent got a B, 30 percent got a C, 7 percent got a D and 4 percent got an F.

Schools that get low grades may be in danger of being closed.

"Our message to schools is clear: students need to be meeting a higher bar and doing more rigorous work if they are going to be ready for life after high school,'' Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement. "It's important that our principals, teachers, students and families are on the same page in this effort and understand the goal is not just graduating, but graduating college and career-ready.''

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)