On June 30, the total of 571 public schools, 3 charter schools, and 47 public school districts will be recognized as  "higher performing/gap closing" schools and districts under the No Child Left Behind Act.

These schools and districts have been recognized because during the 2003-04 school year they met all applicable State standards for English and math and also made Adequate Yearly Progress in English, math, science and graduation rate for two consecutive years.

The following are questions and answer about the process:

A. Schools and districts that met all applicable State standards in English language arts and mathematics in 2003-2004 and that made Adequate Yearly Progress in both 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 on all applicable English language arts, mathematics, science and graduation rate criteria were eligible to be recognized. In addition, the school or district must have been accountable for 30 continuously enrolled students in at least two racial ethnic groups or at least one of the following groups of students: low-income students, students with disabilities, or limited English proficient students.

A. The State standard was for the "all student" group to achieve a Performance Index of 150 on the Grade 4, 8, and/or high school ELA and math criteria. To achieve a PI of 150, an elementary or middle school must have virtually all of its students at or above Level 2 and at least half achieving at or above Level 3. At the high school level, virtually all of the students must have passed the Regents with a score of at 55 and the majority must have passed with a 65 within four years of entry into grade nine.

Statewide, 2,041 public and charter schools, or 47 percent of schools, and 435 districts, or 59 percent of districts, met this eligibility requirement. Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, when grade 3-8 testing commences, the number of eligible schools and districts will increase significantly as more schools and districts will be held accountable for more subgroups of students.

A total of 28 percent of eligible schools and 11 percent of eligible districts were recognized. A total of 361 elementary schools, 108 middle schools, 89 high schools, eight elementary-middle schools, and eight middle-high schools were recognized.

New York City had the largest number of recognized schools with 196. In addition, thirteen schools were recognized in the other large city school districts, 57 in high need urban-suburban districts, 59 in high need rural districts, 155 in average need districts, and 91 in low need districts. Among districts, four high need rural districts, five average need districts, and 28 low need districts received recognition.

The schools identified were most frequently cited for making AYP with low-income students followed by White, Hispanic, students with disabilities, Black, Asian, limited English proficient, and Native American students. Districts were most frequently cited for making AYP with White students followed by students with disabilities, low-income, Asian, Black, Hispanic, and limited English-proficient students

If a school or district was held accountable for only a small number of students, served a homogenous population, or did not serve grades that participate in State assessments, the school or district would not be eligible for recognition. To be eligible a school or district must have had at least 30 continuously enrolled students in two or more racial/ethnic groups or in the low-income, students with disabilities or limited English proficient student accountability groups. Some examples of schools that were not eligible for consideration, include:

Not necessarily. Some very high performing schools were not eligible for recognition because they were not held accountable for a sufficient number of disaggregated groups. In addition, some higher performing schools may have failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress with a disaggregated group. What the schools on this list have in common is that the majority of their students were proficient, all disaggregated groups made Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years, and the school was accountable for at least three disaggregated groups.

No. As long as the school met the State standards and made AYP it was eligible for recognition. A school that was well above the State standard might decline and still be above the State standard and making AYP.

No. Students in the accountability group had to demonstrate AYP. It was possible in 2003-2004 to make AYP without having a majority of students in an accountability group achieve proficiency. If the group’s performance exceeded a specific amount or the group showed sufficient improvement the group made AYP. Over time, as the targets are raised, it will only be possible to achieve AYP by having a majority of students demonstrate proficiency.

No. All recognized schools and districts are in good standing.

No. At present, the higher performing/gap closing list is solely a recognition program. We plan, however, to study the schools and districts identified to determine the commonalties in the strategies they used to achieve their results.

Please call Ira Schwartz, Coordinator, for Accountability, Policy, and Administration at (718) 722-2796.