FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 5, 2006

For further information please contact:

Jonathan Burman, Tom Dunn, Alan Ray at 518/474-1201

FIRST LIST OF “RAPIDLY IMPROVING” AND “HIGH PERFORMING/GAP CLOSING” SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS ANNOUNCED

A total of 791 public schools, 4 charter schools, and 79 public school districts have also been named “Higher Performing/Gap Closing” under the No Child Left Behind Act, State Education Commissioner Richard Mills announced today. For the first time, 71 schools and 7 districts have also been named as “Rapidly Improving”.

“Higher Performing/Gap Closing” schools and districts have been recognized because during the 2004-05 school year they met all applicable State standards for English and math and also made Adequate Yearly Progress in English and math for two consecutive years.

“Rapidly Improving” schools and districts are those that were below the State standards in one or more subjects but showed improvement and made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2002-2003, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.

“No Child Left Behind appropriately requires that we focus special attention on those schools and districts that need to improve the performance of particular groups of children,” said Robert Bennett, Chancellor of the State Board of Regents. “Today, we celebrate the achievements of those that are demonstrating success in educating diverse groups of students.”

“These schools and districts are leading New York forward to accomplish our dual goal of increasing student achievement while closing the gap in student performance. Our task is to study what has worked in these schools and districts and find ways to increase the number who can be recognized for this success,” Mills, said.

Only schools and districts that had a minimum of 30 continuously enrolled students in at least three accountability groups (the “all student group” plus at least two from among the five racial ethnic groups and the low-income, limited English proficient, or students with disabilities groups) were eligible for recognition as either “high performing/gap closing” or “rapidly improving.” Statewide, there were 2,129 public and charter schools and 432 districts that met the 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.

Under the “high performing/gap closing” category, 33 percent of eligible schools and 18 percent of eligible districts were recognized. Five hundred and fifteen elementary schools, 137 middle schools, 98 high schools, 19 elementary-middle schools, and 21 middle-high schools and one elementary-middle-high school were recognized. New York City had the largest number of recognized schools with 290. In addition, 32 schools were recognized in the other large city school districts, 98 in high need small urban-suburban districts, 63 in high need rural districts, 201 in average need districts, and 107 in low need districts. Among districts, one high need small urban-suburban, five high need rural districts, 35 average need districts, and 38 low need districts received recognition. Under the “rapidly improving” category 71 schools and seven districts were recognized.

The schools identified today 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.

Some schools and districts that made notable achievement include:

· The Smith Street elementary school in Uniondale had 98% of all students, 99% of Black students and 98% of low-income students achieve proficiency in Grade 4 ELA in 2004-2005. In math 100% of all students were proficient. Similarly, the Holmes School in Mount Vernon had 100% of low-income students, 98% of Black students, and 98% of all students achieve proficiency in Grade 4 ELA.

· PS 69 in CSD 30 in New York City achieved AYP in both grade 4 ELA and math for the Hispanic, Asian, limited English proficient and low-income groups.

· Syosset High School had 100% of students with disabilities graduate with local diplomas.

· The Valley Stream 13, UFSD had more than 85% of Asian, Black, Hispanic, White and low-income students achieve proficiency in Grade 4 ELA and more than 90% of such students achieved proficiency in Grade 4 math.

· The Malverne School District had the majority of its Black and All students achieve proficiency on all applicable English and math standards in Grade 4, 8, and high school.

· The Clarkstown Central School District achieved AYP in Grade 4, 8 ELA and math with six different subgroups: “All students,” Asian, Hispanic, White low-income, and students with disabilities and high school with three different subgroups: Asian, White and students with disabilities.

A list of the recognized schools and districts is available at www.nysed.gov.

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