BLOOMY’S NEW CLASS ACT – WANTS TO EXPAND TOUGH PROMOTION POLICY TO 7TH-GRADERS

Proclaiming his efforts to end social promotion for failing third- and fifth-graders a success, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday proposed that the same tough standards be phased in for the seventh grade over the next two years.

Should the policy be approved next month by an oversight panel, some 80,000 youngsters entering the seventh grade this fall would have to pass a standardized reading test to move on to the eighth grade.

The mayor proposed adding a math-test requirement the following year to give schools time to adjust to a new middle-school math curriculum imposed by the state Board of Regents.

Calling the seventh grade the “last best chance” to prepare students for high school, Bloomberg pledged $40 million to create Saturday schools at more than 100 sites and establish a host of other interventions for struggling students.

“It doesn’t do anyone any favors to send unprepared students up the line to the next grade. Those days are over,” Bloomberg told scores of middle-school principals gathered at Columbia University for a training seminar.

Getting the proposal past the oversight panel should be a breeze, since the majority of members serve at the pleasure of the mayor.

But the plan is also strengthened by the remarkable gains in reading and math tests made this year by third- and fifth-graders who were faced with the threat of being left back.

When the scores were announced in June, Bloomberg heralded the improvement as proof that his decision to hold students back raised achievement. Yesterday, he noted that performance in middle schools has lagged.

Roughly 18 percent of seventh-graders – or about 13,000 students – flunked their city reading tests this past year, compared with just 7 percent of fifth-graders and 16 percent of third-graders.

“I think we’ve had enough test results to show that [this policy] is working,” Bloomberg said.

Still, opponents of the plan cited examples of past promotion policies in New York City and elsewhere that were unmitigated failures, and said it was too early to paint the third- and fifth-grade plans a success.

“I think it’s premature to declare victory for his initiatives,” said Robert Tobias, director of the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at NYU.

“If you look at the history of the effects of promotion policies, what we’ve seen is small gains that dissipate and higher dropout rates in the future. Expansion is premature.”

Carmen Farina, the Department of Education’s deputy chancellor for instruction, said the new promotion policy differs from those of the past because it is shored up with a variety of costly initiatives designed to support struggling children.

Under the policy, children who score the lowest of four levels on citywide reading and math exams are automatically held back.

They could move ahead through an appeals process based on class work or by passing the tests in the summer.

Teachers-union president Randi Weingarten, who is embroiled in a bitter contract stalemate with the city, applauded the expansion as a better way to prepare kids for high school.

Jill Levy, president of the principals union, called the expansion “well-intentioned,” but said the plan suffers from a lack of organization and overworks principals.

Principals at yesterday’s training session said they were not surprised to hear the mayor call for expanding the policy.

“This is obviously the direction it was going to go,” said Harry Sherman, principal of MS 127 in The Bronx.

“Whether it works in the seventh grade, we’ll have to wait and see.”

—

‘Higher’ education

RAISING THE STAKES FOR SEVENTH-GRADERS

* Promotion is contingent upon scoring at least a Level 2 (of four) on tests.

* Reading tests will be issued in the 2005-06 school year; math will be phased in next year.

* Failing students will have a chance to appeal.

* Struggling students will be able to attend Saturday school.

HOW IT HAS WORKED IN THIRD AND FIFTH GRADES

Both grades were given additional educational supports: