1. Rich Bebenroth and Marie Russell
Information Session
December 11th and 12th
Presenters:
Rich Bebenroth and Marie Russell

2. Questions We will answer all questions at the end
Please write your questions on the provided paper and put it in the bag
The bag will be collected and questions answered at the end
You do not need to put your name on the questions
But if we cannot answer your questions today we will an answer to anyone who supplies their contact info

3. Unfair and Unreliable Measures
We do take the progress report seriously but the overall grade is not a good measure.
Mayor Elect Bill De Blasio said through a spokesman
“he would eliminate letter grades of schools which offer little real insight to parents and are not a reliable indicator of how schools are actually performing.”

4. Rollercoaster Ride
The Progress Report uses ever changing metrics that put us on a roller coaster ride.
We have gone from a B to a C to a B to a C with no changes in our leadership, minimal staff changes, and minimal population changes.
The difference is our “Peer Groups”

5. Peer Groups
Peer Groups are decided by the NYC Dept. of Ed. based on the demographics of the school, and look at factors like percentage of Black or Hispanic students, percentage of ELL students, percentage of students with IEP’s, and Economic Need.
No two schools are alike and therefore we think this is a poor measure.

6. School Environment Survey
We have gone up in every metric, but our overall grade has gone down in this section due to a change in peer groups.
Our parents think we are doing better, our staff think we are doing better but our grade was lowered…This makes little to no sense

7. Bonus Points Conundrum
There are a possible 16 bonus points
Due to our population we cannot receive 6 out of the 16 at all, this hurts us.
African American male in bottom 1/3 of the city, Self contained and SETTS. 7

8. How to Improve School Environment Survey?
More parent responses, encourage your friends to take the survey
There are some surprising answers on the survey that may be from misunderstandings so we need to help communicate ideas more effectively.
As a school we need to communicate what “College and Career Ready” means to parents.
Attendance- We lost points and went down in terms of attendance. One big factor is family vacations during the school year.
Questions like Drinking, drugs, prescription drugs is a problem and it was agreed by a parent 8

9. Student Growth and Performance
We did lose points and we are working to change that.
New Math and Reading Curriculums to promote more academic vigor and deeper content knowledge
Online programs such as TenMarks, GoMath Academy, Think Central, and RAZ-Kids
More teacher-to-teacher professional development sharing best practices of what works and doesn’t work.

10. Communication
The best way to know how your child is doing is to communicate with their teacher
Make sure you are subscribed to Mrs. Hui’s list
Check planners for notes/updates from your child's teacher

11. Questions
For specific questions about the Progress Report please Mr. Bebenroth at
For other questions please continue to Mrs. Hui at