DOE Progress Report

Here is the link to our school progress report:
Progress_Report_2011_EMS_M163.pdf

Please also read this commentary by our principal, Dr. Virginia Pepe, which helps to explain what you are seeing:

The Department of Education has released a 2010-11 Progress Report for PS 163. The Report is only one of several ratings of student performance and progress. The DOE Report provides a summary analysis of how students in grades 3, 4, and 5 performed on the Statewide English Language Arts and Math tests. The Report also compares our school’s achievement to the achievement of 40 other New York City public schools. You can find a copy of the report on the DOE’s website at schools.nyc.gov/FindASchool/schoolreports.htm?loc=M163&type=progressreport.

This past summer, the State released Statewide test scores for the 2010-11 school year. When we reviewed the PS 163 scores, we were pleased with most of the outcomes. The percentage of students who met or exceeded State benchmarks on the English Language Arts tests improved by 7.5%. This was a significant gain and exceeded the performance of many other District Three schools as well as the average score for the District. On the Statewide math test, our student performance increased in grades 3 and 5 but overall performance decreased slightly. Overall, 62% of PS 163 students meet or exceed the State benchmark in English Language Arts and 70% meet or exceed the State benchmark in math.

We hoped we would see similarly positive news when the fall Progress Reports came out. We believed that our recent test scores, the efforts of our experienced and talented teaching staff, our successful and rigorous academic curriculum, the rich array of arts programming we provide, and our increased emphasis on small-group reading work, would be rewarded with a solid overall grade that accurately reflected our efforts and achievements. Regrettably, the DOE Report was not what we expected in one area. Although PS 163 performed received a B in two reporting areas, our low score in the third reporting area meant that we received a C as an overall grade.

The DOE grade for a school is made up of three separate scores for Student Progress, Student Performance, and School Environment. The Student Performance score is intended to measure the percentage of students who meet or exceed State benchmarks. Our school received a grade of B in Student Performance, representing an improvement over the prior year. We also received a B for School Environment, which reflects student engagement, communication, academic expectations, safety, and attendance. The grades of B in Student Performance and School Environment suggest we are doing well in those areas, although we continue to strive for improvement during the current year.

The only area in which PS 163 did not score well was in Student Progress, which the DOE grades separately from Student Performance. Our school received an F in Student Progress, based on a comparison to a “peer group” of 40 other schools, mostly schools in other boroughs that we haven’t previously been compared to.

The Report does not measure Student Progress in absolute terms. For example, the Student Progress grade does not consider that PS 163’s Language Arts scores significantly increased. Rather, the Report looks at the rate of change in Student Progress over a two-year period for grades 4 and 5 and compares that rate of change to the rate of change in our assigned peer group of 40 schools. Because of the limited way in which the DOE measures Student Progress, our grade does not fully reflect the real, meaningful progress that PS 163 students made over the past year, especially in English Language Arts.

We suspect that the low grade in Student Progress may be due in part to a change in makeup of our assigned peer group. None of the schools in our new peer group are located in District 3. Also, a disproportionate number receive Title I funding based on the percentage of their students that come from low-income families. Although a significant percentage of our students qualify to receive a free school lunch, we are not a Title I school and do not receive the extra Title I budget.

Another factor may be the heavy weighting that the DOE assigns to test performance of the students with the lowest scores in the testing grades. To appreciate the issue in context, we observe that PS 163 offers four programs: gifted and talented, general education, bilingual education, and special education. We are proud of PS 163’s commitment to our special-needs students, and particularly of the performance these students achieved in math in the prior year and again this year when many scored 2 and a number scored 3. Special-needs students at peer schools may have achieved similar levels of math performance for the first time this year. Yet, maintaining the same levels of math performance for special-needs students at PS 163 does not translate into Student Progress as DOE uses the term.

Consider also the selection of our new peer group changes the picture of our achievements. Last year, with a different peer group, our overall grade of C was only two points away from a B. This year’s group of peer schools includes no schools in District 3. Although our Student Performance scores significantly improved, our overall grade remains a C. Yet, we are the same school. We work diligently to provide our students with the best education possible. We have great teachers and an administration that fully supports the efforts of the school’s teachers and students. That said, we are committed to doing better, much better.

As your Principal, I am studying what we need to do to achieve our goals. We are adjusting certain teaching methods even though we have experienced significant Student Performance growth in English Language Arts. We also are making adjustments in how we teach problem solving. Some PS 163 teachers will visit other schools to compare techniques. Parents can help. We ask you to see that your child comes to school on time. Your child should be absent only when absolutely necessary. We also ask you to assure that your children read every day.

We know that PS 163 is a great school, one that we can all be proud of, even if our strengths do not always receive the recognition that we believe they deserve. Working together, we are confident that we can continue to improve and hope that future DOE reports will fairly reflect both our achievements and the challenges that we face.

Virginia Pepe, Ed.D.
Principal