Letter to Department of Education Regarding Remediation for 100,000+ Students

Joel I. Klein
Chancellor
New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007


Dear Chancellor Klein,

Thank you for providing my Office with the requested data, enclosed, pertaining to the number of students who scored below the new proficiency standards. This data only heightens my concerns about how the Department of Education (“Department”) will ensure that all students who scored below the new proficiency standards will receive the extra support they need to ensure they can remain competitive with their peers.

As the data clearly indicates, the scope of this problem is not isolated to certain neighborhoods or populations – it is a citywide problem that deserves an expansive and rapid solution. I am most alarmed by the following statistics:
• The percentage of students scoring between the new and old proficiency standards in ELA is fairly consistent with districts ranging from 16% on the low end to 29% on the high end;
• Approximately fifty-eight percent of students – 238,974 out of 414,609 – citywide are not proficient in ELA;
• Of the students who are non-proficient in ELA, eighty-one percent of those students are Black and Latino;
• At the eighth grade level, sixty-two percent of students are not proficient in ELA;
• Viewing the totality of the data, it seems that approximately fifty-five percent of students are not being served by current remediation practices; and
• There is a substantially greater racial disparity between the percentages of non-proficient students in Math versus ELA.

To date, the Department’s public statements on this issue, including the September 27th statement from the Deputy Chief Schools Officer for Academics Josh Thomases’ before the City Council’s Education Committee hearing on student testing, have been deficient. At the hearing Mr. Thomases’ specified that the Department will be focusing extra attention on students who scored at Level 1 or 2 on State tests, but he neglected to articulate what constitutes “extra attention.”

In my impression, the Department seems to be completely ignoring the 108,000 ELA students and 125,000 Math students who scored between the 2009 and 2010 proficiency scores. It is unconscionable to me that the Department’s inaction will effectively leave these students out in the cold. What is the Department’s plan to provide remediation to these students?

The Department’s failure to articulate a plan is even more distressing in light of the upcoming State Board of Regents’ vote to extend the Department’s exemption from providing services to the students between the 2009 and 2010 proficiency standards. The Department should not hide behind the pending State exemption as a way to evade its responsibility to ensure that all students receive the supports necessary to succeed. The Department’s commitment to raising academic standards must apply universally to all students regardless of proficiency level and despite fiscal challenges.

In light of the gravity of this problem and the Department’s failure to articulate a comprehensive plan to date, pursuant to New York Freedom of Information Law, Article 6 of the Public Officer’s Law, I request that the Department provide my Office with the following information in addition to responses to questions included in my letter dated September 24, 2010, which is enclosed again for your convenience:
• What teaching mechanisms are available to schools to provide necessary remediation supports to non-proficient students?
• How much would it cost the Department to provide the necessary remediation to all non-proficient students?

In closing, I reiterate my belief that the Department must make systemic policy changes that will do much more than encourage principals to serve the needs of these struggling students, especially in light of the State and City’s move towards more rigorous standards. The Department must articulate its plan to ensure that students who are scoring below proficiency obtain the remediation supports necessary to raise their proficiency standards. This remediation should include:

• Ensuring that all Children’s First Networks (“CFN”) have dedicated staff to assist with such remediation and that all CFN staff completes Department-sanctioned training about the best way(s) to deliver such services. This will ensure accountability in CFN’s delivery of these crucial services; and
• While not mandatory, it may make sense to establish a staff person with the central agency to oversee the development of CFN training materials and the delivery of remediation services by CFNs;
• Providing necessary student enrichment in structured after-school settings, individualized or small group settings throughout the school day, and/or during the 37.5 minutes before the start of the school day.

I am committed to working collaboratively with the Department to find ways to accomplish this goal. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my Policy Director, DeNora Getachew.

Thank you in advance for your timely response to this letter.

Sincerely,


Bill de Blasio
Public Advocate for the City of New York