'REFORMED' SCHOOLS A TRIUMPH FOR CITY

By YOAV GONEN Education Reporter

It was a banner day for the city's schools yesterday as record-low numbers of them were designated either as notoriously dangerous or academically struggling.

The number of schools in good academic standing surged past 1,000 this year -- up to 1,088 from 987 last year. It was the most since performance guidelines were imposed under the federal No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, officials said.

The number of schools identified as needing academic improvement dropped by a whopping 112 since last year -- to 297, although more than half are in a category that calls for some kind of restructuring of their programs.

Schools are judged by their ability to boost performance on state reading and math tests, both overall and for certain groups like special education or impoverished students.

Those schools identified as subpar must go through a series of steps to improve -- including providing free tutoring or allowing students to transfer.

"Today's announcement is further evidence of the steady gains our students are making," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

The number of schools not meeting the academic benchmarks statewide also dropped -- from 655 last year to 499 this year.

But state education officials were more restrained in their remarks -- largely because the dwindling numbers are tied to student gains on state reading and math tests whose rigor has been increasingly questioned.

"The Regents are committed to raising the bar for student achievement through higher standards and increased rigor in the assessments," said Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch.

State officials also announced that the number of city public schools dubbed "persistently dangerous" dropped to 10 this year -- the lowest number since the guidelines for making the designations were changed in 2005.

Eight middle and elementary schools were added to the list this year and two have been held over since 2007-08.

Just three schools elsewhere in the state earned the "dangerous" moniker -- which comes with two consecutive years of elevated numbers of incidents per student.

The number of city schools deemed persistently dangerous peaked at 25 in 2007, before dipping in recent years.

This year's reduction came with improvements at 14 city schools.

As it has in the past, the teachers union called for federal officials to reform the guidelines for labeling dangerous schools -- which tend to punish schools that most honestly air their dirty laundry.