MRSH's New York City Partner Schools Show Gains Greater Than District

Over the past seven years, Modern Red SchoolHouse (MRSH) has partnered with eight schools in NYC—all of them are now making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and none appear on the SINI (Schools In Need of Improvement) list. To assess the type of gains they achieved, relative to district gains, MRSH calculated the gains between the year prior to their becoming partners with MRSH and 2005.

Chart 1 shows the data collection period, from the baseline data (the year prior to MRSH partnership) to the most recent New York assessment data (2005). So, for instance, for Public School 96, the results under consideration cover 1999, the year prior to MRSH partnership, to the most recent year of assessment data, 2005.

The achievement data, shown in Chart 2 and Chart 3, reveal that the gains in student achievement for six of the eight partnering schools were greater than those gains realized at the district level. Specifically, Chart 2 compares the gains in reading of the eight schools that partnered with MRSH; six of them have gains greater than those of the NYC District—during the same period of comparison. This means 75% of NYC schools partnering with MRSH show greater gains in reading achievement than the NYC District. Our newest school, PS 268, shows greater gains in the very first year.

Chart 3 shows the results for student achievement in mathematics. There, again, six of the eight schools show gains greater than the NYC District gains for a comparable period—note that most of them are substantially greater gains. Again, this means that 75% of NYC schools partnering with MRSH show greater gains in mathematics achievement than the NYC District.

Partnering schools with MRSH during this period include:

• PS #96, Queens
• PS #48, William Wordsworth, Jamaica
• PS #140, Edward K. Ellington, Jamaica
• PS #197 John B. Russwurm School, Manhattan
• PS #30, Jamaica
• PS #377 Alejandrina Benitez de Gautier School, Brooklyn
• PS #86 Irvington School, Brooklyn
• PS #268, Emma Lazarus, Brooklyn

July 2006