Elementary and middle school report cards were released on Monday, and 150 schools earned only mediocre results for the third straight year, prompting many to believe that more schools could be closed soon.
According to the New York Times, a quarter of the schools received A grades, while nine percent of schools got slapped with D and F grades. Education Department officials announced that in addition to the D and F schools, they will also look into “triple-C” schools, or schools that haven’t earned better than a C grade in the past three years. According to the paper, the number of these triple-C schools jumped from 5 last year to 114 this year.
In all, 304 schools received A’s, 421 received B’s, 365 received C’s, 80 received D’s and 23 received F’s, which, according to the paper was on par with last year’s results.
Shael Polakow-Suransky, chief academic officer for the Education Department, called the new assessment practices for schools “richer,” as well as tougher and more balanced.
The Times says that officials will finalize a list of schools marked for “early engagement” by next week – meaning schools that may close, have a principal replaced, or other stringent measures. Including high schools, 40 schools were on that list last year.
