New York Considers System For Rating Schools

By Bess Keller

Following the lead of Texas and California, New York education officials are proposing to rate all schools on how well their students do in passing state tests.

Currently, New York state requires schools to distribute report cards that provide test results. But the proposed accountability scheme would go further by setting more precise state standards, which would then be used to rank schools at one of three levels starting next year.

As it does now, the state would identify low-performing schools, but designate them by the new phrase "furthest from standards." In addition, schools would be rated as "below standards" or "meeting standards." A fourth level, "exceeding standards" would be...