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10 Westchester Schools Among 370 In State Needing Improvement, State Education Department Says

The New York State Department of Education has identified 10 Westchester schools that are in need of improvement.

Several Westchester schools have been identified as needing improvement.

Several Westchester schools have been identified as needing improvement.

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Zak Failla
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This week, the Department of Education announced a new list of 370 schools that need improvement, including some in the Elmsford, Mount Vernon, Peekskill and Yonkers school districts.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia identified 106 school districts as “target districts,” 245 schools for comprehensive support and Improvement and 125 schools for “Targeted Support and Improvement.”

Those in the latter two groups require districts and schools to create improvement plans.

In addition, NYSED identified 26 schools to be newly placed into receivership and 37 schools to be removed from receivership at the end of the current school year, including two schools scheduled to close. In total, just 43 schools will remain in receivership at the end of the academic year.

All determinations were based on information from the 2017-2018 school year.

According to the NYSED, the state undertook a substantial and comprehensive public engagement process to develop the school accountability indicators contained in the state’s ESSA plan.

For the first time this year, based on data for the 2017-18 school year, every district, public school and charter school earns a score of 1 to 4, where 1 is the lowest and 4 is the highest, for each ESSA accountability indicator. Accountability indicators include:

  • Student achievement in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies;
  • Student growth in language arts and math;
  • Four-, five-, and six-year graduation rates;
  • Student readiness for college, career, and participation in civic life;
  • Acquisition of English proficiency by English language learners; and
  • Chronic absenteeism.

“New York’s (Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA]) plan is designed to improve equity in student outcomes by identifying the schools and districts that need additional support,” Elia said. “With these new school accountability determinations, a community engagement process is started to develop and implement evidence-based strategies to increase student achievement in our neediest schools so all students in New York State have access to a high-quality education.”

Westchester schools that have been identified as needing improvement include: 

Elmsford

  • Alexander Hamilton High School.

Mount Vernon

  • Mount Vernon High School;
  • Longfellow Middle School.

Peekskill

  • Hillcrest School;
  • Oakside School.

Yonkers

  • Scholastic Academy for Academic Excellence;
  • School 23;
  • Museum School 25;
  • Cross Hill Academy;
  • Palisade Preparatory School.
 “The Board of Regents and I are focused on increasing equity for all students,” Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said. “As we developed our ESSA plan, we made sure to include multiple strategies to improve educational equity across the state and the new accountability system is one such strategy.”

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