New York City Schools Named the Nation's Most Improved Urban School District

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that the New York City School System has been named the most improved urban school district in the nation and he has accepted the Board Prize for Urban Education. This prize is awarded annually and is the most prestigious education award in the country. It is given to the district that has shown the most progress related to raising the academic performance for all of the students while at the same time lessening the gap in the achievement records of different ethnic groups as well as the differences in achievement that exist between students in different income levels.

This is the third year that New York City has been a finalist in the competition

The Mayor was joined in Washington, D.C. by Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis Walcott and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. This is the third consecutive year that New York City has been a finalist for the Broad Prize.

The Mayor and School Chancellor Joel Klein took time to congratulate the four other districts who were finalist in this years competition. They are Bridgeport Public Schools, the Long Beach Unified Public School District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and Northside Independent School District in San Antonio.

The standards that are set for getting the Board Prize are based on research-based school as well as district practices in three different areas. Those are teaching and learning, district leadership and operations and support systems.

This time around there were 100 of the nation's largest urban school districts who were deemed eligible for the Broad Prize. The five finalists were selected by MPR Associates, Inc. They are a national education research consulting firm. The actual review was conducted by review board of 14 prominent educational leaders.

New York exceeded on these four items.

It outperformed the other districts in the State at serving students with similar income levels in both reading and math and at all grade levels.

The city is closing the achievement gaps for both Hispanic and African American students. The Hispanic students have outpaced the white students in reading and math. The African American students came out ahead in math.

Between the years of 2003 and 2006, the number of both Hispanic and African American students who took the SAT exams have gone up.

The five finalists will split a $1 million prize. New York City will receive $500,000 in scholarships for graduation seniors. The Dept. of Education will notify eligible students about the scholarships and encourage the students to apply.

Students who apply to four year colleges will be eligible for $10,000, those going to two year schools will be eligible for $2,500. The other four finalists will each receive $125,000

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