Charters outshine public schools

Mayor Bloomberg said in no uncertain terms Tuesday that parents have a right to see teacher evaluations  and keeping them private would be an “outrage.” Speaking at an appearance in Coney Island, the mayor ripped his critics who insist that the city’s hotly contested instructor rankings should be kept confidential. “The arrogance of some people to say that the parents don’t have the ability to look at numbers and to put them in context and to make decisions is just astounding to me,” Bloomberg said. The tough talk came as the city made yet another batch of teachers’ names and their rankings public — this time for charter school instructors. The newly released records indicate charters have higher performing teachers than regular public schools — and they know what to do with instructors who don’t make the grade. teacher score “Teachers [who don’t perform\] lose their jobs in charter land,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, a nonprofit that helps new charter schools get started and supports existing ones. The privately run, publicly funded schools have drawn praise for eliminating poor-performing teachers faster than traditional public schools. At Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy One, two instructors who were rated low or below average in both math and English in 2010 no longer work at the charter school. Parents at the 125th St. school weren’t surprised that the two instructors no longer had jobs. “Those teachers aren’t here anymore. That should tell you something,” said Quantara Shabazz, 47, an MTA conductor whose daughter Tahna Langly, 12, is a sixth-grader. “This is a great school. We are blessed,” Shabazz added. About 10 blocks away from Promise Academy One, another charter school and a public school share a building. They had very different results on the teacher evaluations. KIPP Infinity Charter School had two teachers with the top multiple year scores in the rankings system and several above average in 2009-2010 alone, according to a Daily News analysis. But teachers at Intermediate School 195 in Harlem — who share the W. 133rd St. building with KIPP — scored far lower, with not a single one earning high or above average marks in the most recent year. Parents whose kids attend the struggling public school, which is set to close for poor performance in 2013, were shocked the charter did so well. “Wow. How do they do that?” asked Erika Thomas, whose son Erik is a fourth-grader at IS 195. “My son’s school is being phased out,” said Thomas. “We were short-changed. But that’s history now.”