By Phil Corso
District 26 schools in northeast Queens had a reason to celebrate as city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott released this year’s elementary and middle school progress reports, putting the district at the top of the borough, which scored best in the entire city.
According to Walcott’s report, seven schools in Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck scored an A and seven others in District 26 scored a B. District 26 also includes schools in Bellerose, Floral Park, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village.
“Our elementary and middle schools build on the foundation of early learning to set our students on a path for college and career readiness,” Walcott said. “By measuring how well our schools prepare students for high school, the Progress Reports set the right goals for success in these formative grades.”
The reports were given to 1,193 schools, which serve students from kindergarten through eighth-grade. Letter grades were awarded based on student progress, performance and attendance as well as parent, teacher and student feedback.
As for District 26, which scored the highest out of the entire city in the highest performing borough, A grades were given to Bayside’s PS 41, 46, 159, 205 and 213, Little Neck’s PS 221 and Oakland Gardens’ PS 203. Seven other schools within the district — Bayside’s PS 31 and 162 and MS 67, 74 and 158, Douglaston’s PS 98 and Little Neck’s PS 94 — received B grades.
“This year, our students are engaging in more challenging coursework aligned to the Common Core standards,” said Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky. “With core course metrics counting as part of each school’s grade, the middle school reports give schools credit for more challenging coursework, and reflect a broader range of information about students’ performance.
Neighboring schools in District 25 also received high marks, including Bayside’s PS 130 with an A, Bell Academy with a B and Bay Terrace’s PS 169 with a C grade.
In total, Walcott said 304 schools received an A grade, 421 received a B, 365 received a C, 80 received a D and 23 received an F. Of all the schools, Walcott said 86 percent did not change more than one grade from last year’s scores, with charter schools earning the higher percentage of A grades and also having a higher average rank than public schools.
Progress reports for the city’s high schools should be available by the end of October, Walcott said.
Reach reporter Phil Corso by e-mail at pcorso@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
