Though principals typically viewed these partners as helpful, teachers often regarded them as being of limited value. The researchers surveyed principals in all non-specialty high schools and conducted interviews and observations in four of them. One school had been completely overhauled, one was on academic probation, the third had been put on probation and then removed, and the fourth had never been on probation. None of the schools was identified in the report, which was made public last month. In their observations of 9th and 11th grade mathematics and English classes, the researchers found teachers responding to pressure to raise test scores.
Poor scores are a crucial factor in triggering district intervention.
Typically, English teachers devoted more time to test preparation than math teachers did. The report raises questions about the city's mandatory summer school program for students who fail to qualify for promotion to the next grade. Teachers in the program often omitted many of the activities listed in the district's scripted curriculum, prompting the researchers to call for better training and selection of instructors. But it found that a plan for teacher-led advisory periods for students had been less successful, largely because of a pay dispute with the teachers' union. 1999 Editorial Projects in Education Vol.