Sarah Tung

Good morning, East Village.

Just above this post, we’ve published a story by NYU Journalism’s Timothy J. Stenovec in which he takes a look at recently released performance evaluations for 15 neighborhood elementary and middle schools.

The results of those evaluations were not encouraging – just four of the 15 schools received a grade of B or better. Two received A’s, one received a D.

Viewed one way, the grades might not have been totally unexpected during a year in which education officials overhauled the state’s standardized testing system. Department of Education officials acknowledged as much when they told Mr. Stenovec that part of the showing by city schools could be attributable to the change.

But that only tells part of the story of what’s happening in East Village schools.

Parents, teachers, union officials, politicians and other stakeholders often speak in general terms when discussing some of the challenges facing public education.

We’d like to hear some specifics from you.

What kind of teaching initiatives are working in your school?

Has enough been done to fix the aging infrastructure at some school buildings?

What kind of penalties should be levied against schools that under perform?

We encourage all of you – parents, teachers, administrators, students – to read Mr. Stenovec’s post and add your comments to it.