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City educators yesterday applauded the across-the-board jump in math scores, but few principals were as jubilant as Kim Outerbridge.
Her eighth-graders at Crotona Park West school in the Bronx posted the most improved scores in the city - from zero students passing last year to 41.1% passing this year.
"We're nowhere near the end of the line," Outerbridge said. "We've got to up the ante. We've got to up the rigor."
More than 65% of city students in grades 3 to 8 met or exceeded standards on the state math test, up from 57% last year and 27.8% since 2002.
"I'm happy, thrilled. Ecstatic is a better word to report on statewide math tests," said Mayor Bloomberg, who celebrated the scores alone after Chancellor Joel Klein was delayed by airline problems.
"It does show that the hard work going on in our schools is really paying off."
State Education Commissioner Richard Mills credited the city's improvement to a robust curriculum, consistency in instruction and a heavy investment in data.
"I'm sure there's a determination there to keep going," he said. "It's not over yet."
NYU Prof. Robert Tobias, a standardized testing expert, said the improved scores show that educators have grown more comfortable with the test, which was administered in all six grades for the first time in 2006.
Principal Janice Gordon of the Bronx Little School said the test results were met with "relief and elation" there.
The school had the most improved fourth-grade scores in the city, rising from 36.8% to 92.9%. Gordon said that there has been a great emphasis on data and indivizualized teaching at the school, allowing teachers to tailor assignments to kids' needs.
But she said poring over data isn't enough.
"We have the opportunity to know each child well," she said. "Knowing the child as a person makes a difference."
With Erin Einhorn, Kate Lucadamo, Andrew Hawkins and Elaine Chan
