Dismayed that the city's school report cards focus largely on test scores, the teachers union has created an alternative that also measures safety, teamwork and other factors.
United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten unveiled to city leaders as well as the Daily News Editorial Board what she billed as a "common sense" formula for rating schools.
"It looks at what makes a school a place where parents want to send their child and every teacher would want to work," she said yesterday at a breakfast sponsored by the Association for a Better New York.
The competing plan comes four months after city officials handed out A-to-F letter grades to all 1,400 schools, raising the ire of the UFT and other groups who wanted a broader scope.
Alhough the city bases 85% of a grade on test scores - 55% on improvement on tests and 30% from whether they pass - Weingarten would give schools four grades and consider test scores for only a portion of one.
Her goal, she said, was not to replace the city's ratings - which created confusion among parents when the city gave A's to some schools that the state deems failing and F's to some schools the state says are in good standing.
Under the union's system, schools would get grades for academic achievement, school safety and order, teamwork and support from the administration.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's chief accountability officer, Jim Liebman, said he would consider the union's proposal. "We have been listening to everybody in the city, and we've come up with some proposed changes already, many of which, of course, anticipate the things that Randi was talking about today," Liebman said.
