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Press & Sun-Bulletin November 21, 2007
Consultant: City schools fare well Binghamton compared to similar districts
By
George Basler BINGHAMTON -- Despite some problem areas, students in the Binghamton City School District are performing better than the average for students in other high-poverty, urban districts in the state, a consultant said Tuesday. "Binghamton is performing better than you would expect based on the poverty of its students and the community," said Lonnie Palmer, former superintendent of the Troy and Albany school districts. He is now a consultant with the Center for School Improvement Planning, established by the New York State Association of Small City School Districts. Palmer compared Binghamton's performance to the performance of 14 other high-poverty, urban districts with enrollments of more than 2,100 students. He used state Education Department data from the 2005-06 school year. The districts did not include the state's "Big Five" cities. Palmer said his conclusion is that Binghamton is a high-performing, high-poverty district when compared to other districts like it. Binghamton's successes include high passing rates for students on state tests when compared to similar districts, and the large percentage of graduates going on to college, he said. At the same time, Binghamton needs to improve its performance in some areas, including the dropout rate and the number of students classified for special education services, Palmer said. He presented a summary of his report at Tuesday's Binghamton Board of Education meeting. Binghamton spent $15,000 last summer to join the Center for School Improvement Planning. The report is another tool for Binghamton officials to use in gauging the district's performance, Superintendent Peggy J. Wozniak said. |
•Albany
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