Your independent guide to NYC public schools

It’s the end of teacher appreciation week: the DOE's number two guy, Shael Suransky, taught a class, Chancellor Walcott has been visiting schools, Mayor Bloomberg and countless others shared some #thankateacher love on Twitter, and maybe a few students brought apples to their teachers. We wonder, how can we best show our teachers appreciation all year round?

There are several politically charged answers to the that question that have been highlighted in the news lately. But, what about better pay? It’s no secret that teachers aren’t in it for the money. Teaching can be a highly rewarding job but it is not a career path paved with financial gold. A public school teacher in New York City with a BA can expect to earn $45,530 his first year, according to the UFT’s salary schedule.

Still, that’s almost 10K more than the national average: $36,502, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s most recent survey of education from around the world. But the high cost of living in the Big Apple, eats up much, if not all, of the difference.

After three decades on the job NYC teachers with a Master's degree can make over $100,000. Of course if you luck out and get a job at TEP, The Equity Project Charter School, you'll make $125,000 your first year there. But that's the exception.

Average starting pay for teachers in Finland, Diane Ravitch’s favorite place to learn, is actually lower, $32,692 (of course, the Socialist country has much better government benefits, but that’s a blogpost for another day). Teachers in Japan make $27,995 starting out and $30,522 is first-year pay for teachers in Korea. In Poland, on the other hand, starting salary is $9,186 on average. Luxemborg is one of the best places to teach if you’re after some green, starting teachers there make $51,799. (All these numbers are from OECD.) 

With that perspective, maybe New York’s not so bad! Then again, teachers are some of the most valuable members of society, should we pay them more? What do you think is a fair starting salary? Take our poll!

Boys and Girls High School is a failing school by many standards. The New York City Department of Education gave it a grade of “F” on its 2011 Progress Report. Only 45.7% of students graduate in four years and just 19.7% of them enroll in college. Out of those, 4.2% of students are considered ready for college. On any given day, a quarter of students are missing from school. Those that show up pass through a metal detector so sensitive, a shoelace grommet can set it off. Once inside, they are met by a small army of uniformed security guards before heading to class. But, do grades, data and scanners tell the real story? Is the “Pride and Joy of Bed Stuy” really failing?

Just last week the Panel on Education Policy voted to close 18 schools they deemed to be failing. Boys and Girls was not on that list. I sat down with Principal Bernard Gassaway to get an update on Boys and Girls High School, and to get his thoughts about school closures.

Gassaway came to Boys and Girls in 2009 and found a school he says was populated with incompetent teachers and staff, where cheating was commonplace and violence and gang activity were rampant. He has an uphill battle. Here's a condensed version of our conversation.

At Insideschools, we aim to provide up-to-date data on New York City public schools. This data includes official statistics from New York City and New York State and is available on the Department of Education website as well as the New York State Report Card site. Charter school data not included in city statistics was provided by The Charter School Center. Below is a list of the main sources for data along with what we post on our site from each source:

Name, address, telephone number and principal name from the Department of Education LCGMS database 

Progress Report - Attendance, graduation rate, college ready, college enrollment, high school ready

NYC School Survey - percentage of student who feel safe, percentage of teachers who trust principal

School Demographics and Accountability Snapshot - Enrollment, free and reduced lunch, percent of English language learners, percent of students receiving special education services, ethnicity

Achievement Results - ELA and math scores for grades 3-8

Period Attendance Reporting - Attendance, enrollment for new schools

Class Size Report schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/data/classsize/classsize.htm Average class sizes (updated twice a year. If link is broken try schools.nyc.gov and search "class size")

Elementary school directory gifted and talented, dual language, and magnet programs.

Elementary and middle school zone maps:

http://nycopendata.socrata.com/Education/School-Zones-2011-2012/dqkt-8x6u

School overcrowding: School Construction Authority utilization reports

http://www.nycsca.org/Community/CapitalPlanManagementReportsData/Pages/EnrollmentCapacityUtilization.aspx

All other data was provided by the Department of Education by special request.

I got a letter the other day from a parent whose daughter had missed more than 30 days of school. “Please excuse my child for these absences because of asthma, colds and the weather,” the note said.