TheNew York Post reports astonishing news today: more than 85% of elementary and middle schools earned an A or B on 2009  school "progress reports," which are expected to be released today. Even more surprising is that only two schools received Fs.

Those stats have improved enormously in just two years, according to the Post. In 2007, only 61% of schools earned top marks and 35 schools received Fs. Many of the failing schools have since been closed or have new principals. (Learn more about the fate of failing schools in today's Daily News.)<!--more-->

This year's progress  reports  reflect the dramatic improvements in student scores on math and reading tests, which account for 85% of the overall letter grade. The Post anticipates that this news will incite more calls to raise the standards on the state exams.

Board of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch has already demanded that tests become more defensible. According to the  Post, Tisch said   next year's exams "will be more comprehensible and less predictable than in prior years." New State Education Commissioner David Steiner declared yesterday that he, too, wants to improve state exams.

We'll post an update when the progress reports are  online; and let us  know if you would award your school the same grade as the city.

UPDATE 1:15 pm: GothamSchools posted a spreadsheet that lists the city's elementary and middle schools' new progress report grades (for the 2008-2009 school year) alongside their grades from the previous year. They also offer some initial observations gleaned from the data. Of particular interest, the three schools that the UFT and parent leaders sued to keep open all received As.

And the two failing schools? Harlem Link Charter School and Washington Heights Academy.