Prometheus 6

Mayor Bloomberg released the results of a survey of New York City's students, teachers and parents yesterday. It was "a $2 million survey." That gives it credibility.

Noting that 90 percent of parents who answered the survey were satisfied or very satisfied with their children’s teachers and that 84 percent were similarly pleased with how their children’s schools communicated with them, Mr. Bloomberg said the results showed a “generally high level of approval among parents.”

Sadly, it lends so credibility at all the conclusions publicly drawn from it. This one, for instance, is just not justified.

Still, only 26 percent of parents responded. The rates were better among teachers and students. Forty-four percent of teachers and 65 percent of middle and high school students filled out the survey. Parent and teacher response rates were lower in schools that are largely poor and minority....

There were wide disparities among schools: At Public School 6 on the Upper East Side, one of the city’s most coveted elementary schools, for example, 46 percent of parents returned their surveys, compared with just 7 percent at Far Rockaway High School in Queens, a school with mostly poor students.

So what are the odds ALL the 46% of Public School 6 parents that responded were satisfied? And how can you even think of resolving that against the opinions of the parents of high school students?

Fortunately the school-specific reports give the city wide averages by school type. That's why I said the conclusions publicly drawn are questionable.