Release

Help Is Just a Click Away for New York Schools

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 9, 2006) -- Schools disappointed in their New York State Report Cards might find inspiration and assistance in a new Web-based, free resource from Just for the Kids-New York, part of the national Just for the Kids Project (click on New York State). The Web site:

• Allows any school see at a glance how it is doing compared with schools with similar or greater challenges,
   
• Shows how the best performing schools in the state do it, and
   
• Provides a free self-audit tool that any school can use to begin to assess its own program and find the places where it differs from the top performers

Just for the Kids-New York is a collaboration among the University at Albany School of Education, The Business Council of New York State, Inc., and the State of New York. A statewide advisory board includes directors of major state education associations.

Last spring a School of Education research team conducted a study to determine some of the differences between the state's average performing and highest performing elementary schools. The results of this study make up the "Best Practices" section of the website, which includes descriptions of what an effective practice looks like when it is "on target" and how it "misses the mark" in average-performing schools. It also includes informative case studies of 10 high performers. The UAlbany team is now gearing up to conduct a study of average and high performing middle schools, based on results of the state report cards.

"School Reports" are available for any elementary or middle school in the state and provide easy-to-use charts that show academic achievement potential by grade and subject based on comparisons of demographically similar schools with higher achievement. Schools are grouped by their demographics and are compared to similar schools.

Just for the Kids-New York has been supported, in part, by member companies of the Business Council such as IBM, State Farm Insurance, and AT&T; and the State of New York. The national project is sponsored by the National Center for Educational Accountability, a collaboration of the Education Commission of the States and the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information on Just for the Kids, contact Janet Angelis (518) 442-5023, [email protected].