State Education Department Identifies 562 Recognition Schools

The State Education Department identified 562 high achieving and high progress schools as 2018-19 Recognition Schools, Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced today. Under New York’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Plan, 2018-19 Recognition Schools have high academic achievement, student growth and graduation rate, and have made progress during the 2017-18 school year. Each Recognition School will receive a certificate of recognition from the Commissioner.

“The teachers and administrators at these Recognition Schools have taken to heart the critical mission of educating the whole child,” Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa said. “Our priority is fostering equity for our children across New York. These schools serve as models of the levels of performance we seek for all schools to be able to achieve in the future.”

“We are taking a more holistic approach to school and student achievement under ESSA and I am excited to recognize these schools for their accomplishments and progress,” Commissioner Elia said. “I commend the teachers, administrators, staff, parents and students for the hard work and dedication they bring each day—it is truly paying off.” 

Recognition Schools are identified as such because they are among the top performing under ESSA for performance, student growth and/or graduation rate; met or exceeded either the school or state measures of interim progress for English language arts and mathematics, rate of Chronic Absenteeism, and College, Career, and Civic Readiness; and met the federally required 95 percent participation rate in the English language arts and mathematics assessments.

Of the identified schools, 241 are located in New York City, 280 are located in the rest of the state and 41 are public charter schools. In addition, 131 of these schools were identified as Reward Schools last year (high performing/high progress schools under the prior accountability system). Following are the counts of Recognition Schools by school type and Need Resource Categories.

ESSA is Equity

The final approved ESSA plan emphasizes fostering equity in education for New York’s students; expands measures for school support and accountability and student success; and requires school-level improvement plans for the lowest performing schools overall, as well as schools with the lowest performance for certain student populations.

New York State is committed to ensuring that all students succeed and thrive in school no matter who they are, where they live, where they go to school, or where they come from. The plan includes strategies for supporting the professional growth of educators and ensuring that all students, including Multilingual learners/English language learners, immigrant students, migratory youth, students with disabilities, homeless youth, and neglected and delinquent youth, have access to a well-rounded, culturally responsive and sustaining education that supports students’ academic and social-emotional development.

ESSA strategies to foster equity include to: address disparities in training for teachers to help them be effective in the classroom; provide students more access to rigorous high school coursework; make schools equally welcoming environments for all students; increase fiscal transparency in school building spending; and use multiple measures to allow students to demonstrate proficiency in state learning standards.

The ESSA plan expands measures for school support and accountability and student success and requires school-level improvement plans for the lowest performing schools overall as well as schools with the lowest performance for certain student populations. ESSA also provides states and LEAs with funding to provide additional support to certain groups of students as well as to schools that have been identified for additional support. The plan also includes strategies for supporting the professional growth of educators and ensuring that all students receive a culturally responsive and sustaining education that supports their academic and social-emotional development. Additional information on the state’s ESSA plan can be found on NYSED’s website.

The Recognition Schools list is available on the State Education Department (SED) website. Further details on the Recognition School identification methodology can be found on the Department’s ESSA Accountability Designations website.