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New York City public schools have received a new round of letter grades for their performance, and the results are either encouraging or bewildering, depending on whom you ask.  NYC Education Department officials point to the overall improvements over last year, due in large part to the city's rising test scores in mathematics and reading.  Critics of the Department point to large fluctuations in grades from one year to the next as evidence that the grading system is fundamentally flawed.

The critics have a point.  According to the New York Times, three quarters of schools that received failing grades last year received A's or B's this year.  "A school doesn't move from a D to an A in one year unless there is a flaw in the measurement or the standardized test itself," a principal told the Times.  If they continue, wild inconsistencies from year to year will undermine the grades' credibility with parents and make meaningful accountability all but impossible.

What's worse, grades assigned by the Department often flat out contradict the results of state or federal accountability systems.  As education blogger Eduwonkette points out, schools that earned an F from New York City are more likely than schools that earned an A to be in good standing under the federal No Child Left Behind act.  Just weeks after receiving a federal Blue Ribbon award last year, one school earned a D from New York City.  What's a parent to think?

It doesn't help that the state tests on which the grading regimes largely depend don't exactly enjoy universal confidence.  Disparities between sharply rising New York State assessment scores and far less impressive results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress raised eyebrows over the summer. 

Of course, no one should use these problems with current accountability systems as a justification for killing all accountability systems. Nor should anyone portray all critics of the New York City system as deranged opponents of accountability or unscrupulous apologists for failure.

It would make more sense to invest much more energy and--yes--more money in sound accountability systems and better assessments. This work is difficult and expensive, without a doubt. Yet the alternative is to try the public's patience with accountability systems.

For a clearer look at the various report cards assessing different aspects of public schools, see NSBA's Center for Public Education.

Image is the cover of Nancy Poydar's The Bad-News Report Card