According to Families for Excellent Schools, a pro-charter school group, 90% of students at one-fourth of NYC’s public schools are not at proficient levels of math and language skills. The report is aptly titled “The Forgotten Fourth.”

Leslie Brody of the Wall Street Journal has the story:

Report From Pro-Charter Group Decries New York City School Failures

A new report from an advocacy group highlights a dismal statistic: In nearly a quarter of New York City public schools, 90% or more of the students failed to demonstrate proficiency in language arts and math.

Families for Excellent Schools, a pro-charter group, didn’t suggest specific solutions, but called for comprehensive change to fix the most troubled schools. Its study analyzed test data on the New York City Department of Education website.

“If one-fourth of the New York City subway trains were constantly and chronically late, the streets would simmer with rage,” the report said.

Titled “The Forgotten Fourth,” the report said that 371 schools, with 143,000 students, were failing. That means in grades three through eight, their students’ passing rates for the state’s math and language-arts exams averaged 10% or less. In high schools, the study used the city’s measure for college readiness.

Most of these schools have performed poorly for a decade, the report said, and their low 2013 test results shouldn’t be blamed on the debut of new exams tied to the Common Core, a national set of tougher academic standards.

Jeremiah Kittredge, the group’s chief executive officer, said he hoped the report would frame debate on the 2014 test results, expected in coming weeks.

He said solutions must come from the district, charter sector and a range of partners.

“We were shocked by the depth of this challenge and don’t believe anything has been put forward yet that could truly address the need for bold change on this scale,” he said.