City Schools, March 2010

  • Q+A with Shael Polakow-Suransky, Chief Accountability Officer

    Q. You have been in the New York City public school system for a long time. What is your background?
    A. I started teaching in a middle school in District Three. And I taught math to fifth-graders. Eventually I also taught humanities to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders. I went on to teach at a high school in Harlem, where I taught math and then became assistant principal. Then I had the chance to start my own school in the Bronx. I founded a school called Bronx International High School on the Morris Campus. It was designed to specifically serve students who are recent immigrants and are learning English for the first time.


    Q. What do you do now?
    A. I am the Department of Education’s Chief Accountability Officer. We’re in charge of evaluating school quality through the Progress Report and the Quality Review processes. We also provide achievement resources to support schools around formative assessment inquiry teams and ARIS, and work closely with other divisions on other instructional supports.

  • Here’s What’s Going on In and Around our Schools

    Nearly three months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, NYC students continue to raise money for the victims. 

    At M.S. 74 in Bayside, Queens the Student Organization and Builder’s Club members were moved by the dire circumstances in the country.  The students organized a drive to collect change – leftover lunch money, pocket change, no amount was too small – to send to UNICEF.

    “I really enjoyed collecting money for Haiti because everyone in our school was so giving and kind,” eighth-grader Sam Kim said.