When dealing with New York City politics, education is an inescapable issue. Therefore, it is no surprise that education was a major stumbling block for both candidates in this year’s mayoral elections. The campaigns took an ugly turn as Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson exchanged barbs over their records on the issue, with Bloomberg portraying himself as a no-nonsense reformer and Thompson accusing him of inflating statistics to give the illusion of progress. Some thought that, in his unsuccessful bid for mayor, Thompson lobbed unfair attacks against his opponent. Not only was his criticism of the Bloomberg’s education policy legitimate and prescient, but it can also can be proven with statistics.

During the race, Bloomberg touted higher test scores as proof that student achievement had increased and that the education system had improved. Indeed, from 2006 to 2009, the number of students receiving threes and fours on city standardized reading tests jumped from 50.7 percent to 68.8 percent, while passing rates on the math tests rose from 56.9 percent to 81.8 percent.  However, much of this progress is dubious. Dr. Merryl Tisch, the Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, told The New York Times in “New York City Shows Gains in Math,” published on June 2, 2009, that “there was reason for caution amid the impressive results. She said that the tests had become too predictable, and that the state was considering raising the scores required to pass next year.”

According to The New York Post, the federal government’s standardized test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), conducted among a scientifically selected sample of students, found that “results on the [NAEP] show New York’s fourth-graders dipping down and its eighth-graders nudging up in math since 2007—even though the state-designed math test has shown wild gains for both grades over those years. The glaring discrepancy renewed criticism that the state’s exams have been watered down in recent years.” By lowering the scores needed to pass state tests, Bloomberg, Chancellor Joel Klein and state politicians were able to create the illusion of progress.

The ultimate measure of student achievement is undoubtedly the high school graduation rate. The Department of Education (DOE) claims that the graduation rate has soared 15 percent in recent years. While the gradation rate has risen, so has the discharge rate—that is, people who leave school without having their withdrawals counted as dropouts. These statistics are also smoke and mirrors, hiding the inconvenient truth that we need an educator, not a litigator, running the DOE.

According to “High School Discharges Revisited,” a Public Advocate’s Report published on Thursday, April 30, 2009, “approximately one in three New York City high schools’ [...] graduation rates would drop by 15 percentage points or more if discharges were counted as dropouts in the graduation calculation.”

Transcript discrepancies have also raised questions about whether those receiving diplomas actually deserve them. In its annual audit of school graduation rates, New York’s City’s Bureau of Management Audit found inconsistencies in 9.6 percent of the 197 scientifically sampled transcripts they reviewed in July 2009. The office concluded that “that with limited oversight by the DOE in determining whether State and DOE graduation standards are met. [...] Schools [...] made questionable changes to student transcripts, and did not maintain evidence that student transcripts were properly approved.” Essentially, the statistics are skewed in two ways: shady credit counting and the purging of bad students.

These problems stem from poor accountability. The most important step in achieving real progress is strict accountability measures. While Bloomberg and Klein have created school report cards to track the success of each building under the DOE’s control, these progress reports lack rigor. According to The New York Times, 97 percent of schools received As or Bs on these reports, but a school only needed to earn 75 out of 100 on the scoring, which was determined primarily by progress and improvement on standardized tests. The reports need to be changed to hold educational institutions and educators accountable for student achievement.

Bloomberg took the reigns of the schools from the state in 2003 and promised a new day for New York City, one in which people would flock to the city for great schools rather than flee to the suburbs. When this failed to materialize in practice, Bloomberg created this fantasy on paper. Students need real progress, not the semblance of progress.

I look forward to the day when a mayor doesn’t have to spend 100 million dollars to convince a recalcitrant public of his record on education, but the day when that record will speak for itself.