09.08.2013 | After a dozen years of school reform under Mayor Bloomberg, the future direction of city public schools hangs in the balance. The self-professed “education mayor” secured resources for his policy priority. The year Bloomberg entered office, the average amount spent per student annually was $11,000. By 2010-11, it had risen to $19,000. But his critics and boosters fiercely debate the results. On the one hand, after shuttering large, failing high schools and replacing them with small schools, graduation rates are soaring. And the dropout rate was cut in half. On the other hand, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress gave fuel to Bloomberg’s critics. The percentage of city eighth-graders scoring at a proficient level in math and reading in 2011 was 24%. It’s a number that hasn’t budged significantly since 2003. The Daily News asked eminent minds in the field to weigh in with advice for the next mayor. Read article