News

NEW YORK, NY June 01, 2005 —One of the Democrats who's running for mayor says the recent 10 point gain in fourth grade reading scores isn't all it's cracked up to be.

REPORTER: City Council Speaker Gifford Miller says 84 percent of fourth graders who attended summer school last year - because they were in danger of being held back - scored a level 2 on their latest English exams.

Technically that's enough to be promoted. But it's still considered less than proficient. Miller claims Bloomberg's Education Department doesn't highlight that distinction.

MILLER: I'm not attacking the gains. What we're saying is is that they're not telling the whole story.

REPORTER: The mayor's Democratic opponents have all raised questions about the test results, at a time when the mayor is running on his education record. A spokesman for the Schools Chancellor said things are finally going in the right direction no matter how hard it is for some politicians to accept.