By Helen Zelon

New York City school students' test scores dropped steeply this year but standardized tests remain the device of choice for the nation's largest school system to measure progress.

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Helen Zelon
Helen Zelon
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On January 3, after a bumpy introduction to New Yorkers, the Chancellor’s baton is scheduled to pass to Cathie Black. The magazine magnate has survived a credentials challenge from the state's education commissioner, and she will likely surmount lawsuits by parents and legal activists protesting her selection for the job. But those are just the first—and perhaps the easiest—tests that Black will face.

Her predecessor Joel Klein oversaw a period of unprecedented reform, made possible by mayoral control of the schools. There is furious debate over whether Klein's changes were wise or have been successful. But there is no question that his successor will confront a litany of wrenching decisions.

City Limits wondered how Chancellor-designee Black and readers might fare on an utterly non-standardized test of city-schools knowledge and the legacy of reform—and controversy—that Black stands to inherit. Black (or you, for that matter) can take the quiz in about the same amount of time that most students have for a single class: 45 minutes.

Section 1: Multiple Choice
10 minutes

1. Charter-school development has been a signature reform of the Klein chancellorship. Because real estate is in short supply, DOE often places charter schools in existing school buildings. This "co-location" has sometimes created tensions between parents, school leaders and school communities. In how many other cities in New York State do charter schools share traditional public school buildings?

A. All cities and towns in New York state co-locate charters in traditional public school buildings
B. The Big Five cities in New York—NYC, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo and Schenectady—all co-locate charters in school buildings.
C. Albany and New York City both co-locate charter and traditional public schools.
D. No other cities in New York state practice co-location.

Correct answer: D

2. Roughly 80,000 United Federation of Teachers union members are currently working in the city schools without a contract. Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein broke ground with a previous UFT contract that significantly raised teacher salaries, as a strategy to attract talent . What are the most pressing goals for a new contract?

A. Data-driven performance measures for all teachers
B. Financial incentives to reward teachers who work in difficult schools
C. Lifting the hiring freeze that’s been in place since 2009
D. Re-evaluating pension/insurance costs and the pledge of guaranteed income to excessed (laid off) teachers
E. All of the above
F. None of the above

No correct answer.

3. Mayoral control of the schools permitted the restructuring of the school system’s hierarchy. Klein shattered the 32 school districts that had long governed as often-corrupt fiefdoms (but also gave parents access to education leaders above the school level). He created and then phased-out a set of administrative regions. He gutted the power of superintendents but gave principals more autonomy, while consolidating at DOE headquarters a range of once-local practices, like enrollment, high school choice, principal hiring, gifted and talented testing, purchasing and contracts. Educators and experts have a range of opinions on what mix of autonomy and centralization is ideal. Which of the following is true?