Mayor Bloomberg and his top aides took a victory lap at 22 top-scoring public schools Monday — although this was the year city test scores plummeted the most during Hizzoner’s tenure.
Fewer than one-third of city public-school kids in grades 3 through 8 passed tougher state math exams this year, while roughly 26 percent passed the harder reading exams.
That’s down from pass rates of 60 percent in math in 2012 and 47 percent in reading — trends that were mirrored statewide because of the raised standards.
But administration officials said the fact that 22 of the top 25 scoring schools in the state this year were in the city merited some back-slapping.
When Bloomberg took over as mayor in 2002, none of the state’s top 25 schools were in the five boroughs.
“It’s as good a verification of what we’ve done in the last 12 years as you could possibly hope for,” Bloomberg said during a visit to TAG Young Scholars in East Harlem, one of the highly ranked schools.
The mayor’s senior aides were dispatched to hit each of the other 21 schools.
But 16 of the schools have selective admission criteria — based on test scores, gifted and talented exams or other factors — while two are charter schools run independently of the district.
Still, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the fact that only four were regular district schools doesn’t diminish the feat.
“To me this is a major accomplishment,” he said. “A lot of these schools were in existence back in 2001, and they didn’t qualify for the top 25.”
David Bloomfield, a former Board of Education lawyer, dismissed the hoopla as end-of-term “spin.”
“The administration, as usual, is cherry-picking data,” he said.
To boot, one of the six regular schools on the list tested only students in third grade, where scores were higher — making its comparison to other elementary schools questionable.
But Bloomberg appeared ready to break out the champagne regardless — and even encouraged school leaders and staffers to do the same.
“I will give you special dispensation, you can have an extra drink tonight,” he told Walcott.
The mayor later told TAG principal Janette Cesar, “You also should have a nice drink tonight — as should all of your staff.”