New York City decided to rate its charter schools, which are privately run but publicly financed, and the results are in. Drum rolls, please.

Having rated only 13 of the city’s 60 charter schools -- one which received an “F” -- they seem to be outperforming traditional public schools, according to the New York Times.

Mr. (Michael) Duffy (who oversees charter schools for the city) said that the city gave grades only to charter schools that were at least two years old and had state test results for third- and fourth-grade students. Like the grades for the rest of the city’s schools, the charter schools’ grades relied largely on test scores, with the progress students show each year making up the bulk of the grade. The charter schools were also judged on attendance, rather than on a mix of attendance and the results of surveys that were used to compile the rest of the grades.

The grades were given only to some of the charter schools overseen by New York City, Mr. Duffy said, and not to any of those located in the city but monitored by New York State or the State University of New York. He said the city was working with the state to receive enough data to assign those schools grades.

When report cards were released earlier this year, some critics of the new system wondered why no charter schools received grades then. Merryl H. Tisch, a member of the State Board of Regents, which authorizes the state’s charter schools, said on Wednesday that not grading charter schools would have created a double standard.

Most of the schools in question, received an “A” or a “B.” But as the article pointed out -- and Sue in Queens once blogged about here -- the methodology was controversial in that some schools failed because their students did not boast improvement on the tests, even though they were performing at grade level.

Peninsula Preparatory Academy in Far Rockaway received the F, largely because its students made little progress in math, though nearly 70 percent met state standards in the subject. The school’s principal was not available for comment.

It doesn’t seem fair to flunk these schools when their students are passing the tests!

Nonetheless, charter schools in normally underperforming areas like Harlem, received an "A," which is great. Also, NY charter schools received a better grade than in California, where it seems that traditional public schools still outperform charter schools, according to the Oakland Tribune.