Principal Eddice Mebane-Griffin, whose school, PS 15 in University Heights, scored better than 94 percent of all New York City public schools on Education Department latest School Progress Reports, isn’t going to let the achievement go to her head.

“I wouldn’t say I’m ecstatic,” Mebane-Griffin said in a phone interview last week when asked if she was excited to learn about her school’s “A” on the city’s Progress Report’s controversial new grading system implemented last year by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “I’d say we’re doing the best that we can possibly do.”

That’s generally about the level of excitement you’ll find from the city’s public school administrators about the new progress reports, which assign each school an overall letter grade (the highest being A, the lowest an F) based mostly on the school’s test scores in state math and English language arts exams. The grades will be used to either reward or penalize schools based on their results.

A number of advocates and education policy experts have criticized this test-centric approach by the Department of Education (DOE). But Andrew Jacob, a DOE spokesman, says that, according to the department’s research, those scores often determine a student’s ability to succeed in high school. “A student who scores a three and a half [students are tested on a scale of 1 to 4] at the eighth grade level has a much better chance of graduating high school than someone who scores a one or a two,” Jacob said. “Our job is prepping kids to graduate.”

Opponents of the grading system don’t deny this, but they say the grading system can be misleading.

Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, a nonprofit that focuses on lowering class sizes among other education issues facing New York City, is not a fan of the new system. The main problem, she said, is that the grading system focuses on students’ and schools’ progress on tests from one year to the next, which can fluctuate dramatically based any number of factors, according to statistical research by a Harvard education professor. Those fluctuations are even more dramatic for smaller schools, the research found.

“You could roll the dice and you’d come out with something as accurate,” Haimson said. “It means more test prep [and less focus on a well-rounded education].”

The DOE, however, has increased the weight of that one-year progress in its grading formula. Now, 60 percent of a school’s grade is based on progress. Another 25 percent is based on test performance, while the remaining 15 percent is based on how well they do in a school environment survey given to faculty, students and parents. Schools earn “extra credit” points for improving scores for its special needs students.

Jacob didn’t address the problem of random fluctuation between a school’s scores year-to-year, but did say he thought the tests were telling because they were looking at the average of all the students at school, not just a select few. He added that progress was weighted more heavily this year because of feedback from teachers and administrators.

Jacob argues that test progress accurately measures how a given student improves in a school from when they first start at the school. For this reason, schools are judged and scored based on comparisons with other “peer” schools. Elementary schools are clumped mostly by demographic data and middle schools by their students’ previous test score results.

“We’re looking at, say, two kids, with similar backgrounds that come into different schools, but get different results,” Jacob said. “We’re looking at where the students start and seeing how much academic progress they’ve made.”

PS 8 Principal Rosa Maria Peralta’s school scored a solid B for the second consecutive year, but like Mebane-Griffin, she’s not ecstatic either. Two years ago, the state designated PS 8 a school “In Need of Improvement” and it steadily improved its test scores since then. So, for her school anyway, she says, the grading seems fair and accurate. “It’s a clear picture of how we’re doing,” Peralta said. “We actually are moving our students.”

One of the DOE’s main selling points for the grading system is that it identifies groups within a school that aren’t performing or improving. Peralta acknowledged this, but said focusing on improving one group or sub-group comes with dangers. It might lead to the neglect of higher-performing groups or stigmatizing the failing group.

“As a school leader, you should know where you are [in terms of student progress],” Peralta said. “And it’s not only the children in need, but even the ones who are doing well, with the 3s or 4s.”

Both Mebane-Griffin and Peralta say they will use the grades and spend some time this fall analyzing them, but urged parents and the public not to put too much weight into them.

“One particular test on one particular day doesn’t tell the journey that a school has travelled,” Mebane-Griffin said.

Ed. note: To find out how your school scored in the DOE’s latest School Progress Reports, go online and visit www.schools.nyc.gov and punch in the number for your school.