Eight years ago, former Bronx teacher Robert Pondiscio met his first class of students.
And last summer, he wanted to know what happened to the 40 fifth-graders he first taught in 2002 - who, if they weren't held back or dropped out - would have graduated from high school last June.
Pondiscio, who at 39 had traded in his public relations job at BusinessWeek magazine to become a teacher, worked at Public School 277, a high-poverty elementary school in Mott Haven.
With the help of his old class rosters and Facebook, he tracked down 20 of his alums.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I knew there would be some surprises, good and bad," the Manhattan resident said.
Through his research, he learned most of his former students had dropped out of high school and were thinking about getting their GEDs. One young woman already has two kids and a "husband" who's incarcerated at Rikers Island.
There were some success stories. Three of his students were accepted into four-year colleges.
But later he learned they had all declined their offers - saying there's "too much going on right now" at home.
"It was disappointing, and it shows the system is not working for our kids," Pondiscio said.
The same year Pondiscio was given his clipboard, Mayor Bloomberg was handed the reins of the city's schools.
Appointing Joel Klein his schools Chancellor, they began using standardized tests to measure how many city kids were becoming "proficient" in reading and math.
Principals of schools making big gains are rewarded with plush bonuses. And schools lagging behind are shut down.
It's a carrot-and-stick reform the mayor says is working. Fourth-grade reading scores jumped by 18 points from 2005 to 2009, and eighth-grade scores leapt by almost 25 points.
But while teaching, and through his recent "research," Pondiscio realized that proficiency on a test doesn't guarantee success beyond the classroom.
"Just because kids get good scores through test prep doesn't mean they are knowledgeable," said Pondiscio, who currently works for a curriculum development foundation.
Pondiscio said many of his students over the years lacked basic knowledge, not knowing the capital of the United States, or how many planets are in the solar system.
So it wasn't a surprise when city scores plummeted this year because the state decided to raise its passing rate.
"It shows our students are lacking a deep education," Pondiscio said.
"But any teacher who has prepared students for the test can tell you that."
--BY Rob Sgobbo,Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 9:20 AM