The teacher, Ms. Zaflofsky said, was the third one this year to head an academically troubled class of students who are facing the first round of citywide reading and math tests in a few weeks.

Ms. Easton said that as the school's reputation for engaging academically troubled students spread, it became a magnet for difficult students, depressing the test scores.

As at many of New York's academically troubled high schools, staying in school can be hard.

When Sonia M. Rivera was appointed principal of the academically troubled Eastern District High School in Brooklyn in 1981, she had 19 years of experience in public schools and a reputation for hard work and dedication to students.

Robert F. Wagner Jr. yesterday criticized the release of a list of 43 academically troubled schools in the state, calling the standards used to rank the schools "ridiculous."

Among the things Mr. Zacarias said he would address during his tenure were improvements in education in the academically troubled district.

Because charter schools enroll a higher percentage of poor and academically troubled students than traditional public schools, their students tend not to do as well on standardized tests, the study found.

A Leg Up WEDNESDAY - A black-tie dinner at the Pierre will aid the Student-Sponsor Partnership, which provides academically troubled high school students with mentors and scholarships to private schools.

Yet the pool they end up working with is seldom the poor, academically troubled students who make up much of the population at community colleges, and who rarely go on to get bachelor's degrees.

As a result, she said, the private schools are likely to accept only highly motivated, higher-aptitude students, leaving the less motivated and academically troubled children in the public schools.