John King's Priority Schools Classification Scam

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that might be perceived similarly as inconvenient.  ---schoolfinance101

I want to follow up on our earlier post:

Insanity Reigns: Priority Designation of Schools Will Lead to Further Destruction of Neighborhood Schools and Privatization with some great follow-up stuff.

RBE takes a good shot: Obama NCLB Waiver Process Even More Damaging To Schools Then NCLB

Under the No Child Left Behind waiver the state received from the feds, the lowest performing schools must undergo major overhauls or be closed and turned into new schools. 

Leonie pointed to another brilliant post by Bruce Baker of Rutgers blogging at School Finance101. NCLB Waivers worse than NCLB? Bruce writes:

Implicit in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools - schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority status.

Really, having such amazing forces like Bruce Baker doing this work on our side is heartening. Here's the first part of his post in full -- click the link below it to read the rest.

Ed Waivers, Junk Rating Systems & Misplaced Blame: Case 1 – New York State by schoolfinance101

I hope over the next several months to compile a series of posts where I look at what states have done to achieve their executive granted waivers from federal legislation. Yeah... let's be clear here, that all of this starts with an executive decision to ignore outright, undermine intentionally and explicitly, federal legislation. Yeah... that legislation may have some significant issues. It might just suck entirely. Nonetheless, this precedent is a scary one both in concept and in practice. Even when I don't like the legislation in question, I'm really uncomfortable having someone unilaterally over-ride or undermine it.

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that might be perceived similarly as inconvenient.

Setting all of those really important civics issues aside - WHICH WE CERTAINLY SHOULD NOT BE DOING - the policies being adopted under this illegal (technical term - since it's in direct contradiction to a statute, with full recognition that this statute exists) coercive framework are toxic, racially disparate and yet another example of misplaced blame.
States receiving waivers have generally followed through by using their assessment data in contorted and entirely inappropriate ways to create designations of schools and districts, where those designations then permit state officials to step in and take immediate actions to change the governance, management and whatever else they see fit to change in these schools (and whether they have such legal authority or not).

Priority schools are the bottom of the heap, or bottom 5% and are subject to the most aggressive, and most immediate unilateral interventions (seemingly with complete disregard for existing state statutory or constitutional rights of attending children, their parents or local taxpayers, as well as explicit disregard for existing federal law).

Implicit in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools - schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority status.

They clearly must go... or at least deserve one heck of a shaking up!

Couldn't possibly be anyone else's fault. After all, the state must have clearly already done its part to provide sufficient financial resources, etc. etc. etc. It must be the bad teachers and crappy principals. That's all it can be! Therefore, we must have immediate wide-reaching latitude to step in and kick out the bums - and heck - just close those schools and send those kids elsewhere, or convert those schools to "limited public access, privately governed and managed institutions" (privately manged charters) where layers of constitutional rights for employees and students may be sacrificed.

New York State's Waiver Hit List
New York State Education Department released their hit list of schools recently. 

 READ MORE

 

Insanity Reigns: Priority Designation of Schools Will Lead to Further Destruction of Neighborhood Schools and Privatization

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population.  More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids...  as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same:  schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"... Meanwhile schools with large nos of at risk kids to be restructured or closed. .....a NYC special ed teacher and member of MORE

Here comes another assault on schools that will force the most struggling schools to focus resources on tests instead of doing what is necessary. And they can expect no help from Bloomberg/Walcott or from the next mayor for that matter.

Some say John King, pro-charter, pro-privatization State Ed Comm. is clueless. I don't agree. He is executing the ed deform agenda, in addition to executing these schools

Gotham has a story about this here. Go leave a comment.

Leonie Haimson had this quick analysis:

At first glance reward schools include some of wealthiest & most selective in city incl ps 6 on upper east side manhattan & anderson Stuy bronx science brooklyn tech & lehman these are the schools that are supposed to get cash  awards for doing so well?

Here are the comments that the MORE special ed teacher sent in this quick analysis:

As result of the NCLB waiver, all districts in NYC were identified for focus/priority except D31/Staten Island...there is a reward too, of course going to wealthiest schools, in d15 for example ps 321 park slope.

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population.  More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids...  as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same:  schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"...
There will be an improvement plan based on 6 tenants of education effectiveness (whatever that means) and schools/districts will have to meet goals, provide data, have visits... Haven't seen what happens if goals are not met/there isn't improvement/test scores don't go up... But this newfangled thing has another group "priority" schools, which are schools "in more trouble" than yours (lowest 5% I think), those schools I think face more imminent action and I think the idea is the focus schools are targeted to prevent from becoming priority aka- stop them from becoming "the bottom 5"... Of course if u have a tiered system like this, there will always be a "bottom."

 http://www.p12.nysed.gov/accountability/ESEADesignations.html


This email was sent out to a staff by Jeff Kaufman, chapter leader of one of the schools.

As our school has been statistically struggling with some City and State metrics our struggle, unfortunately, continues. Today the State has designated Aspirations as a “Priority” school. This replaces our former SINI designation and was determined by 3 main criteria; ELA, Math scores and graduation rates.

Under the Federal NCLB rules New York applied for and received a waiver in order to comply with many of the mandates. With the State’s Race to the Top Application (conditionally approved but not implemented since our union has not agreed on evaluation of teacher criteria…there has been no agreement to change our U/S rating system) the Feds and the State revamped their list and terminology. The new designation that we received, Priority school, will release additional sums to change our ELA, Math and graduation stats. It also buys up to 3 years before the state will order the school closed or phased-out.

It is important to note that the state’s designation does not directly impact any city decision to close or phase out our school. The city’s power to transform certain low performing schools was severely curtailed when our union won a lawsuit prohibiting the city from excessing all staff without closing the school.

While I realize a lot of this is complicated and this short space is clearly not enough to explain all of the nuances I think it is important to understand that as we open the school year with the same commitment we have always had…to our students. We will undoubtedly be told we are not working hard enough or effectively and that if we don’t improve our school will close.

We will do our best, not for any state metric or to please an administrator, but because we are committed to the notion that if our students are to have any chance in this world it will be because that they are prepared for college or work, and while we can’t change their economic status or their poor prior education, we can impact our students in many ways which state or city metrics will never be able to measure.

I look forward to this year knowing there will be challenges and knowing that I will be working with some of the most dedicated teachers I have ever known.

As always, feel free to call or email me about this or any other issue. If you wish more information about our priority school designation and the process go to

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/accountability/ESEADesignations.html

See below for word from State Ed

Is a Smellout Coming? UFT Should Reject John King Threats to Withhold Money That Doesn't Go to Classrooms Anyway

“The clock is ticking. When the ball drops at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the money drops off the table, and it will be difficult to get it back,” said state Education Commissioner John King.

John King master of ed deform

Message to John King: FUCK YOU! Take your blood money and chew on it. Oh, and John King ran a charter school op in his previous life. Double FUCK YOU!!

And that should be the UFT's message – in more polite terms. Or maybe not more polite terms. But the UFT leadership wants its seat at the table.

Around NY State, principals are rebelling: Principals' Rebellion Against Evaluations Grows ... - New York Times and the UFT should make that point every hour if necessary instead of caving in. Apparently most principals in NY State (but only 50 of the NYC principals had the guts to sign in a sea of lilly-livered careerists).


As Michael Fiorillo pointed out on WBAI's "Wake-Up Call" this morning (I'll add a link when the archive is up), that money is not exactly going to the classroom with a third to consultants - ed deformers with a mission to push out teachers - the backdoor method to end Last In First Out by creating a fool-proof teacher evaluation system to allow the removal of any teacher through manipulation.

NYC Educator pointed out in a comment/critique of Gotham School's story:

"The money, known as school improvement grants, is supposed to help the schools lift their results through a series of changes, like replacing principals and at least half the staff members; giving teachers extra time for training and preparation; and extending the school day. In New York City, it offers, in essence, an alternative to the most common approach to dealing with failing schools, which has been to close them."

This is what the funds may be used for. Articles simply stating we may lose money, without pointing out that this money is earmarked for specific practices tend to mislead readers. Have any of these practices been proven to benefit students (or even improve test scores, something Bloomberg's "reforms" have failed to do after a decade)?

So, really, who gives a shit about money going to administrative bullshit which has little impact? And I don't need no stinkin' research to tell me that.

Amen to VOTE NO's comment:

They  should  give  the  money  back!  The  33  PLA  schools  in  NYC  have  turned  into  complete  disasters!   There  is  nothing  more  upsetting  to  the  public  than  the  government wasting  money.   The  pilot  program  for  the  new  teacher  evaluation  is the  greatest  part  of  the  problem.  It  was   implemented  with  haste,  and  has  led  to  a  toxic  atmosphere  among  the  staffs.  Teachers  are  retiring  mid-year.  Some  are  quitting  mid-year. Many  more  are  looking  to  leave.  The  state  should  listen  to  the  over  1000  principals  that  have  signed  a  petition  stating  this  evaluation  is  deeply  problematic,  and  should  be  phased  in  over  time.  The  Master  teacher  positions  in  the  PLA  schools  have  not  been  helpful  for  the  vast  majority  of  teachers,  and  much  of  the  rest  of  the  money  has  gone  to  out  of  state  consultant  firms.  These  firms  have  done  very  little  but  further  demoralize  the  staffs  in  the  buildings.  The  money  is  NOT  going  to  the   classrooms!   It would  be  better  for  the  schools  to  "lose  the  money"  to  restore  order  in  the  schools.

We had an ICE meeting yesterday and the horror stories from the 33 turnaround schools using the Danielson Frameworks being shoved down everyone's throats - by the union too - is profound. The teachers (and often the admins) in these schools are in an uproar - and many of them are blaming the union. When this crap hits all schools next year the shit will really hit the fan.


So what will the UFT leadership do? Join in the attack on the plan or cave?
We get this from the Daily News article:

City and union officials downplayed the state’s warning, saying they have been working together to meet the deadline. State teachers union officials took issue with the threat to revoke funding for New York City as well as seven other school districts around the state. They noted the State Education Department had applied for an extension in meeting several Race to the Top deadlines the agency faced but not for an extension on the districts’ deadlines.

Do I smell a sellout coming? Or a smellout.

How does the UFT leadership/Unity Caucus respond to the coming storm? They are proposing constitutional amendments that will increase the influence of retirees and weaken the working teacher influence in the union to buffer themselves from the coming storm. (Oh, how will New Action waffle its way through this one and still hold onto its gift Exec Bd seats from Unity?) I have a copy of the proposal and will try to type it up for a later post.

Check out stories:
Gotham: State says districts without evaluation deals to lose funds Jan. 1 
Daily News: City schools stand to lose $60M in funding, state Education Commissioner John King says

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/city-schools-stand-lose-60m-funding-state-education-commissioner-john-king-article-1.997664#ixzz1hvXnXtsr

I'll leave you with one more comment from Michael Fiorillo at the Gotham post in response to some KIPP Klone (apparently) named Josh Kilroy who disparaged class size as a solution with the usual suspect: "research shows" but doesn't cite the research (send him to a year of reading Leonie's posts).

"Research" - buzz, whirr, click - "better teachers, better ways of evaluating them" - buzz, whirr, click - "privileges of adults served by the status quo" - buzz, whirr, click.

Really, can't you folks come up with one original thought on your own? Is the indoctrination so complete that you can't even develop your own take on these arguments, or at least give your talking points some personal character or expression? Or do you just assume that people are so stupid that they will forever be taken in by the same scripted responses, the same ideology and self interest masked as "research?" Perhaps you haven't noticed, Josh, but the political and economic interests that fund the production of your cliches, are the status quo in education.Before you finish having your cup of coffee in a classroom - if indeed you even are a teacher - consider one simple fact: King, Tisch, Bloomberg, Duncan, Kopp, Rhee, et. al. along with the "Let's-feel-good-about-ourselves-before-we-go-work-for-Goldman-by-lifting-up-the-worthy-poor-and-creating-Skinner Boxes-for-their-training" folks ARE the status quo, having set the terms of debate for many years now.Absolute mayoral control of the schools has been in place for almost ten years in NYC, and over fifteen in Chicago. The ideology and practice of corporate dominance and monetization of the schools has controlled the discourse on education for the better part of two decades, at least. Yet the ed deform cohort, literally engorged with billions from Gates, Broad, the Waltons and administrations both Democratic and Republican, continues to cast itself as the bold, courageous outsiders willing to take on the big, bad teacher's unions. That they cast themselves as underdogs clearly demonstrates the deception, self-deception and bad faith at work. The "research" you refer to is in fact little more than pseudo-scientific, content production-for-hire, with an academic gloss. It's yet one more facet of the Big Lie of corporate education reform. You obviously expect others to believe it, but do you? If so, I wish you great success selling mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps in the near future. Then again, maybe you'll be one of those "education leaders" that Wendy Kopp and her husband groom to parachute into an urban district and dismantle the public schools, for which you'll be amply rewarded. Yes, Josh, in the Brave New World you are a mouthpiece for, there really is money to be made in education.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Losers Merryl Tisch and John B. King: Principal Revolt Against State Ed Teacher Evals

These two jokers keep pushing but are facing a major revolt not by teachers but by their bosses. Even Fox has a report:


NYS Teacher Evaluation Controversy from Rockville Centre Schools on Vimeo.

http://edupln.com/video/nys-teacher-evaluation-controversy

List of Protesting Principals Tops 1,000 

Dec. 15, 2011, 11:42 a.m.By SchoolBookNearly a quarter of all principals in New York State have signed a letter objecting to New York State’s system of teacher evaluations.The letter, which was posted online, voices objections to a new state evaluation system that will rate teachers and principals based on student scores on standardized tests.The principals’ complaints include: The system has not been field tested; there are scores to rate only English and math teachers; state tests have repeatedly been shown to be unreliable.While more than 1,000 principals have now signed the letter, the numbers remain heavy on Long Island principals, where the protest started. Here are the numbers, as of Wednesday:Total 1,019 principals (22.4 percent of the 4,511 principals listed by the state). As of Dec. 11, the total was 902 statewide.Westchester 107Long island 507Rockland 32New York City 47

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More scandal at State Ed: Testing Firm Faces Inquiry on Free Trips for Officials 

For commentary:  Perdido Street School

Pearson In Corruption Probe - Why Are The Regents And The NYSED Not Being Scrutinized Too?

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And here is some more commentary on Tisch from Reality-Based Educator:

She (Tisch) needs to be taken down.And then she ought to be taken to jail. 

reality-based educator has left a new comment on your post "Michael Winerip Lays Waste to NY State Ed Departme...": 

I have not seen Merry Merryl Tisch's name show up in the K12 Inc. articles that have surfaced lately - not in the Times article, not in the Wash Post article, not in Gail Collins' column on K12 and online ed. I even wrote Collins to say she should look into the Tisch connections so long as she is commenting on the political connections that the company has that enable it to finagle contracts. Never heard back from her, never saw her revisit the issue. I understand that the Tisch connection is through a subsidiary of K12 Inc. and the connection to Tisch is with her brother-in-law, not herself or her husband. Still, the thing stinks.
Somehow Merry Merryl never gets hammered in the press, even when she says stupid shit like state test results "have never, ever, ever exaggerated...” or the public hates teachers but will like them better when the new "objective" evaluation system is put into place...
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2011/11/merryl-tisch-public-hates-teachers-but.html
She really is as bad as Eva on this stuff - a self-centered, accountability for others/no accountability for me demagogue.
Steiner was a putz, but it's clear Tisch put the knife into him and brought her man King to the NYSED to consolidate her power.
It would be nice to see Winerip take a look at how the state has done since Tisch has been there and have him ask her why she thinks all the problems are other people's fault, never her own.
She needs to be taken down.
And then she ought to be taken to jail. 

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.