Zero Obama Supporters in the UFT

UPDATE: Fred Klonsky slaps Leo Casey.

One of the most remarkable, almost a miracle one might say, undercurrents in this Hillary-Barack battle where the entire Democratic Party has split down the middle, has taken place in the United Federation of Teachers where 200,000 members support Hillary Clinton – unanimously.

Even more remarkable has been the reversal of what is happening nationally: 90% of black voters support Obama, yet not one single black Obama supporter has emerged in the UFT.
Nationally, Clinton gets the older, blue collar and less educated vote while Obama gets the younger, white collar, college educated vote.

Not in the UFT, which everyone would agree is not only white collar and college educated, but has had a massive influx of young teachers. Again, not one Obama supporter amongst these demographics has been spotted.

Likened to the way Hasidim vote en masse in elections, the membership has followed the lead of Randi Weingarten in one of the most remarkable operations in political history.

Hillary in 2012 Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUyce6224Mk

If they start behind...

...they are going to stay behind.

Does Obama "get it" that closing the achievement gap will take a lot more than threats and punishments of schools, teachers and children.

Obama video on education at the Educator Roundtable.

Bronx Teacher Under Gun Due to Student Boycott of Test

Updated Thurs, May 22, 10 PM

The Resistance to the Standardistas grows

Teacher Doug Avella from IS 318 in the Bronx is in the Rubber Room (let's hear it from the peanut gallery in the press and the national teacher bashers about only incompetents being in the RR) for doing exactly what? Talking about testing to his kids? And 160 kids in 6 classes just pick themselves up and boycott the 22nd standardized test they took this year?

You mean a teacher in middle school in the Bronx actually got 160 kids to do what he wanted them to do? Someone has got to be kidding if they think it is that easy to move THAT mountain.

Question on ICE-mail: Will the UFT back up this teacher?

Jeff Kaufman responds:
You're kidding, right? The UFT will backup this teacher right into the unemployment line. Sure, they will provide an advocate to represent him at the discontinuance and U rating appeals but do you think they will file an Article 78 in Court challenging his dismissal? Not a prayer.

Joining teachers from North Carolina (video) and Washington State.

Maybe it's a trend.

Hey, TFA people! If you are going to leave after 2 years anyway, why not go out in style?

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2008/05/21/2008-05-21_bronx_8thgraders_boycott_practice_exam_b-1.html

Dan Brown's take at the Huffington Post.

Rhee, the Monster of DC: Soon to Follow, the UFT

"We've come to realize we're going to have to give in to her." - anon. union member is D.C.

Washington D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who spends a hell of a lot of time racing around from ed conference to ed conference pushing the national regressive "teachers and their contracts are the problem," seems about to claim a major union scalp that goes beyond what her former boss Joel Klein has exacted in NYC.

The Washington Post reports (full story at Norms Notes) that a total end to seniority and tenure is afoot which will allow Rhee to fire anyone at will and place teachers in whatever school she wants. This is the nirvana the ed reformers wanted all along. The next step for Rhee, a former Teach for America, will be to replace most of the teacher corps with 2 or 3 year wonders.

The acceptance of these provisions in exchange for a big raise should be familiar to UFT'ers in NYC who saw significant parts of the contract get sold off. We know some form of this will be coming soon to NYC. The D.C. union, being an AFT local (which had serious corruption issues a few years ago that severely weakened the union) should be of concern to upcoming AFT President Randi Weingarten who one would wish would loudly condemn such a provision but we know won't do so.

Weingarten, who mentioned Rhee and the national attacks going on (we have been hammering away with this theme for 7 years) at the May Delegate Assembly, will no doubt say the doesn't want to interfere with local contract negotiations. That the AFT local doesn't really exist in New Orleans should be a warning to her that her membership may be stripped away piece by piece.

But no worries. As an appeaser of the highest order, as pointed out by NYC Educator, she will make enough concessions to convince the powers that be that she is a player on their side. This is the so-called cooperative, rather than militant New Union movement, which Weingarten and ideologue Leo Casey have been pushing. "We want to cooperate in the reforms because we are professionals, not common workers. Contracts are passe anyway."

I'm at the point now where I am almost hoping Rhee gets whatever she wants. In 5 years or more when nothing has changed in terms of real educational gains (oh, they'll do the same phony stat manipulation they do here in NYC) they'll have to look for new scapegoats as a way to escape doing truly progressive reforms like lowering class size, improving the health of poor kids, etc. – things that cost money that must be reserved for wars and bailouts.

I know. Aliens have captured the minds of the children and we must invest in a defensive shields. A future quote from Rhee, Klein, Rotherham: "Before we can lower class size, we need a quality shield to protect children from alien mind control over every school."

An excerpt from the Post story:

Without seniority, Rhee could place teachers based on qualifications or performance rather than years of service, said the union member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. The union member said Rhee sought the provision as a recruiting tool so she could offer talented candidates the position of their choice. She would be able to fill positions with less experienced teachers.

Under the proposed contract, teachers would give up seniority in exchange for annual raises of about 6 percent, more personal-leave days and more money for supplies, the union member said. In the last contract, which expired in the fall, teachers received a 10 percent raise over two years.

Rhee "does want to infuse some new blood [into the schools]. She wants to make it attractive for young people coming in to advance," said the union member, adding that the union's negotiating team will meet with her tomorrow or Friday. "We've come to realize we're going to have to give in to her."

On Good and Bad Teachers

As the "put a quality teacher in every pot" debate rages, some more thoughts:

Many good teachers - if not more - leave the system or are promoted out of the classroom each year. But poor teachers leave too, an awful lot of them becoming supervisors. The replacements will fall into the same bell curve, especially first year teachers. So focusing all the reforms on removing them from the system is a losing game and the right wing and Dems 08 and Ed Sector types are using the quality teacher issue as a diversion.

On good teachers, we are not saying they are not important - but the witch hunts and the use of barely trained newbies does nothing to improve the overall teaching core while we think lower class sizes and some kind of internship for newbies would lift all boats.

Teachers should take a good look at their school and all the schools they have been in and make a list: great, good, average, poor, horrible and I just can't tell.

When it comes to bad teachers, In fact fellow teachers don't really know all that much. You know who does? The kids and their parents probably have the best feel for a good teacher than anyone else.

Think back to the teachers you had and rate as many as you can remember on a scale from 1-5 in terms of overall quality. Would you give the highest ratings to the teachers of classes where you scored very high on regents? Maybe. If you do well in school, you feel better about the teacher.

But are there other factors?

Thinking of yourself as a student might give a much better insight into quality teaching than viewing it as a colleague. Or a supervisor. A supervisor's list of who are good and bad teachers might look very different.

If you are a parent, think about the teachers your children had and rate them? Based on what? How happy your child was? Grades? How they related to you?

We might get the better insights into teachers from students and parents than almost any other method. Yet they are totally left out of the equation.

NYC Principals: Fear and Loathing Tweed

I know someone who visits many schools all over the city and always checks the pulse of the principal to see what they think of BloomKlein. Overwhelmingly they trash Tweed. At which point, they are urged to check out the ednotes blog. Scientific survey? That's pretty good for me. But Leonie Haimson of class size matters and Emily Horowtiz from St. Francis College have turned chatter into data.

One would think the "empowered" principals under Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg's administration of the schools would be the happiest people in the school system. After all, the union at the school level has been emasculated, with the help of the UFT. Hundreds of small schools have infiltrated the space of larger schools, resulting in the employment of hundreds of administrators. They have made it so easy to become a principal, especially for people with no educational background (where is the NY State Board of Regents - oh, yes, they also approved Joel Klein.)

But, as I pointed out, word of mouth from sources throughout the school system is that other than the newly cloned Kool-aid drinkers, most principals despise Tweed. Fear has kept them from speaking out publicly, though with BloomKlein about to sunset, more are doing so. Those lame ducks are flying closer to the sun. Just watch the flood when the ducks have issued their final quack, though fear of Bloomberg retaliation may keep some people in line.

One thing is as true as salt. The national press and ed wonk blogging cammunity will ignore this report as much as they have ignored the outcry from teachers and parents about how BloomKlein have turned a dysfunctional system into a catastrophy with failed, self-serving policies and bumbling implementation. At the least, one would have expected some level of competence from the so-called technocrats at Tweed. But they get almost nothing right.

Today's press release from Class Size Matters

Results from a NYC Principal Survey on overcrowding, safety and class size

Today, results were released from a survey of more than one third of all NYC public school principals. The full report, entitled “How Crowded Are Our Schools?” is posted at http://www.classsizematters.org/principalsurveyresults.html

Please reply to this email if you would like a pdf copy.

Fifty-four percent of principals say that the enrollment at their own school is not capped at a level to prevent overcrowding. Fifty percent say that overcrowding sometimes leads to unsafe conditions for students or staff; 43% observe that overcrowding makes it difficult for students and/or staff to get to class on time.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents believe that the official utilization rate of their own schools as reported by the Department of Education is inaccurate; more than half (51%) of principals whose schools are reported as underutilized say that the official rate is incorrect.

Eighty six percent believe that class sizes at their schools are too large to provide a quality education – and that the primary factors that prevent them from reducing class size are a lack of control over enrollment and space.

More than one fourth (26%) of all middle and high school principals say that overcrowding makes it difficult for their students to receive the credits and/or courses needed to graduate on time.

At 25% of schools, art, music or dance rooms have been lost to academic classrooms; 20% of computer rooms have been swallowed up; 18% of science rooms; 14% of reading enrichment rooms, and 10% of libraries have been converted to classroom space.

At 29% of schools, lunch starts at 10:30 AM or earlier; and at 16% of schools, students have no regular access to the school’s library.

18% of principals reported that their schools have classrooms with no windows. Many said that special education classes and services were being given in inadequate spaces, including closets.

Principals also reported ongoing battles with DOE over their schools’ capacity ratings, and expressed resentment at being assigned excessive numbers of students, particularly when they tried to use available funding to reduce class size.

Many observed that the problem of overcrowding has been exacerbated due to DOE policies: 27% said that overcrowding at their schools had resulted from new schools or programs having been moved into their buildings in recent years; and several reported that the decision to add grade levels in order to create more K-8 and 6-12 schools had led to worse conditions.

Emily Horowitz, co-author of the report and professor at St. Francis College says, “The results of this survey should appall every New Yorker with a conscience. Principals report that their schools are seriously overcrowded, with excessive class sizes and insufficient enrichment space, even though the official data continues to show that they have extra room. I hope that the Department of Education pays close attention and revises the way school capacity is calculated - and admits the critical need to build more schools.”

According to Leonie Haimson, co-author and Executive Director of Class Size Matters, “The administration has devolved more responsibility and autonomy to principals, claiming that they have all the tools they need to succeed. Yet principals themselves observe that they have no control over some of the most important factors that determine the quality of education they can provide: the allocation of space and the number of students assigned to their schools. Until and unless the DOE adopts a more aggressive capital plan, the condition of our schools – and the future of NYC schoolchildren --will not significantly improve.”

As Council Member Robert Jackson, Chair of the NYC Education Committee concludes: “We've known for years that official statistics on overcrowding and capacity were wrong but now we have hard data to show just how wrong. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a multi-million dollar no-bid consulting contract to see that the current capital plan and budget cannot even begin to remedy the conditions described in this survey - facilities that fail to provide the setting for a sound, basic education. In light of this information, we will be looking and listening especially hard to DOE and SCA testimony at tomorrow's budget hearings on the capital plan."

Emily Horowitz, St. Francis College
ehorowitz@aya.yale.edu; 917-674-9791

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters
classsizematters@gmail.com; 917-435-9329

UFT Resolution Opposes Dictatorship

Finally, I thought at last night's UFT Executive Board meeting when I spotted the words "authoritarian regime... denies its peoples fundamental rights" in a proposed resolution.
And Leo Casey was actually going to be the one to motivate it.
WOW! Unity Caucus is actually going to pass a resolution to democratize the UFT by allowing:

UFT members to have free and unfettered access to the membership so a free exchange of ideas can occur.
To allow free and open discussion at UFT delegate assemblies – maybe even allow Obama supporters to make their case.
To allow people in high schools and middle schools and elementary schools to elect their own Vice Presidents.

Then I read on. It was China they are talking about, not the UFT's Unity Caucus.

Unity Caucus tanks confront protester before recent Delegate Assembly

Reports out of Beijing are that the ruling party recently passed a similar resolution:

Whereas the Unity Caucus regime has suppressed efforts to move the UFT toward democratic rule and respect for the rights of free exchange of ideas,

Whereas the ruling junta in the UFT recently rejected attempts to collect funds for the 17 Puerto Rican teachers who were fired for striking and defying the PR version of the Taylor Law.

Whereas that same ruling junta of the UFT has continued to shunt aside any attempt to raise a resolution at the Delegate Assembly calling for opposition to the GHI/HIP privatization plan.

Whereas the Unity Caucus rejected attempts by members of the opposition caucus ICE to hire independent investigators for teachers assigned to the DOE's gulag rubber rooms.
etc. etc. etc. (the list is too numerous to fit.)

Resolved that the government of the People's Republic of China will support all efforts to force the Unity Caucus ruling junta to establish glimmers of democracy.

Would College Educated People Send Their Kids to KIPP?

Social justice issues and more:
http://schoolinginequality.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-do-we-teach-them.html
http://mizmercer.edublogs.org/2008/05/10/what-do-they-need-part-iii/

Audio of Ed Sector Teacher Quality Event

I spoke to someone today who insisted that teacher quality is a separate entity from conditions. I argued that TQ is very variable and dependent on things like class size, the type of students, the general conditions in the school. Even time of day - like most any teacher will agree that under equal conditions, they are more effective in the AM than in the PM. It makes sense since everyone is more tired. This is not to say that if you get your best class at the end of the day you won't be energized.

Almost every teacher I talk to signs on to the quality teacher debate as if it's a digital concept: 0 if not a quality teacher, 1 if you are a quality teacher. I look at TQ as analog - it fluctuates on let's say a scale of 1-10. Now there may be some teachers who are in a range of say 5-7 generally and others might be a 3-5.
What we would hope for is some consistency. Would you want a 10 20% of the time who can float down to a 3 when he is depressed? (It does happen). Or a consistent 7?

Of course the big bugaboo in all this: what determines the quality of a teacher? The ed reformers have only one response: results on high stakes tests with the added bonus of value-added which tracks the growth of a child over time and attempts to find what part in that growth an individual teacher had.

They might as well rate teachers on the real growth of the child - how many inches taller they get the year you have them. "My class grew an aggregate total of 5 feet." BONUS!

Can't you just see schools slipping human growth hormone into the milk and cookies?

But let's go back to the TQ debate as if these factors didn't exist and we really had an effective ratign system that went beyond the test. The 5% that many people agree that are at the low end of TQ - say 1 or 2 all the time are the main focus of the so-called reform movement that includes assaults on seniority and the union contract. Call it the "put a Quality Teacher in every classroom" concept.

Like a chicken in every pot. (But it is a quality chicken?)

All this reform aimed at 5%. Like they are the ones responsible for an entire nation falling behind in the global economy. Give me a break. If principals could remove whoever they wanted tomorrow, these people would be replaced with a similar percentage of low quality teachers.

Start off with the idea that first year teachers are lower quality than they will be in their 2nd year and 2nd year teachers are lower quality than in their 3rd -- oops! (Half the TFA people are gone before they get to the 3rd year.) Also assume a % of new teachers no matter how hard they are trying are just not all that competent in their first year. Given the numbers that don't finish the year, I bet it is higher than 5%.

Thus, my theory that 5% of the entire teaching corps will fall into the lower end no matter what is done. As would a similar percentage of cops, doctors, lawyers, plumbers - you name it. I find it interesting that there's a witch hunt for teachers but not for bad doctors who have better than tenure - the AMA.

Check out the ednotes analysis of the biased Education Sector teacher survey which didn't ask about the impact of class size because the Ed Sector is totally on board with the usual suspects on this issue. Read the Ed Notes post exposing some of the biased questions here.

David B has broken the Ed Sector audio of the presentation of the survey on May 7 into 3 parts so you can listen to them in segments – if you can stand it. There were some teachers present, including one from a NYC middle school and the president of the Providence TU.

Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3

If We hadn't Talked to Vietnam....

....John McCain would still be at the Hanoi Hilton.

Also read Thomas Friedman in today's NY Times on Obama and the Jews. An excerpt:

"Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama once said there has to be “an end” to the Israeli “occupation” of the West Bank “that began in 1967.” Yikes!

Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama said that not only must Israel be secure, but that any peace agreement “must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people.” Yikes!

Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama once said “the establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue. The Palestinian people deserve it.” Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!

Those are the kind of rumors one can hear circulating among American Jews these days about whether Barack Obama harbors secret pro-Palestinian leanings. I confess: All of the above phrases are accurate. I did not make them up.

There’s just one thing: None of them were uttered by Barack Obama. They are all direct quotes from President George W. Bush in the last two years. Mr. Bush, long hailed as a true friend of Israel, said all those things.

...Personally, as an American Jew, I don’t vote for president on the basis of who will be the strongest supporter of Israel. I vote for who will make America strongest.

Also, David Brooks' nuanced interview with Obama on Lebanon after the Bush appeasement attack.

NY State State Test ELA Used for Teach For America Propaganda

WOW! Wendy makes the ELA exam. This one by A Voice in the Wilderness at The Chancellor's New Clothes even surprised Susan Ohanian, the expert on outrages.

Here's a question for the next ELA:
TFA is a tool:
A. to bust teacher unions
B. to create divisions between newer and senior teachers
C. to promote the coporate agenda in schools
D. all of the above

Jamaica High School: Sabotage and Shock Doctrine

The ICE blog prints James Eterno's letter published by the NY Teacher over their error in publishing that Jamaica HS, where James is the chapter leader, will be closing. Let's see now. The UFT makes "simple" mistake on Jamaica HS closing - one of the centers of the opposition and a place where many votes came from in the election for high school executive board in recent elections. Do you think they are not planning ahead to the next election where they will try to maintain the New Action phony opposition members on the Exec Bd and keep ICE/TJC out again? And if Jamaica closed - no more James to deal with at chapter leader meetings, delegate assemblies, etc. And it will be less likely they will have to read honest reports on the DA written by James.

And on Charlie Rose, Randi said "after getting help" - what exactly is "help", like maybe cutting class size in a struggling school which apparently is not part of the UFT formula - schools should be closed (Shanker used to say the same thing). No matter how many resolutions the UFT passes, they are not opposed to closing schools and Peter Goodman (Ed in the Apple and Edwize) has made some nice bucks working on committees that lead to closing schools.

Call the article in the NY Teacher wishful thinking.

Below, George Schmidt gives a broader perspective.

After reading the information provided by James Eterno on the destabilization of Jamaica High, it all sounded too familiar.

The privatization formula is simple. First the public school is destabilized, then they come in with a "solution" off the privatization and public school replacement script.

I wish we had had enough staff and will in Chicago to track every instance of this, since Chicago provided many of the templates. But I was glad to read that you are documenting these realities in real time. Thanks.

Let's get together in Chicago during AFT and figure out how to maintain our tracking of these things in the big cities.

Next on your agenda, if the pattern is followed:

Complete privatization via charter schools is the next wave they implemented in Chicago -- with the "failing" high schools as the primary targets.

You're already in trouble in NYC because your local union (thanks, Leo) has cocked up support for the "charter ideal" with those silly samples.

Starting this year, Chicago has been replacing its "failing" small schools with "turnarounds" and charters. You're next. And with the help of your own union leaders, you've already given a green light to the privatization via charters.

George Schmidt
Editor, Substance

Notes on a visit to a school in New York City

See how schools have improved under BloomKlein? Susan Ohanian reprints a letter from teacher Bill Schechter.

I grew up in New York City and graduated from its (non-exam) public schools. For 35-years, I worked as a history teacher at a progressive, upper middle-class high school in a Boston suburb. These two poles anchor my educational history.

Last Tuesday, I traveled down to the city to watch one of my former students teach at Chelsea High School (formerly Chelsea Vocational High School) in SOHO. The visit was a shock that managed to deepen my already very deep sense of the folly of punitive high stakes testing.

The school is in a state of advanced physical dilapidation. I felt like I was walking through the pages of Kozol’s Death At An Early Age –the 50-year old school building that my school district demolished was a palace by comparison)– or had gotten dropped into the Third World. Chelsea High received an “F” from the NYC Board of Ed, and the teachers there have been given the message that these kids have to drilled to pass those tests so the powers-that-be will finally be
appeased.

Read more of Bill's letter at Susan's place.
Bill adds a P. S. to this very distressing account:
To those who deal with these realities very day, I send my admiration.

On a less depressing note, Susan reports some of the great satire from
The Eggplant (Index is here):

4th grader Completes Last of High Stakes Exams, First in Nation To Take Tests in All 50 States.

Washington D. C.--
Greeted by a standing ovation from members of Congress, meeting in joint session with the Business Roundtable and National Education Association president Reg Weaver, nine-year-old Bingo Benny arrived to celebrate his feat of taking state assessments required by NCLB in all 50 states.

"From the October NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) in Jericho, Vermont, to the May WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) in Seattle, Washington, Benny proved that he is indeed standardized," exclaimed Sen. Edward Kennedy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

"Benny refuses to be left behind," chimed in George Miller, Chair of House Education and Labor Committee, and, like Kennedy, determined to reauthorize the contentious NCLB law.

Benny agreed that it was exciting for Mayor Bloomberg to be on hand to wish him well when he took the CTB/McGraw-Hill tests in January. "I didn't have time to use the key to the city he gave me," Benny said. "I was in a rush to catch a plane for the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) in Las Vegas and the PAWS (Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students).

Bill Gates was on hand in Washington to congratulate Benny on his rigor, and in Long Beach, California, Eli Broad presented him with a special award of merit for competition in the global economy.

Read the rest here.

Rubber Room News: David Pakter's 3020a Hearing (Number 2)

Make sure to read David Pakter's essay over at Norm's Notes on his upcoming 3020a hearing - this is the hearing that can lead to a tenured teacher's firing. The kind of hearing being attacked by anti-tenure people who want to be able to fire people for things like not brushing their teeth.

3020-a trials always begin with a pre trial conference between the opposing lawyers and the Hearing Officer where technical matters are argued over such as the Demands for Discovery. Both sides state reasons for what they will and will not surrender into evidence etc. Lots of technical arguing over the specifics of the charges.

One of the charges is he brought in a large plant to decorate outside the auditorium without permission. Was it a Venus flytrap that ate kids? Or named Audrey?

David said in an email:

...the hearing officer was fairly amazed the DOE would pull something so insane as to make it a charge that the NEW YORK TEACHER ran a story on my case which the DOE claims embarrassed them if you can believe such insanity.

The story is at http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/top/axed/

In any case because the Hearing officer realized this case contains major Constitutional issues involving the Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, he said this case could last a very long time involving countless witnesses and therefore he does not want to even start the actual calling of sworn witnesses without holding several more private Pre-Hearing Conferences.

I believe it is the first 3020-a in the history of New York in which the DOE had the chutzpah and the unbounded Hubris to think they could defecate on a teacher's Constitutional Rights so openly and brazenly. It really is an amazing situation.The other charges are equally ludicrous of course.

David has asked for an open 3020a, which all people have a right to do, and we'll be posting the dates in case anyone wants to see the show. I hope to make a few of them myself and will report back.

More rubber room news:
Sorry, I can't say without getting some people in trouble. But I hear at least one bizarre story a week. Like the one about a teacher recognized as being excellent who is in the rubber room for having an altercation with a child - her own. Can a parent complain about the actions of a teacher when she herself is the teacher?

or - a child charges an extremely competent teacher (the entire staff has been horrified that this could happen to this long-time senior teacher with a great rep) with saying "you're an idiot" when the teacher really said "you didn't get it." So far, 4 months in the rubber room, the entire class that the teacher taught in total chaos as subs come and go. Why did the principal do it when it would have been so easy to believe the teacher's version? Senior teacher with a higher salary? Or just Another Leadership Academy Loon? (A-LAL?)

Oh, and has anyone seen that UFT Rubber Room SWAT (right) team around lately? If you spot them let us know.

Russo Thoughts on Ed Blogger Summit

Here.
Russo says teacher bloggers were a big hit, as opposed I guess, to ed policy wonk types and quasi reform politicos.
Does anyone get the message that teachers are the keys in this whole ed reform thing?
Those that can or those that can't do whatever or something like that. Roy Romer? Jeez.

Like how about some real power for teachers as part of ed reform? Like let them choose the principal. Yikes! How radical an ed reform idea! But they do it in Europe. Way too radical for our namby pamby teacher unions, who might even ask for a trial - I bet our teacher-run schools kick the corporate reform model schools' asses.

Wait 'til the NYC Ed Blogger Masked Summit which will be held at a top secret location to protect all the people who must remain anonymous due to witch hunts by Tweed and Ed Sector wonks.

I'm making my Eduwonkette mask as we speak.

Anyone know where I can get a good buy on that dress?

NY Times Drinking the Kool Aid on Teach for America

Today's NY Times had an editorial praising TFA. They will grasp at any straw.
Some excerpts:

To maintain its standing as an economic power, the United States must encourage programs that help students achieve the highest levels in math and science, especially in poor communities where the teacher corps is typically weak.
... a new study from a federal research center based at the Urban Institute in Washington suggests that the country might raise student performance through programs like Teach for America, a nonprofit group that places high-achieving college graduates in schools that are hard to staff.
Critics have challenged the program’s usefulness, pointing out that the teachers it places are neophytes and that a majority leave the classroom after two years. But the new study suggests that talented young people can have a lasting effect even if they do not make a career of teaching. According to the study, Teach for America participants who worked in North Carolina between 2000 and 2006 had more impact on student performance than traditional teachers did, as measured by end-of-course tests. The difference was observed in several areas of science and was strongest in math.

Two years is by anyone's estimate a minimum amount of time to learn even the basic ropes of teaching. Traditionally trained first year teachers for all the critiques of these programs do get a lot of teacher training than can prove useful. I was also an instant wonder in a special program to attract men avoiding Vietnam to elementary schools in the late 60's and was very deficient compared to the teachers who came through education programs. It took me about 2 years to make up the gap.

Make sure to check out the Debunking TFA blog for counter research.

And Eduwonkette is right on the case today with this:

A special shoutout goes to the New York Times editorial board for making national policy recommendations based on the Urban Institute's study of Teach for America in North Carolina, which included a whopping 69 Teach for America teachers - a .5% sample of all TFA teachers placed during those years.

Set policy based on 69?
Does it remind you of the big deal TNTP's Tim Daly made of those 14 U-rated teachers who were ATR's, also debunked by wonkette.

While the instant teacher concept of TFA people who do not stay as opposed to traditionally trained teachers needs debunking, I know TFA people who do stay are many are fabulous teachers. Some even have gotten over the training they receive that older, traditional teachers are to be shunned. I resent the 2 year wonders (some numbers I've seen are that over 70% leave) who become instant experts on education. Believe me, when you to this as a career, you get insights, often from returning students and their children and even grandchildren, that make it clear the emphasis of the ed reform, union busting movement (TFA is a prime component of that strategy which is the real reason the business community so loves them) will not work until they invest in kids and schools to the same extent they do in wars and bailouts.

Eduwonkette did more extensive do not miss analysis of the study in a previous post here.
A short excerpt:

the authors presuppose that teacher turnover has no effect on the school as an organization, and that teacher quality is solely an individual attribute, rather than the joint product of individuals and organizations. (And what do we make of the tiny effects of experience? Is it possible that the most talented math and science teachers left to pursue more lucrative opportunities?)

It’s nearly impossible to build a stable school community and an ethos of sustained change in the face of regular turnover. Herein we have the classic chicken and egg problem in education: how do we create places where good teachers want to work - a key component of which is a stable professional community – if we can’t get strong teachers to stay? Programs like TFA are a fine band-aid, but they are hardly a solution.

Suggestion to NY Times: DO NOT PASS GO BUT GO RIGHT TO THIS POST AND THEN RETRACT OR MODIFY YOUR EDITORIAL OR AT LEAST PUT UP WONKETTE"S POST AS AN OP ED.

Teachers Who Say NO to Testing

I've been working with the NYCORE Justice Not Just Tests group this year (coming soon: a blog). We've talked about teachers boycott or subvert the testing mania but that means instant death - if people do it individually. Imagine if people did it en masse? Imagine if there was a union that led such a movement instead of making mealy mouth complaints of how high stakes testing subverts education, while at the same time pushing for merit pay for entire schools based on these tests? Not in our lifetimes (but then I don't have all that long to go, so maybe there's hope for some of you young 'uns.) Send Doug and Carl messages of support.

From Susan Ohanian: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_atrocities.html?id=3404

Doug Ward, ethical North Carolina teacher of exceptional children, explains on YouTube his refusal to give the state test to his students. He speaks of his exceptional children's deep spirituality. He also speaks of being inspired by a fifth grader who reflected on doing what is right.

Doug's school is
Cullowhee Valley School
240 Wisdom Drive
Cullowhee, NC 28723

Here is a parent's comment:

Doug is a dedicated teacher who works hard to create inclusion experiences for his students. My son with autism is not in Doug's class, but will take the Extend1 EOG and fail. He has made amazing progress this year thanks to his teachers at CVS. No standardized test measures the value of my son's inclusion in his regular classroom,the friendships he's made or the compassion his classmates have learned. I want my child LEFT BEHIND to learn and progress at his own pace. You Go, Doug!!

— Doug Ward
YouTube.com
2008-05-15
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tj_bJkGTC8U

The May Substance just arrived. It contains Yvonne Siu-Runyan's excellent interview with test resister [from Washington State] Carl Chew.

I refrain from posing this interview because we need to support the only newspaper of the resistance.

Subscriptions are only $16.00 a year. You can contact Substance by phone - 773-725-7502, or by email, Csubstance@aol.com. http://www.substancenews.net.

Order Susan's book:
When Childhood Confronts NCLB
$8.95
Box 26
Charlotte, VT 05445

Klein's Cajones: Budget Cuts? Blame the UFT

"Sol" and I developed this cartoon based on a recent post by Eduwonkette. Read it here.
Oh, and that's Andy Eduwonk holding up the Broad Prize.

Corruption in the World of BloomKlein

"Next time someone goes on about the corruption and waste that pervaded the system in the days before Mayoral control, perhaps you might mention one of the examples [below.] - Leonie Haimson

"One day BloomKlein will be taken out with bags over their heads." - ednotes online.

At a recent Manhattan Institute breakfast where Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee were guest speakers, former Daily News reporter Joe Williams, on a follow-up panel, in defending the BloomKlein tenure of NYC schools, talked about how bad the system was in the BBK (before BloomKlein) years. He gave such an inane example, I've forgotten what it was.

Williams now heads Democrats for Education Reform – you know the drill: critics of BloomKlein are entrenched forces opposing changes in the status quo even of these changes are beyond inane. Charters are the answer to everything, preferably charters where there is little union presence.

When it comes to Ed Reform, there is little difference between Republicans and Democrats.

One area Williams never reports on is the much more massive corruption (and incompetence) that has gone on under his BloomKlein heroes.

Leonie Haimson's post below summarizes a piece of it. Note the mention of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, a man with mayoral ambitions. I was a fan of Marty since the days he was a student activist at Brooklyn College. He once came to my building on Ocean Avenue to organize the tenants. But for the last few years I suspected some deal with the mayor. I wrote about Martine Guerrier, Marty's appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy, who received a lot of notoriety for voting NO against 3rd grade retention at the Monday Night Massacre. When BloomKlein gave her a $150,000 position as Parent CEO, there was much bragging about how they took in a "critic" we were pointing out that her criticism died down very quickly the closer Marty grew to Bloomberg. (The NY Times at the time painted her as a persisent critic and when I accused them of sucking up , then ed reporter David Herzenhorn sent me a very nasty email personally attacking me.)

I guess $900,000 goes a long way in Brooklyn.


Leonie's post to the nyceducationnews listserve follows:

See today’s NY Times about the federal indictments of four DOE employees as a result of the bus scandal investigation – accused of soliciting bribes for amounting to at least $1 million, in exchange for giving preferential treatment on safety inspections to companies that provide transportation to thousands of special ed students.

These indictments result from a terrific investigative series of reports last summer by the Daily news– not anything uncovered by DOE itself or by Richard Condon, the school special investigator. See our blog for links to these stories. In fact, the News reporters complained of stonewalling by the DOE in the process of researching the safety problems and abusive behavior on the part of these companies’ drivers.

In addition, today’s NY Post reveals a list of community groups that received money through the Mayor’s “own secret taxpayer-funded cash stash” in the reporter’s words, amounting last year to $4.5 million, which the Mayor used “to reward favored lawmakers” like Councilman Simcha Felder (who got $1.9 million for his favorite community groups), Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz ($900,000) and others.

Also on the list is Councilman Erik Dilan – who coincidentally or not, along with Felder is one of only four Council members who have refused to sign the resolution opposing budget cuts to schools. The Mayor’s office supplied $60,000 to a community group that happens to be run by Dilan’s wife.Unlike those groups allocated discretionary funds directly from the Council,

“Bloomberg's slush funds were channeled through various city agencies to 45 groups and weren't listed on the document released each year by the council oped in Daily News – suggesting that the recent naming of a Queens campus of public schools by the DOE for Senator Padavan might be considered a form of graft:

The state's Public Officers Law is clear on this: Elected officials cannot receive extra compensation or any gift of more than nominal value. Placing someone's name in a prominent place, whether it's an actual building or a tract of land, has monetary value. ….Naming a school after Padavan appears, at the very least, to violate the spirit of the law, which says that an elected official cannot "solicit, accept or receive any gift having a value of seventy-five dollars or more whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form ... in the performance of his official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part.

Worse still, according to the chancellor's regulations, "schools may not be named after living persons." The chancellor and others worked around this rule by arguing - get this - that it doesn't apply to a campus. The naming is especially egregious in this case because Republican Sen. Padavan's district is a major battleground in the war over control of the state Senate, which is one seat from a tie and two from flipping to the Democrats.

But perhaps all this pales compared to the unfortunately legal, but incredibly wasteful spending practices of the DOE, which while proposing huge budget cuts to schools also intends to spend nearly $8 million next year on its so-called Accountability office – with only 18 staff members, averaging $432,757 per person!

See this entry by the invaluable blogger, Eduwonkette:

On page 446 of New York City's FY09 budget, we learn that the Division of Assessment and Accountability is budgeted at $8,287,282. $7,789,623 will buy you 18 staff - that's $432,757 per person! What else could you buy for this money, according to Eduwonkette?

A)3,894,812 subway rides
B) 15,579 pairs of Prada heels
C) 1812 hours with the Emperors VIP Club
D) 315 years of education at the Brearley School

I would also add a lot of smaller classes, after school tutoring, and art programs as well.

Next time someone goes on about the corruption and waste that pervaded the system in the days before Mayoral control, perhaps you might mention one of the examples above.