Thanks to David Bellel
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Where Are All the Catholic School Teachers?
Catholic school teachers in New York engaged in some job actions over the last week or so. Their pay and benefits are abysmal compared to NYC teachers. And they work with high class sizes and few admnistrators.
It is a well-known fact amongst certain ed reform voucher freaks that they are vastly superior teachers to those in the DOE. Just check results of their grad rates and on test scores (do their kids take the same tests as NYC kids, such as regents?), clearly the most important factor in determining quality teaching.
So, where are they? Why does NYC have to resort to expensive Teaching Fellow Programs? Or recruit abroad? Isn't the theory if you give people merit pay, they will flock to work in s
chools in poor neighborhoods? Or if they can make a few extra bucks by getting their kids to score high, they will have the incentive to work harder?So, instead of standing on picket lines, what's keeping Catholic school teachers away from jumping on the money they can make so easily by coming over to a public school? Haven't they heard about the vastly improved system under Bloomberg and Klein after 6 years of leadership? Maybe Tweed needs a public relations campaign to tell these teachers about the wonderful opportunites to teach in our schools. Maybe even hire a few more PR people.
Sunday - Call Uncle Joel on KISS-FM
Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein Appears on 98.7 KISS-FM’s “Open Line”
Date: Sunday, April 13, 2008, Time: 10 a.m.
Tuesday: Forum for Teachers and Education Activists
Lois Weiner put together a wonderful presentation at the Education and Labor Conference a few weeks ago. Lois captured our attention when she pointed to a World Bank report stating that teachers and their unions were the major threat to global prosperity. See how events in your classroom are related to the global assault on teachers.
APRIL 15
Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Making Schools Work for Poor People?: Joel Klein & the World Bank's Dedication to a Corporate Agenda
A Presentation by Lois Weiner, New Jersey City University, author of "The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistance"
Discussion to follow.
Breathtakingly rapid changes are being made in the NYC schools in the name of equalizing opportunity for poor, minority communities. Services ranging from tutoring to curriculum development to professional development are being privatized; standardized tests have become the sole measure of student and teacher achievement and value; preparation of teachers and
principals is shifting to a fast track model; merit pay is being pushed on teachers, to replace salaries based on experience and education. What's been missing in the debate about these changes is how NYC's experience reflects the footprint of a global project advanced by world financial institutions to transform work and education with it.
Julia Richman Education Complex 317 E. 67th St. (betw. 1st and 2nd Ave.),
6th Floor "Penthouse"
FREE
RSVP at info@teachersunite.net
APRIL 15
Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Making Schools Work for Poor People?: Joel Klein & the World Bank's Dedication to a Corporate Agenda
A Presentation by Lois Weiner, New Jersey City University, author of "The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistance"
Discussion to follow.
Breathtakingly rapid changes are being made in the NYC schools in the name of equalizing opportunity for poor, minority communities. Services ranging from tutoring to curriculum development to professional development are being privatized; standardized tests have become the sole measure of student and teacher achievement and value; preparation of teachers and
principals is shifting to a fast track model; merit pay is being pushed on teachers, to replace salaries based on experience and education. What's been missing in the debate about these changes is how NYC's experience reflects the footprint of a global project advanced by world financial institutions to transform work and education with it.
Julia Richman Education Complex 317 E. 67th St. (betw. 1st and 2nd Ave.),
6th Floor "Penthouse"
FREE
RSVP at info@teachersunite.net
No Teacher Left Behind
Designed by some people in the rubber room in their spare time, here is the revised "No Teacher Left Behind" t-shirt. Full range of designs at: http://www.cafepress.com/braines
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Misinterpretation (Deliberate?) on Tests and Tenure
Kevin Carey at the Quick and the Ed at the Education Sector, which is part of the Rotherham Empire, misses the point of our post on tenure and testing.
Ed Notes offers a justification for banning the use of student performance data in teacher tenure decisions: Using test scores to estimate teacher effectiveness is methodologically complicated. (This is true). Therefore, it should be outlawed. (This is absurd).
Yes teacher effectiveness is complicated and therefore test results should not be used, or misused. Why outlaw it? Because the practically criminal people running the NYC schools are not to be trusted. But read on, as Carey says:
Most important things, including teaching, are complicated. If we squelch every attempt to understand such things and act on that knowledge, we'll be left knowing very little about very little, which more or less describes the state of knowledge about teacher effectiveness today. Indeed, most teacher policy failures are a function of privileging easily measurable unimportant things, like master's degrees and state certification, over difficult-to-measure important things, like effectiveness in boosting test scores.
Do you understand any of this jargon? Let me translate: I think it means that we know little about teacher effectiveness but let's throw testing for tenure against the wall and see if it sticks. If there's a high body count of teachers who don't get tenure due to something we know very little about, so be it. Us policy wonks need data, data, data.
I do agree with Carey that MA's and state certification mean little in teacher effectiveness. But how come the wonks always use the term "like effectiveness in boosting test scores." I love the word "like." Like what else makes for teacher effectiveness? They always stop at boosting scores - how about, like Johnnie enters a class as a serial killer and leaves tame as a pussy cat but alas, the teacher is a failure and denied tenure because he didn't boost Johnnie's test score. Or the teacher did fabulous science projects with the class which turned many kids onto science but, darn, we just don't know how to measure a rise in enthusiasm.
Carey goes on:
Ed Notes also offers the "it hasn't been tested" argument, i.e. the chicken-and-egg theory of policy obstructionism: it can't be tried because it hasn't been proven; it can't be proven because it hasn't been tried.
I love being called a dreaded "policy obstructionist." The "teacher effectiveness" crowd seem to use the "it hasn't been tested" argument when it comes to class size reduction, i.e. the chicken-and-egg-theory of class size reduction obstructionism, preferring to focus on teacher effectiveness (which is guaranteed to improve with lower class sizes) despite the fact no one has come up with any way to judge other than observation - not a bad way if done objectively. (Here I will be accused of not wanting this method either because I always talk about vindictive principals, but offer the solution of teachers being allowed to call in an independent arbiter. And while I'm on this, I often tell teachers under attack to tape an observation, which seems to make some supervisors incredibly nervous.)
And of course the obligatory attack by Carey on Eduwonkette for calling all the hysteria over the tenure/testing law "union-bashing:"
Meanwhile, some unknown person who claims to be a social scientist but isn't willing to offer any credentials to prove it labels all critiques of the union's role in legally banning evidence of student learning from judgments of teacher effectiveness as "union bashing."
I'd always been under the impression that "science," and thus "social science," involved certain values of empiricism, evidence, and transparency of information..
But maybe "science" means something different wherever they hand out anonymous, theoretical social science degrees, I don't know.
Now, isn't it interesting how Carey on the one hand disparages official teaching credentials
"that most teacher policy failures are a function of privileging easily measurable unimportant things, like master's degrees and state certification, over difficult-to-measure important things, like effectiveness in boosting test scores."
....but attacks Eduwonette for not showing her credentials, without which we obviously can't trust what she says. The quality of what she (or he -wouldn't that be a kick) write is enough for me. Like take this one from Eduwonkette:
Joel Klein, in his op-ed, even blames unions for the existence of achievement gaps:
Protecting grownups rather than making sure students can read and do math is how our country has gotten into the educational mess it's in today. It's the reason we have shameful racial achievement gaps separating our white and Asian students from our African-American and Latino students.
That's why there are no achievement gaps in North Carolina and Texas!
And add Florida and Mississippi and probably a few other non-unionized states around the nation. Gotta love Wonkette, credentials or not.
And what if it turns out that Eduwonkette drives a school bus? Her credentials are what she has to say. Enough for me.
And note the consistent attack on Wonkette by the Rotherham crowd for being anonymous. Boy, will they all be surprised when she turns out to be 13 and in junior high school.
A future post will go into more detail the entire BloomKlein tenure/testing PR sham.
Ed Notes offers a justification for banning the use of student performance data in teacher tenure decisions: Using test scores to estimate teacher effectiveness is methodologically complicated. (This is true). Therefore, it should be outlawed. (This is absurd).
Yes teacher effectiveness is complicated and therefore test results should not be used, or misused. Why outlaw it? Because the practically criminal people running the NYC schools are not to be trusted. But read on, as Carey says:
Most important things, including teaching, are complicated. If we squelch every attempt to understand such things and act on that knowledge, we'll be left knowing very little about very little, which more or less describes the state of knowledge about teacher effectiveness today. Indeed, most teacher policy failures are a function of privileging easily measurable unimportant things, like master's degrees and state certification, over difficult-to-measure important things, like effectiveness in boosting test scores.
Do you understand any of this jargon? Let me translate: I think it means that we know little about teacher effectiveness but let's throw testing for tenure against the wall and see if it sticks. If there's a high body count of teachers who don't get tenure due to something we know very little about, so be it. Us policy wonks need data, data, data.
I do agree with Carey that MA's and state certification mean little in teacher effectiveness. But how come the wonks always use the term "like effectiveness in boosting test scores." I love the word "like." Like what else makes for teacher effectiveness? They always stop at boosting scores - how about, like Johnnie enters a class as a serial killer and leaves tame as a pussy cat but alas, the teacher is a failure and denied tenure because he didn't boost Johnnie's test score. Or the teacher did fabulous science projects with the class which turned many kids onto science but, darn, we just don't know how to measure a rise in enthusiasm.
Carey goes on:
Ed Notes also offers the "it hasn't been tested" argument, i.e. the chicken-and-egg theory of policy obstructionism: it can't be tried because it hasn't been proven; it can't be proven because it hasn't been tried.
I love being called a dreaded "policy obstructionist." The "teacher effectiveness" crowd seem to use the "it hasn't been tested" argument when it comes to class size reduction, i.e. the chicken-and-egg-theory of class size reduction obstructionism, preferring to focus on teacher effectiveness (which is guaranteed to improve with lower class sizes) despite the fact no one has come up with any way to judge other than observation - not a bad way if done objectively. (Here I will be accused of not wanting this method either because I always talk about vindictive principals, but offer the solution of teachers being allowed to call in an independent arbiter. And while I'm on this, I often tell teachers under attack to tape an observation, which seems to make some supervisors incredibly nervous.)
And of course the obligatory attack by Carey on Eduwonkette for calling all the hysteria over the tenure/testing law "union-bashing:"
Meanwhile, some unknown person who claims to be a social scientist but isn't willing to offer any credentials to prove it labels all critiques of the union's role in legally banning evidence of student learning from judgments of teacher effectiveness as "union bashing."
I'd always been under the impression that "science," and thus "social science," involved certain values of empiricism, evidence, and transparency of information..
But maybe "science" means something different wherever they hand out anonymous, theoretical social science degrees, I don't know.
Now, isn't it interesting how Carey on the one hand disparages official teaching credentials
"that most teacher policy failures are a function of privileging easily measurable unimportant things, like master's degrees and state certification, over difficult-to-measure important things, like effectiveness in boosting test scores."
....but attacks Eduwonette for not showing her credentials, without which we obviously can't trust what she says. The quality of what she (or he -wouldn't that be a kick) write is enough for me. Like take this one from Eduwonkette:
Joel Klein, in his op-ed, even blames unions for the existence of achievement gaps:
Protecting grownups rather than making sure students can read and do math is how our country has gotten into the educational mess it's in today. It's the reason we have shameful racial achievement gaps separating our white and Asian students from our African-American and Latino students.
That's why there are no achievement gaps in North Carolina and Texas!
And add Florida and Mississippi and probably a few other non-unionized states around the nation. Gotta love Wonkette, credentials or not.
And what if it turns out that Eduwonkette drives a school bus? Her credentials are what she has to say. Enough for me.
And note the consistent attack on Wonkette by the Rotherham crowd for being anonymous. Boy, will they all be surprised when she turns out to be 13 and in junior high school.
A future post will go into more detail the entire BloomKlein tenure/testing PR sham.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
It's Capitalism, Stupid
David Leonhardt's column in today's business section of the Times discusses how so many people in the middle and at the bottom were left out of the boom years. We all know the gap between rich and the rest of us has grown astronomical since the early 70's, the first time in US history this has happened.
So what are reasons according to Leonhardt? I'll let you read his theories here. But one word is missing from the entire article, not surprising given the bias at the Times: UNIONS.
Could it be that the attack on unions spurred on by Ronald Reagan's firing the air traffic controllers 25 years ago has weakened them so much that they can no longer win fights for the higher wages needed to sustain our economy? Add the Democratic Party support for NAFTA and other anti-union breaking rules under Bush and we have the roots undermining the economy in the long run.
As Leonhardt searches for solutions, he neglects the basic rule of capitalism: maximize profits for your company, the rest of the nation and the world be damned. That means the lowest wages you can get away with. If you can get 8 year-olds for 50 cents a day abroad, then bye.
The economy will only be robust when there's a strong union movement to fight it out with the corporations.
Note: I still consider myself a capitalist – a laissez faire capitalist – where there are rules that force a balanced playing field for people to compete. That is NOT what we have. Instead, we have a government, the theoretical arbiter, clearly aligned with the big business interests. And the press, the 4th estate that should also be an arbiter, also pro-business and anti-union. The "paper of record," whether covering business or education, is a prime example.
So what are reasons according to Leonhardt? I'll let you read his theories here. But one word is missing from the entire article, not surprising given the bias at the Times: UNIONS.
Could it be that the attack on unions spurred on by Ronald Reagan's firing the air traffic controllers 25 years ago has weakened them so much that they can no longer win fights for the higher wages needed to sustain our economy? Add the Democratic Party support for NAFTA and other anti-union breaking rules under Bush and we have the roots undermining the economy in the long run.
As Leonhardt searches for solutions, he neglects the basic rule of capitalism: maximize profits for your company, the rest of the nation and the world be damned. That means the lowest wages you can get away with. If you can get 8 year-olds for 50 cents a day abroad, then bye.
The economy will only be robust when there's a strong union movement to fight it out with the corporations.
Note: I still consider myself a capitalist – a laissez faire capitalist – where there are rules that force a balanced playing field for people to compete. That is NOT what we have. Instead, we have a government, the theoretical arbiter, clearly aligned with the big business interests. And the press, the 4th estate that should also be an arbiter, also pro-business and anti-union. The "paper of record," whether covering business or education, is a prime example.
The Sham of Tenure and Test Scores
Updated 2 pm
With the NY State legislature rejecting BloomKlein's attempt to tie tenure to test scores on the heels of turning down the congestion pricing plan, the attacks from Bloomberg and Klein are coming fast and furious. This is not really about tenure. Principals have the right to delay tenure for teachers
and many are so vulnerable, they can pretty much be let go quite easily.
First of all, an enormous number of teachers are not even in the mix. Gym teachers? No tenure if the kid can't pole vault? Music? Kids can't play Bach or sing like Callas? OUT! Computer teachers? Typing teachers? 20 words a minute? or 30? or 5? OUT! So where's the equity?
But let's look at the kinds of classes that would be affected. High school regents would be the only ones at that level. Now we need a system to compare apples to apples. What rules are in effect to adjust for the differences in schools and between different classes in schools? What impact does attendance have? Should teachers of a first period class, where many more kids don't show up, be held to a different standard than other periods? What about teachers of non-regent classes? What tests are they to be judged on?
In elementary and middle school, the tests they are talking about are math and reading. So are only these teachers in the line of fire? Do social studies, science, gym, computer, etc. get off? What about reading with push-in programs? What if the teacher who comes in daily is tenured and incompetent while the classroom teacher is untenured? What about the literacy or math coach? In sports the coaches are the ones to get fired, not the players.
Of course, the pro BloomKlein press will express outrage while ignoring all these angles.
With all these questions left on the table - and I blame the UFT for not raising them publicly to point to the folly of the plan. Unity Caucus slugs will jump on this statement: "See you chronic complainer, give the union credit for using its political muscle to win this." Without battling it out over the ideology and relying solely on the political sphere, they will win some battles but will lose the war.
It is clear there is another purpose on the part of BloomKlein. They know full well the linking of test scores to tenure will have no impact on the kids. It is a political and ideological ploy so they can say they beat the union and were successful in modifying tenure. Kudos from the anti-union right will follow. It's about PR.
This is also about putting pressure on just those untenured teachers who can influence the only results BloomKlein care about - the ones that they can use to bolster their political case
that they really, really did close the achievement gap. The message: DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO MAKE US LOOK GOOD OR YOU WILL NOT GET TENURE!
The next step is to hand out erasers that do not leave a trace.
Update from Leonie Haimson on NYC Education listserve:
I was just interviewed by Marcia Kramer on the teacher tenure/test score controversy – I said basically what I wrote in today’s news wrap-up:
1- standardized test scores alone are not sufficient to judge teachers’ competence, since they have to be examined in relation to a lot of other important factors, including class size and the type of students they have, as well as other evidence of the teacher’s skill and what else is going on in the classroom -- and that this administration cannot be trusted to use this data carefully, given their record on merit pay and school grades.
2- tying teacher tenure to test scores could have very destructive effects, discouraging teachers from taking on struggling or special ed students, and lead to a further loss of morale, with even more test prep replacing real learning.
3- Off camera, I said that a hiatus of two years was good since whatever is decided will be implemented by a new administration that will hopefully be more trustworthy with the use of such data.
Marcia Kramer’s Channel 2 story came out pretty good; except for last line, which is blatantly untrue. Video available here:
For more on this issue, see the blog here. Use test scores for tenure? Not a good idea, with these bumblers.
With the NY State legislature rejecting BloomKlein's attempt to tie tenure to test scores on the heels of turning down the congestion pricing plan, the attacks from Bloomberg and Klein are coming fast and furious. This is not really about tenure. Principals have the right to delay tenure for teachers
and many are so vulnerable, they can pretty much be let go quite easily.First of all, an enormous number of teachers are not even in the mix. Gym teachers? No tenure if the kid can't pole vault? Music? Kids can't play Bach or sing like Callas? OUT! Computer teachers? Typing teachers? 20 words a minute? or 30? or 5? OUT! So where's the equity?
But let's look at the kinds of classes that would be affected. High school regents would be the only ones at that level. Now we need a system to compare apples to apples. What rules are in effect to adjust for the differences in schools and between different classes in schools? What impact does attendance have? Should teachers of a first period class, where many more kids don't show up, be held to a different standard than other periods? What about teachers of non-regent classes? What tests are they to be judged on?
In elementary and middle school, the tests they are talking about are math and reading. So are only these teachers in the line of fire? Do social studies, science, gym, computer, etc. get off? What about reading with push-in programs? What if the teacher who comes in daily is tenured and incompetent while the classroom teacher is untenured? What about the literacy or math coach? In sports the coaches are the ones to get fired, not the players.
Of course, the pro BloomKlein press will express outrage while ignoring all these angles.
With all these questions left on the table - and I blame the UFT for not raising them publicly to point to the folly of the plan. Unity Caucus slugs will jump on this statement: "See you chronic complainer, give the union credit for using its political muscle to win this." Without battling it out over the ideology and relying solely on the political sphere, they will win some battles but will lose the war.
It is clear there is another purpose on the part of BloomKlein. They know full well the linking of test scores to tenure will have no impact on the kids. It is a political and ideological ploy so they can say they beat the union and were successful in modifying tenure. Kudos from the anti-union right will follow. It's about PR.
This is also about putting pressure on just those untenured teachers who can influence the only results BloomKlein care about - the ones that they can use to bolster their political case
that they really, really did close the achievement gap. The message: DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO MAKE US LOOK GOOD OR YOU WILL NOT GET TENURE!The next step is to hand out erasers that do not leave a trace.
Update from Leonie Haimson on NYC Education listserve:
I was just interviewed by Marcia Kramer on the teacher tenure/test score controversy – I said basically what I wrote in today’s news wrap-up:
1- standardized test scores alone are not sufficient to judge teachers’ competence, since they have to be examined in relation to a lot of other important factors, including class size and the type of students they have, as well as other evidence of the teacher’s skill and what else is going on in the classroom -- and that this administration cannot be trusted to use this data carefully, given their record on merit pay and school grades.
2- tying teacher tenure to test scores could have very destructive effects, discouraging teachers from taking on struggling or special ed students, and lead to a further loss of morale, with even more test prep replacing real learning.
3- Off camera, I said that a hiatus of two years was good since whatever is decided will be implemented by a new administration that will hopefully be more trustworthy with the use of such data.
Marcia Kramer’s Channel 2 story came out pretty good; except for last line, which is blatantly untrue. Video available here:
For more on this issue, see the blog here. Use test scores for tenure? Not a good idea, with these bumblers.
Breaking News
James Eterno posts on the ICE blog about how working teachers are now a minority in the UFT and suggests a program for democratic reform of the UFT. There will be zero debate on this issue in all bodies of the UFT, a perfect illustration of James' point.
Under Assualt makes a point about the way schools are staffed today - with a majority of new, lower cost teachers, a recipe for disaster. The BloomKlein attack on union rules and seniority claimed the system was shortchanging school in most need as teachers used union rules to gravitate to the better schools (meaning easier places to teach.) Then their minions place senior, higher salaried people under assault, followed by a school funding formula that puts a penalty on schools that hire teachers with higher salaries. They used the language of the civil rights movement to get the black community on board - see, your kids are being denied the experienced teachers. So, take a look at the schools and tell us what has happened. I bet that under BloomKlein there's less experience in the schools than ever. So they change tune - "see, we now have a young, committed teaching corps. So what if many leave. We'll just train a new crop."
Teaching is all about testing anyway and in the factory model you don't need the same level of skills in classrooms under the complete control of the teachers - the term being used is the de-skilling of teachers.
Under Assualt makes a point about the way schools are staffed today - with a majority of new, lower cost teachers, a recipe for disaster. The BloomKlein attack on union rules and seniority claimed the system was shortchanging school in most need as teachers used union rules to gravitate to the better schools (meaning easier places to teach.) Then their minions place senior, higher salaried people under assault, followed by a school funding formula that puts a penalty on schools that hire teachers with higher salaries. They used the language of the civil rights movement to get the black community on board - see, your kids are being denied the experienced teachers. So, take a look at the schools and tell us what has happened. I bet that under BloomKlein there's less experience in the schools than ever. So they change tune - "see, we now have a young, committed teaching corps. So what if many leave. We'll just train a new crop."
Teaching is all about testing anyway and in the factory model you don't need the same level of skills in classrooms under the complete control of the teachers - the term being used is the de-skilling of teachers.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
1968 REVISITED: Ocean Hill-Brownsville
Lots of meat here. This one should be a "fun" event. I'm not sure the statement in the announcement that local communities ever had control of the schools is accurate.
I went on strike in '68 but did not know anything about nuthin' then. A few years later I met many of the gang that crossed the line and worked with them politically. I understand their position. There's plenty of blame to go around on both the UFT and community control side and I'm not sure what I would do if I were back then with my current knowledge of the UFT - my instinct is that if I intended to organize teachers in the UFT crossing the line is death. If you disagree with the strike, work to provide people with a balanced view and you can't do that when you are looked at as a scab. But then again, if you wanted to work with the community, as many teachers did then, staying out was also death. Oy vey!
This event will present only one side of the issue, but I will be there to get a better read. I'm currently reading Kahlenberg and Podair's book on the strike, which is much more balanced than RK.
I might even write about '68 one day - but only from my fall-out shelter.
One of the fun ironies is that the old lefty guard of the former (and now bought out) New Action Caucus all crossed the lines in '68 and now traipse through the 52 Broadway with impunity. Thus, Randi's "liberal generosity." But we've always said she has no real ideology and it's all about what politics she sees is necessary to firm up Unity power - like having New Action on board with the paltry vote totals really has an impact.
No matter what she's done, that more than anything is what would make Shanker turn over in his grave. "Better dead than red" was one of Al's major themes. Some old-line Unity Caucus still seethe when they see the New Action crew around. But I do too - for other reasons.
Announcement:
1968 REVISITED: Ocean Hill-Brownsville
The Struggle for Quality Public Education: 1968-2008
I went on strike in '68 but did not know anything about nuthin' then. A few years later I met many of the gang that crossed the line and worked with them politically. I understand their position. There's plenty of blame to go around on both the UFT and community control side and I'm not sure what I would do if I were back then with my current knowledge of the UFT - my instinct is that if I intended to organize teachers in the UFT crossing the line is death. If you disagree with the strike, work to provide people with a balanced view and you can't do that when you are looked at as a scab. But then again, if you wanted to work with the community, as many teachers did then, staying out was also death. Oy vey!
This event will present only one side of the issue, but I will be there to get a better read. I'm currently reading Kahlenberg and Podair's book on the strike, which is much more balanced than RK.
I might even write about '68 one day - but only from my fall-out shelter.
One of the fun ironies is that the old lefty guard of the former (and now bought out) New Action Caucus all crossed the lines in '68 and now traipse through the 52 Broadway with impunity. Thus, Randi's "liberal generosity." But we've always said she has no real ideology and it's all about what politics she sees is necessary to firm up Unity power - like having New Action on board with the paltry vote totals really has an impact.
No matter what she's done, that more than anything is what would make Shanker turn over in his grave. "Better dead than red" was one of Al's major themes. Some old-line Unity Caucus still seethe when they see the New Action crew around. But I do too - for other reasons.
Announcement:
1968 REVISITED: Ocean Hill-Brownsville
The Struggle for Quality Public Education: 1968-2008
Stanley Aronowitz, Sally Lee, Edwin Mayorga, Roberta Thomas & Jitu Weusi
Co-sponsors: New York Coalition of Radical Educators & Teachers Unite
In 1968, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Brooklyn, was the site of an experiment that gave local communities control of their public schools. The controversy sparked from this movement still resonates throughout the city. This panel discussion will explore the political moment that gave rise to the community control experiment and will attempt to compare it to today's context. How are NYC Communities responding to the current mayoral control of our public schools? How do these contrasting forms of school governance impact classroom teaching and learning?
Panelists include: Stanley Aronowitz, author of Education Under Siege: The Conservative, Liberal, and Radical Debate over Schooling; Sally Lee, Teachers Unite; Edwin Mayorga, New York Coalition of Radical Educators; Roberta Thomas, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE) and Jitu Weusi, Teacher in Ocean Hill Brownsville.
The Brecht Forum
Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
Co-sponsors: New York Coalition of Radical Educators & Teachers Unite
In 1968, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Brooklyn, was the site of an experiment that gave local communities control of their public schools. The controversy sparked from this movement still resonates throughout the city. This panel discussion will explore the political moment that gave rise to the community control experiment and will attempt to compare it to today's context. How are NYC Communities responding to the current mayoral control of our public schools? How do these contrasting forms of school governance impact classroom teaching and learning?
Panelists include: Stanley Aronowitz, author of Education Under Siege: The Conservative, Liberal, and Radical Debate over Schooling; Sally Lee, Teachers Unite; Edwin Mayorga, New York Coalition of Radical Educators; Roberta Thomas, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE) and Jitu Weusi, Teacher in Ocean Hill Brownsville.
The Brecht Forum
451 West Street
(Between Bank and Bethune off of the West Side Highway)
212-242-4201
Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
The Rising Costs of Health Care and NYC Union Contracts
Tuesday April 22 at 6 PM.
Brooklyn Transit Wheelers Club
14 Williams Ave (corner of East NY Ave.)
Hello Friends:
Please check out the attached flyer.
It would be wonderful if you could attend this very important health care forum. I know many of you are already familiar with GHI-HIP's plans to privatize; however, your support would be greatly welcomed and could help opposition movements gain traction in their attempts to defeat the plan to privatize 93% of city workers' health care insurance.
City unions have remained virtually silent on the issue because they have plans to reap millions of dollars from a pool of conversion money.
The intent of this forum is to raise worker consciousness about a serious health care issue and to follow it up with a number of public demonstrations.
More info about these demonstrations will follow in the coming weeks.
It is also my hope that my UFT brothers and sisters will come out and show their support at the forum and the proposed demonstrations. This issue is important to teachers and can, I think, make inroads toward organizing ourselves to resist and overcome Unity Caucus' lack of effort in seriously challenging the DOE's attempts to privatize and destroy our school system as well as Unity's stranglehold on antidemocratic procedures and willingness to repeatedly engage in give-backs with the DOE.
Thanks.
John Powers, Chapter Leader, Liberation HS in Brooklyn.
P.S. I will speak at the forum.
Brooklyn Transit Wheelers Club
14 Williams Ave (corner of East NY Ave.)
Hello Friends:
Please check out the attached flyer.
It would be wonderful if you could attend this very important health care forum. I know many of you are already familiar with GHI-HIP's plans to privatize; however, your support would be greatly welcomed and could help opposition movements gain traction in their attempts to defeat the plan to privatize 93% of city workers' health care insurance.
City unions have remained virtually silent on the issue because they have plans to reap millions of dollars from a pool of conversion money.
The intent of this forum is to raise worker consciousness about a serious health care issue and to follow it up with a number of public demonstrations.
More info about these demonstrations will follow in the coming weeks.
It is also my hope that my UFT brothers and sisters will come out and show their support at the forum and the proposed demonstrations. This issue is important to teachers and can, I think, make inroads toward organizing ourselves to resist and overcome Unity Caucus' lack of effort in seriously challenging the DOE's attempts to privatize and destroy our school system as well as Unity's stranglehold on antidemocratic procedures and willingness to repeatedly engage in give-backs with the DOE.
Thanks.
John Powers, Chapter Leader, Liberation HS in Brooklyn.
P.S. I will speak at the forum.
Was the Nation Really At Risk?
... Twenty Five Years Later
Richard Rothstein has done some work on "A Nation At Risk" report which started the current ed "reform" movement. Standards and one-way accountability (for schools and teachers only) followed. Many of us in the anti-standardista movement (see Ohanian) have suspected all along this was a business/political plot to begin the private take over of the public school system. And they seem to be doing pretty well. Unfortunately, our own union, the AFT/UFT have played an integral role in their success.
Richard Kahlenberg's "Tough Liberal" bio of Shanker states:
Diane Ravitch called it the most important education reform document of the twentieth century. And Al Shanker's role in the report's reception was pivotal."
Shanker stated his support for the report in a major speech at the NY State United Teachers convention on April 30, 1983. Teachers should not dismiss reforms they had long resisted, so long as reforms are tied to higher teacher salaries and infusion of new funds in education. (Kahlenberg, p. 276). Of course, Kahlenberg, funded by Eli Broad, the Century Foundation, etc. thinks Shanker's support was an even better thing than white bread.
Shanker's embrace... represented an enormous departure from past AFT policy. Here was a major labor-union leader endorsing a report that said public education was in trouble, proposed merit pay, had the strong backing of business, deemphasized the inportance of labor's equality agenda, and put emphasiss on all kids rather than the poor." (p. 278.)
Voila- No Child Left behind.
The whole idea was explained by Shanker as a way to forestall vouchers. As was his charter school idea. But we'll go into that another time.
The problem was that Shanker spent the rest of his life pushing the reforms without the funding (again, class size reduction is nowhere in the equation.) Not that we believe the reforms being pushed would ever work, even with more funding.
Note that teacher salaries have risen, but in exchange for contract givebacks and longer days and school years, not a raise in most books. To Shanker (and Weingarten) being able to claim teachers make more was OK. In their world, the professionalization of teachers (an idea which separates them from other unions - like, horrors, the idea of a general strike with other workers is oh, so left) means making teaching more of a full-time job in exchange for money. Many teachers do not agree.
When Al Shanker signed onto the results in 1983, he created the alliance with the business community and doomed the teacher movement to follow along. Call it "reform without funding." It cemented what many of us teaching in NYC since the late 60's saw happening - the UFT had already given up the ghost of fighting for the serious level of funding needed for reforms that would work - especially lowering class size, an issue we in the opposition were constantly raising.
We heard all sorts of arguments why this couldn't happen. The "no space" case was laid to rest when the UFT sat by without a whimper as schools were closed and sold off after the 1975 fiscal crisis. At least three in my district (14) were handed to the Hasidic community and they're still in use.
You know the drill. It's all about low expectations and lack of standards and lack of quality teachers. Fix those and "voila" the so-called achievement gap will be closed. (We agree there's a gap, but this expression has been misused.)
The nation-wide mania for ed reform has turned public schools into a forced factory model with federal mandates forcing states local school districts, schools, school leaders, and teachers into a rigid test-driven agenda where they will be rewarded and punished according to how they carry out these mandates.
This model includes high stakes testing, frequent and heavy-handed monitoring, forcing specific educational programs on schools, closing down public schools, hiring and firing teachers and supervisors based on student achievement, forcing school systems to adopt longer school days and years, punishing senior teachers, shifting students to private schools and hiring private contractors to take over functions that were formerly done through the public systems.
The stated rationale is that our education system is failing too many children and only a top-down overhaul will change this. A corollary to this is that only disinterested researchers (rather than experienced educators) can determine how to make the system work. Teachers are the enemies of reform because instead of caring about children or education, they put their own self-interest first: protecting their jobs, high salaries, and work rules that make life easier for them.
Ultimately, the focus is on teacher unions - that they are a major obstacle to reform: Work rules limiting class size and time in the classroom, protection of incompetent teachers, inflexibility in regard to teaching methods.
Eduwonette asked: Has "A Nation at Risk" Done More Harm Than Good?
Why? First, Rothstein argues, the report wrongly concluded that student achievement was declining. The report mistook the changing composition of SAT test takers for a half a standard deviation decline in SAT scores since the 1960s. Second, Risk placed the blame on schools for national economic problems over which schools have relatively little influence. While education surely plays a part in economic growth, he shows that our economic vicissitudes are driven by factors much larger and more complex. Third, he writes, Risk ignored the responsibility of the nation’s other social and economic institutions for learning.
Rothstein concludes:
A Nation at Risk was well-intentioned, but based on flawed analyses, at least some of which should have been known to the Commission that authored it. The report burned into Americans’ consciousness a conviction that, evidence notwithstanding, our schools are failures, and a warped view of the relationship between schools and economic well-being. It distracted education policymakers from insisting that our political, economic, and social institutions also have a responsibility to prepare children to be ready to learn when they attend school.The full Rothstein report from the Cato Institute is here.
That Shanker bought into it was significant and ultimately sold out teachers. The Democratic party joined in, with the Clintons and Shanker forming an alliance. What's needed today is a counter attack by progressive reformers, who have been termed "status quo defenders" by the regressive ed reformers, who have misused the language of the civil rights movement, with Mayor Bloomberg actually comparing some of his work in NYC ed reform to Martin Luther King.
See Leonie Haimson here and Dan Brown's commentary here and Elizabeth Green's report in the NY Sun, where whe quoted Bloomberg: "We are doing the things, I think, that if Dr. Martin Luther King was running the New York City school system, he would have done. And I think that if you were running the New York City school system, you would have done."
Unfortunately, many in the black community have bought into this argument. Our job is to reacapture the language and policies of true reform. Come to our Teachers Unite forums on April 15 and May 8 to join the debate.
Bronx Green Dot Principal...
... report from the trenches
A recent news report (sorry, lost the source) about the new Green Dot/UFT Partnership school:
Ashish Kapadia, former assistant principal for organization and supervision at the Eximius College Preparatory Academy, a College Board school in the Bronx, will head the Green Dot school. He was chosen after an extensive search involving more than 100 candidates interviewed by a team of Green Dot principals and staff. Born in the Bronx, Kapadia graduated cum laude from the University of Chicago and went on to earn master's degrees from New York University and Queens College at the City University of New York. He also taught for seven years at Jane Addams High School in the Bronx, specializing in government, economics and history.
This report on Kapadia's history came in over the Ed Notes transom. Other evaluations are welcome and should be added to the comments section:
ED NOTE: After an "extensive search" for a principal of the UFT middle school charter (housed at George Gershwin - 166, the junior high I attended) the choice turned out to be Drew Goodman, the son of former UFT district reps Peter and Joan Goodman. Peter still shills for the UFT on the Edwize and Ed in the Apple blogs. So far, Drew has a good rep, as opposed to the principal of the UFT elementary charter.
A recent news report (sorry, lost the source) about the new Green Dot/UFT Partnership school:
Ashish Kapadia, former assistant principal for organization and supervision at the Eximius College Preparatory Academy, a College Board school in the Bronx, will head the Green Dot school. He was chosen after an extensive search involving more than 100 candidates interviewed by a team of Green Dot principals and staff. Born in the Bronx, Kapadia graduated cum laude from the University of Chicago and went on to earn master's degrees from New York University and Queens College at the City University of New York. He also taught for seven years at Jane Addams High School in the Bronx, specializing in government, economics and history.
This report on Kapadia's history came in over the Ed Notes transom. Other evaluations are welcome and should be added to the comments section:
Is the best candidate that "an extensive search" could find?
Ashish Kapadia's appointment speaks to how thin the ranks of would-be administrators are.
He was a Social Studies teacher at Jane Addams HS. ("Specializing in government, economics and history"???) For a while he taught an honors class (not AP, though). He was COSA for a few years until 6/06, and then Senior Advisor until 6/07. (That date is not a typo.)
His mantra was, in regard to the concerns of students: "I don't care!" (This is a direct quote.) He also was baseball coach.
He was not active in the UFT chapter. At Addams, he had no track record of any interest in partnering with the UFT, yet now he's going to be in charge of a school that is a partnership with the union.
He left Addams at the end of the last school year (2007), and hasn't been AP (at Eximius, or anywhere else) for even one school year.
ED NOTE: After an "extensive search" for a principal of the UFT middle school charter (housed at George Gershwin - 166, the junior high I attended) the choice turned out to be Drew Goodman, the son of former UFT district reps Peter and Joan Goodman. Peter still shills for the UFT on the Edwize and Ed in the Apple blogs. So far, Drew has a good rep, as opposed to the principal of the UFT elementary charter.
Monday, April 7, 2008
March Delegate Assembly Notes...
... removed at the request of the author. Contact Teachers for a Just Contract for a copy: JustContractUFT@aol.com
I preserved the comments:
NYC Educator said...
It sounds surreal. The whole 55/25 thing was touted as a great victory if only we would accept the 05 contract with the sixth class, the longer day and year, the permanent building assignment, the inability to grieve LIFs, the right to unpaid suspension based on hearsay evidence, and essentially giving back every single professional gain we'd earned since I began teaching.
And we were told the reason we didn't even get cost of living for that was our noble refusal to reduce rookie salaries.
Then we found we also had to take merit pay. And then we found that we would indeed reduce rookie salaries by 1.8% for up to 27 years.
And no one told us that NYSUT has a 55/25 bill with no penalty for anyone either.
That Ms. Weingarten and her patronage mill would support the "for profit" designation and merger is simply unconscionable. Her remarks that she does not know what will happen indicate the obvious--she doesn't care what will happen.
No wonder she thinks leading the largest teacher union in the country is a part time job.
Socratic method:
I don't understand the objection to merit pay. Can someone please explain it? It seems like merit pay is a good way to get more money into the hands of the good teachers, and out of the hands of the people who you say shouldn't have ever been granted tenure.
Anonymous
Socrates, I teach in Florida where there is merit pay. Here, It is based solely on children's tests scores and gives an unfair advantage to the teachers in better areas or with the "top" kids.
It is unfair!
We need to unite for additional funds for ALL teachers!
Anonymous said...
If there is merit pay, why would any teacher take a chance and teach a difficult class? It's much easier to go to a wealthier neighborhood where virtually all the kids will pass and say how brilliant you are as a teacher.
Socrates :
Well, those are two very narrow notions of merit pay. If merit pay were based on more than just test scores, and if the part that was just based on test scores was based on gains rather than absolute scores, you'd see everyone signing up to teach the lower classes in the poorest neighborhoods.
ed notes online
1. Name some factors beyond test scores.
2. If based on gains - kids learn at different rates. Or attendance factors? Or some special ed kids? Or disruptive behavior problems? What about losses - say a kid is absent 100 days - should the salary be cut?
3. As we've pointed out - it is not whether a school is good or bad and whether merit pay will attract teachers to a school -- what about all the private school and Catholic school teachers in NYC who are lower paid -- just go to a public school and get higher pay and more benefits - few seem to do it. Why not if money would attract these teachers (who must be superior because I bet their scores are high)?
Socratic Method
1. Rubric-based principal evaluations, peer evaluations, and/or 3rd party evaluations. I'm sure smarter people than I could come up with lots of others.
2. I'm not recommending that any one factor constitute the entirety of the merit-pay evaluation. And nothing will be exactly perfect and free of defects, but just about anything will be better than the current system. The system could be fine-tuned, but yes, special ed kids probably learn slower, so adjustments to the amount of gains required for a bonus could be made. Plus, if the evaluations listed in #1 came back really positive but the group of kids happened to be particularly hard to move, the other measured factors besides the test scores should reflect that.
3. Merit pay isn't the whole answer, but it's part of the answer. Discipline needs to be improved, for sure, but great teachers can handle just about any discipline problem, so do what it takes to attract such people to the toughest schools. I'll tell you what doesn't attract such people: the knowledge that they'll have to toil away next to someone who does no work but gets more money by account of them being older.
ed notes online
It's not only not a partial answer, it is a negative. Smater people thanyou HAVE NOT been able to come up with something - what's been holding them back?
So private and Catholic schools give merit pay?
What's better than the current pay system - which by the way is in operation for the police force and many other municipal services - do you think you will be safer if cops get merit pay?
Try an experiement. Lower class sizes in a bunch of places and pay merit pay in another. The merit pay kids might even score higher on the narrow high stakes tests. See which group of kids get the broadest based education with the most knowledge.
And are you talking about a serious chunk of change like they are giving principals for getting high scores? how is that merit system working out by the way? Ask principals behind closed doors and many of them laugh.
I preserved the comments:
NYC Educator said...
It sounds surreal. The whole 55/25 thing was touted as a great victory if only we would accept the 05 contract with the sixth class, the longer day and year, the permanent building assignment, the inability to grieve LIFs, the right to unpaid suspension based on hearsay evidence, and essentially giving back every single professional gain we'd earned since I began teaching.
And we were told the reason we didn't even get cost of living for that was our noble refusal to reduce rookie salaries.
Then we found we also had to take merit pay. And then we found that we would indeed reduce rookie salaries by 1.8% for up to 27 years.
And no one told us that NYSUT has a 55/25 bill with no penalty for anyone either.
That Ms. Weingarten and her patronage mill would support the "for profit" designation and merger is simply unconscionable. Her remarks that she does not know what will happen indicate the obvious--she doesn't care what will happen.
No wonder she thinks leading the largest teacher union in the country is a part time job.
Socratic method:
I don't understand the objection to merit pay. Can someone please explain it? It seems like merit pay is a good way to get more money into the hands of the good teachers, and out of the hands of the people who you say shouldn't have ever been granted tenure.
Anonymous
Socrates, I teach in Florida where there is merit pay. Here, It is based solely on children's tests scores and gives an unfair advantage to the teachers in better areas or with the "top" kids.
It is unfair!
We need to unite for additional funds for ALL teachers!
Anonymous said...
If there is merit pay, why would any teacher take a chance and teach a difficult class? It's much easier to go to a wealthier neighborhood where virtually all the kids will pass and say how brilliant you are as a teacher.
Socrates :
Well, those are two very narrow notions of merit pay. If merit pay were based on more than just test scores, and if the part that was just based on test scores was based on gains rather than absolute scores, you'd see everyone signing up to teach the lower classes in the poorest neighborhoods.
ed notes online
1. Name some factors beyond test scores.
2. If based on gains - kids learn at different rates. Or attendance factors? Or some special ed kids? Or disruptive behavior problems? What about losses - say a kid is absent 100 days - should the salary be cut?
3. As we've pointed out - it is not whether a school is good or bad and whether merit pay will attract teachers to a school -- what about all the private school and Catholic school teachers in NYC who are lower paid -- just go to a public school and get higher pay and more benefits - few seem to do it. Why not if money would attract these teachers (who must be superior because I bet their scores are high)?
Socratic Method
1. Rubric-based principal evaluations, peer evaluations, and/or 3rd party evaluations. I'm sure smarter people than I could come up with lots of others.
2. I'm not recommending that any one factor constitute the entirety of the merit-pay evaluation. And nothing will be exactly perfect and free of defects, but just about anything will be better than the current system. The system could be fine-tuned, but yes, special ed kids probably learn slower, so adjustments to the amount of gains required for a bonus could be made. Plus, if the evaluations listed in #1 came back really positive but the group of kids happened to be particularly hard to move, the other measured factors besides the test scores should reflect that.
3. Merit pay isn't the whole answer, but it's part of the answer. Discipline needs to be improved, for sure, but great teachers can handle just about any discipline problem, so do what it takes to attract such people to the toughest schools. I'll tell you what doesn't attract such people: the knowledge that they'll have to toil away next to someone who does no work but gets more money by account of them being older.
ed notes online
It's not only not a partial answer, it is a negative. Smater people thanyou HAVE NOT been able to come up with something - what's been holding them back?
So private and Catholic schools give merit pay?
What's better than the current pay system - which by the way is in operation for the police force and many other municipal services - do you think you will be safer if cops get merit pay?
Try an experiement. Lower class sizes in a bunch of places and pay merit pay in another. The merit pay kids might even score higher on the narrow high stakes tests. See which group of kids get the broadest based education with the most knowledge.
And are you talking about a serious chunk of change like they are giving principals for getting high scores? how is that merit system working out by the way? Ask principals behind closed doors and many of them laugh.
Fred Arcoleo Hosting at WHCAP
Hey, folks!
Just a shout out to tell you I'll be GUEST HOSTING an open mic this Friday, April 11th in my home 'hood, Washington Heights/Inwood. It's called ONE MIC LOUNGE and it's sponsored by WHCAP,Washington Heights Community Arts Project, a grass-roots neighborhood arts organization that has been supporting & nurturing uptown arts and artists (visit them @ myspace.com/whcap).*
I am thrilled, excited, and just plain charmed to be lending my support to this bi-weekly event.
And it's NATIONAL POETRY MONTH! So bring your poetry and your music, your hearts, minds, and hands to the Heights this Friday! Support local artists, young & old, black, latin, & white, as they develop their craft.
I was at the debut of this series and the performers were rocking the Heights! A good deal of socially conscious culture.
If you're interested in performing, email whcap118@gmail.com to get on the list.
Since we're uptown,our theme this time will be LIFT UP YOUR VOICE!! so COME ON UPTOWN AND JOIN US!!
ONE MIC LOUNGE
Friday, April 11th
8-11 PM
Café Espresso
207th St. & Broadway
Last stop on the A Train
ONE MIC LOUNGE takes place very 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.
I hope to see you Friday...
FORWARD!!
: )
Fred
"We're turning whispers into crystals
coming out of the shadows
turning empty dinner plates into cymbals
our charge into battle"
- "Making Fire"
*WHCAP's mission: We aim to promote solidarity and uplift inner-city communities by enhancing awareness of the arts within them and creating interactive artistic experiences.
Fred Arcoleo Is the chapter leader of HS for Health Careers & Sciences on the Geroge Washington HS Cacmpus.
Just a shout out to tell you I'll be GUEST HOSTING an open mic this Friday, April 11th in my home 'hood, Washington Heights/Inwood. It's called ONE MIC LOUNGE and it's sponsored by WHCAP,Washington Heights Community Arts Project, a grass-roots neighborhood arts organization that has been supporting & nurturing uptown arts and artists (visit them @ myspace.com/whcap).*
I am thrilled, excited, and just plain charmed to be lending my support to this bi-weekly event.
And it's NATIONAL POETRY MONTH! So bring your poetry and your music, your hearts, minds, and hands to the Heights this Friday! Support local artists, young & old, black, latin, & white, as they develop their craft.
I was at the debut of this series and the performers were rocking the Heights! A good deal of socially conscious culture.
If you're interested in performing, email whcap118@gmail.com to get on the list.
Since we're uptown,our theme this time will be LIFT UP YOUR VOICE!! so COME ON UPTOWN AND JOIN US!!
ONE MIC LOUNGE
Friday, April 11th
8-11 PM
Café Espresso
207th St. & Broadway
Last stop on the A Train
ONE MIC LOUNGE takes place very 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.
I hope to see you Friday...
FORWARD!!
: )
Fred
"We're turning whispers into crystals
coming out of the shadows
turning empty dinner plates into cymbals
our charge into battle"
- "Making Fire"
*WHCAP's mission: We aim to promote solidarity and uplift inner-city communities by enhancing awareness of the arts within them and creating interactive artistic experiences.
Fred Arcoleo Is the chapter leader of HS for Health Careers & Sciences on the Geroge Washington HS Cacmpus.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
A Love Letter to the NY Times
Under Assualt discusses the lack of classroom teacher voices in the press.
And sends a letter to one of the eleven NY Times education reporters.
And sends a letter to one of the eleven NY Times education reporters.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
School Safety
Guest Editorial by
Sally Lee
Executive Director
Teachers Unite
April 4, 2008
School safety is largely sold to the public as the need to guard teachers from students, or sometimes the “good kids” from the other ones. Regardless of rationale, it is hard to imagine educators, students and parents demanding that the presence of poorly trained police, who are held accountable to seemingly nobody, is the best strategy for creating safe learning environments. Teachers know that the key to fostering a violence-free school is embracing the input of all youth and parents, who—if given the choice—would undoubtedly choose proactive solutions such as: small class sizes for all, rich after-school programs, innovative peer mediation initiatives, and increased support services for children with complex learning and emotional needs.
Unfortunately, New York City, like school districts across the country, continues to resist this proven model. In January, school safety agents handcuffed Denis Rivera, a 5-year-old special education student, for acting out in his kindergarten class. In October, East Side High School principal Mark Federman was arrested by school safety agents after he asked them not to humiliate a student in front of her classmates and teachers. What possible reasons are there for the virtual silence from our city government in response? The stalled Student Safety Act would require quarterly reporting by the Department of Education and NYPD to the City Council on school safety issues, including incidents involving the arrest, expulsion or suspension of students. It would provide the public with raw data to study the impact of disciplinary and security policies and practices, and encourage the crafting of more effective policies.
The act also would extend the jurisdiction of the Civilian Complaint Review Board to include complaints of misconduct levied against school safety agents, NYPD personnel assigned to provide security in the schools. More than 5,000 school safety agents are assigned to the city's schools, but there is currently no meaningful mechanism for parents and students to report safety agent abuse. The city council is in the privileged position to bring transparency and accountability to New York City school safety.
Educators often feel powerless to expose the violent dynamics between school security and students when they know blame will fall back on the staff and students in their school rather than the system that is culpable. The teachers I speak with come from the range of school situations across the city. They all name the same source causing the problems in their schools: a climate of hostility that flows directly from the top of the Department of Education to their students. The tone of this administration can be seen in recent budget cuts, ludicrous testing and evaluation methods, and biased hiring policies that favor white recent college graduates and generally penalize experienced educators. This climate is often demonstrated by an individual school’s inconsistent approach to discipline, a useless practice of punitive and ultimately damaging suspensions, and underpaid school safety agents who sometimes harass and intimidate students.
Meanwhile, there are public schools that should be studied and celebrated citywide for their success in fostering cultures where trust and respect reign. The Julia Richman Education Complex, which harmoniously houses four high schools, a middle school and an elementary school, has been cited by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative as a model in school safety that respects and honors the lives of students and staff. Mayor Bloomberg has rewarded their achievements by arranging a deal with Hunter College to buy the building and kick the schools to a largely inaccessible corner of Manhattan.
It is time for the bare bones of a reasonable safety policy to be put into place. The city should invest in the investigation of innovative and educationally-sound strategies that foster school cultures and trust among students, and it must put accountability measures into place for the police and para-police force roaming our public schools in the name of safety for all.
Sally Lee
Executive Director
Teachers Unite
April 4, 2008
School safety is largely sold to the public as the need to guard teachers from students, or sometimes the “good kids” from the other ones. Regardless of rationale, it is hard to imagine educators, students and parents demanding that the presence of poorly trained police, who are held accountable to seemingly nobody, is the best strategy for creating safe learning environments. Teachers know that the key to fostering a violence-free school is embracing the input of all youth and parents, who—if given the choice—would undoubtedly choose proactive solutions such as: small class sizes for all, rich after-school programs, innovative peer mediation initiatives, and increased support services for children with complex learning and emotional needs.
Unfortunately, New York City, like school districts across the country, continues to resist this proven model. In January, school safety agents handcuffed Denis Rivera, a 5-year-old special education student, for acting out in his kindergarten class. In October, East Side High School principal Mark Federman was arrested by school safety agents after he asked them not to humiliate a student in front of her classmates and teachers. What possible reasons are there for the virtual silence from our city government in response? The stalled Student Safety Act would require quarterly reporting by the Department of Education and NYPD to the City Council on school safety issues, including incidents involving the arrest, expulsion or suspension of students. It would provide the public with raw data to study the impact of disciplinary and security policies and practices, and encourage the crafting of more effective policies.
The act also would extend the jurisdiction of the Civilian Complaint Review Board to include complaints of misconduct levied against school safety agents, NYPD personnel assigned to provide security in the schools. More than 5,000 school safety agents are assigned to the city's schools, but there is currently no meaningful mechanism for parents and students to report safety agent abuse. The city council is in the privileged position to bring transparency and accountability to New York City school safety.
Educators often feel powerless to expose the violent dynamics between school security and students when they know blame will fall back on the staff and students in their school rather than the system that is culpable. The teachers I speak with come from the range of school situations across the city. They all name the same source causing the problems in their schools: a climate of hostility that flows directly from the top of the Department of Education to their students. The tone of this administration can be seen in recent budget cuts, ludicrous testing and evaluation methods, and biased hiring policies that favor white recent college graduates and generally penalize experienced educators. This climate is often demonstrated by an individual school’s inconsistent approach to discipline, a useless practice of punitive and ultimately damaging suspensions, and underpaid school safety agents who sometimes harass and intimidate students.
Meanwhile, there are public schools that should be studied and celebrated citywide for their success in fostering cultures where trust and respect reign. The Julia Richman Education Complex, which harmoniously houses four high schools, a middle school and an elementary school, has been cited by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative as a model in school safety that respects and honors the lives of students and staff. Mayor Bloomberg has rewarded their achievements by arranging a deal with Hunter College to buy the building and kick the schools to a largely inaccessible corner of Manhattan.
It is time for the bare bones of a reasonable safety policy to be put into place. The city should invest in the investigation of innovative and educationally-sound strategies that foster school cultures and trust among students, and it must put accountability measures into place for the police and para-police force roaming our public schools in the name of safety for all.
Bloomberg Expands Congestion Pricing Plan to Schools
Gary Babad writes on the nyceducation public school parents listserve:
For those who thought congestion pricing might be off topic on this
blog, check out this GBN News story.
For those who thought congestion pricing might be off topic on this
blog, check out this GBN News story.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Randi and Al
Update: Some audio and video of a Kahlenberg "Tough Liberal" appearance at NYU on April 1 is posted at David Bellel's blog.
Education Notes has been exploring some of the roots of the alliance of the business community and the teacher unions. It did not begin with mayoral control in Chicago or New York. It began in the early 1980's and the leading advocate of much of what we are seeing today was AFT/UFT president Albert Shanker. The monster has grown in a way that has undermined the very teacher union movement in which he played a major role.
It is no accident that Richard Kahlenberg's hagiography of Shanker, Tough Liberal, was released in this climate as a way to justify Shanker's leadership of the educational reform movement that has so devastated teacher unionism at the basic level and reversed so much of what was won. (See NYC Educator on the NY Times article on Weingarten for a superb summary of these losses.) This weekend we will begin publishing excerpts from the book as a way to examine some of the deeper connections between teacher unions and the "reform" movement and to demonstrate that the ball started rolling down the alley long before Weingarten came into power.
"What would Al do today?" This is a refrain we often hear, with the hint that we wouldn't be in this pickle if he were around. I don't buy it. I have been a critic of Weingarten, but was also a critic of Shanker for many of the same reasons. One difference between them is that Shanker dismissed critics like they were fleas, whereas Weingarten often takes things personally. After one particularly acid email exchange with her in which she practically accused me of abusing her, I responded with "It's politics, not personal. Al always understood that. You don't."
Weingarten's attitude towards criticism and her consequent attempts to make it appear she is appeasing everyone is one of her major flaws. "Like water rolling off the back" is not a phrase that is part of her vocabulary. Some say, "She just wants to be loved by everyone." Maybe. But it runs deeper than that. Shanker was not only a political animal, he was also a severe ideologue. Weingarten has a very broad, flexible ideology that always seems up for grabs. For instance, she has changed from support of the Iraq war to opposition. Shanker would still be out there. But then, the AFT/UFT is so tied to the Clintons, a relationship that was started by Shanker in the 80's when Clinton was governor, maybe Shanker would have modified his position in relation to Hillary's campaign. I somehow doubt it. (He believed the US should never have withdrawn from Vietnam.)
At the AFT, Weingarten will stay within the broad guidelines Shanker laid down and continue to cooperate with the very people looking to destroy teacher unionism at the ground level. By this, I mean in the schools. The institution of teacher unions controlled by massive bureaucracies is only being attacked by the right wing. The UFTs' partners are Democratic party people and they understand the need for the union structure to be there to help sell "the plan" and control the rank and file membership.
The AFT is in many ways is a lighter job than being president of the UFT. Doing both is a challenge. A major danger Weingarten faces is that water that just won't roll off her back.
Quack! Quack!
Ed Note: Come to hear Lois Weiner explain a lot of this background and put things into context at the Teachers Unite forum at Julia Richman HS complex (67th and 2nd Ave) on April 15 at 5 PM.
Education Notes has been exploring some of the roots of the alliance of the business community and the teacher unions. It did not begin with mayoral control in Chicago or New York. It began in the early 1980's and the leading advocate of much of what we are seeing today was AFT/UFT president Albert Shanker. The monster has grown in a way that has undermined the very teacher union movement in which he played a major role.
It is no accident that Richard Kahlenberg's hagiography of Shanker, Tough Liberal, was released in this climate as a way to justify Shanker's leadership of the educational reform movement that has so devastated teacher unionism at the basic level and reversed so much of what was won. (See NYC Educator on the NY Times article on Weingarten for a superb summary of these losses.) This weekend we will begin publishing excerpts from the book as a way to examine some of the deeper connections between teacher unions and the "reform" movement and to demonstrate that the ball started rolling down the alley long before Weingarten came into power.
"What would Al do today?" This is a refrain we often hear, with the hint that we wouldn't be in this pickle if he were around. I don't buy it. I have been a critic of Weingarten, but was also a critic of Shanker for many of the same reasons. One difference between them is that Shanker dismissed critics like they were fleas, whereas Weingarten often takes things personally. After one particularly acid email exchange with her in which she practically accused me of abusing her, I responded with "It's politics, not personal. Al always understood that. You don't."
Weingarten's attitude towards criticism and her consequent attempts to make it appear she is appeasing everyone is one of her major flaws. "Like water rolling off the back" is not a phrase that is part of her vocabulary. Some say, "She just wants to be loved by everyone." Maybe. But it runs deeper than that. Shanker was not only a political animal, he was also a severe ideologue. Weingarten has a very broad, flexible ideology that always seems up for grabs. For instance, she has changed from support of the Iraq war to opposition. Shanker would still be out there. But then, the AFT/UFT is so tied to the Clintons, a relationship that was started by Shanker in the 80's when Clinton was governor, maybe Shanker would have modified his position in relation to Hillary's campaign. I somehow doubt it. (He believed the US should never have withdrawn from Vietnam.)
At the AFT, Weingarten will stay within the broad guidelines Shanker laid down and continue to cooperate with the very people looking to destroy teacher unionism at the ground level. By this, I mean in the schools. The institution of teacher unions controlled by massive bureaucracies is only being attacked by the right wing. The UFTs' partners are Democratic party people and they understand the need for the union structure to be there to help sell "the plan" and control the rank and file membership.
The AFT is in many ways is a lighter job than being president of the UFT. Doing both is a challenge. A major danger Weingarten faces is that water that just won't roll off her back.
Quack! Quack!
Ed Note: Come to hear Lois Weiner explain a lot of this background and put things into context at the Teachers Unite forum at Julia Richman HS complex (67th and 2nd Ave) on April 15 at 5 PM.
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