Still Quacking at Bronx High - Updated

NYC Educator reports today on the ongoing situation at Bronx High School of Science, one of the elite schools in New York where the administration has called in child welfare services to charge a child of dissident parents with educational neglect, as described fully in the Riverdale review article. The full pdfs of the articles on the right are available on request (and they are worth reading - does anyone know how I can post the pdf's?)

While known for attacks on teachers (which seems ok to the anti-teacher world out there) the Bronx High administration under Reidy has also engaged in attacks on students and parents.

I became personally involved with a Bronx High student not long ago when he contacted me through this blog for assistance and advice. Charged with the horrendous crime of bringing up the cartoon you see below on a school library computer (which the student denies doing), he was threatened with suspension and even expulsion. He was in the midst of studying for an AP exam (and he's only a sophomore) and was very concerned about the distraction over the incident. I called Advocates for Children, who did not have someone available to go with him to a hearing at the school where he had to bring up his parents (imagine, his parents had to take a day off from work over this nonsense.) He asked me to go with him but we felt that might prove to be provocative. I had him talk to some teachers and admins I know at the school to get more advice.

I can't tell you how impressed I was with this student, as we had many email and phone conversations. He even contacted the chancellor's office and they punted it right back to the school. But his idea to not take it lying down was what kids should be learning, though he ended up with a one day in school suspension and no entry on his permanent record, which he felt ok about – maybe it was fairly light because the story had gotten out of the box. We talked about the bigger lessons: you don't always have to take the crap, but when you think you are getting a good deal, take it. I think we may be hearing some great things about him in the future.

We've been following the Bronx High Quacking story here and here since we were contacted by Dr. Bob Drake*, a chemistry teacher who was U-rated and fired for starting the "Reidy is a Quack" campaign when she started calling herself "Dr." after receiving an honorary PhD.

There were always principals who abused their power - from the days I entered the school system and before. Empowered principals under BloomKlein and the eviscerating of the UFT Contract have made things much worse for teachers, students and principals, but expect the Klein apologists to attack the victims.

To the Regressive Ed reformers, whatever a principal says and does, even if he/she rolls steel balls around and talks about stolen strawberries, is ok. The teacher is always wrong. If you are the best teacher but show disrespect to the monarch, it's your head and sadly, there are actually totalitarian-like people out there who think teachers should lose their job for reasons that have nothing to do with job performance. The rubber rooms are loaded with them.

When a Bronx High teacher resigned last fall, he started his letter to Reidy this way:

" I am writing to inform you of my resignation effective today, November 10, 2006. Although most of the staff, particularly the young and untenured, are in mortal fear of even having a conversation with you to discuss issues pertaining to their professional lives because of your infamous reputation for “dismissing” staff members that question; I am confident that this drastic step has earned me the right to a fearless, legitimate opinion which will shed light on the severity of how teachers are treated under your administration.

The entire letter is here.

So do you check your first amendment rights at the school door?
If a principal behaves in ways that are outrageous, what is the recourse?
In a so-called democratic society, the actions of despotic principals is not acceptable.

Look for my follow-up post (to come) on my own experiences as a teacher and chapter leader with a semi-despotic principal. After hearing the stories today, the next time I see her I will give her a big hug.

* We went with Bob to a PEP meeting where he presented his case to Joel Klein's deaf ears who ignores the fact that there are U-rated teachers for political reasons. After Bob left, he found that many school districts outside NYC were very happy to have him teach, and at a much higher rate of pay.

Find Out More about The Education Trust and...

Amy Wilkins at the Education Policy Blog.
Oh, did I tell you it is funded by Bill and Melinda?

An excerpt:
To varying degrees, THE TRUST engages in one or more... activities in their efforts to influence “the opinions or behavior of people.”

For example, “leave no child behind” and “closing the achievement gap” are “appealing, simple slogans” that few people can disagree with. At the same time the “achievement gap,” as I have shown elsewhere, is an “oversimplification of a complex issue.”

Wilkins is becoming a celebrity (funded by Gates, another celebrity), traveling the country encouraging people to “jump on the bandwagon” that America’s public schools are failing and must be saved via standards-based reforms.

While THE TRUST claims to be “independent,” and “not for profit,” (and therefore above propaganda...) THE TRUST deliberately misleads voters and their representatives with narratives that are “sometimes convincing,” but “not necessarily valid.”

Racial Policies at Tweed: Disappearing Black Teachers

UPDATED
Joel Klein calls the achievement gap "The Shame of the Nation" as he races to black churches to sell his program of change in the NYC schools. But the real shame just may be the drastic drop in the number of black teacher hires in the BloomKlein years from 27.2% in 2001/02 to 14.1% in 2006/7 according to a report from the black educator blog.

From 1990 - 2002 it rose steadily from 16% - 27%.
Also the % of Hispanic teachers has dropped from a high of 18% in the mid-90's to 11% today, though the numbers are fairly consistent under BloomKlein and the drop began before they took over. At the height, Hispanic an African Americans mader up over 40% of new recruits and that has dropped to 25%.
And the % of white teacher recruits has risen from 49% - 65%.

I'm not quick to charge racism and would love to get some analysis to explain the drop.
Teach for America - what % of the recruits are black?
Teaching Fellows? I thought Tweed was claiming a higher % than 14%.
Cuts in college programs? Less kids going to college from the very community BloomKlein was supposedly targetting? Maybe we just have to wait for all those KIPP kids to go through college.
Another explanation is the loss of paras who were in the career ladder program to become teachers.
Any more ideas out there?

Check the original Sam Anderson post at this Teachers Unite site.

Leonie' Haimson's comment:
DOE data shows sharp drop in % of black and Hispanic teachers hired since 1994. Studies show that the students of a different race than their teachers have worse outcomes – except in smaller classes, when racial disparities no longer appear to have an effect.
----------------------------------------------

Veteran Black educator, activist and native Brooklynite, Sam Anderson, was recently asked by "Teachers Unite" five questions dealing with New York City's crisis of diminishing numbers of Black and Latino teachers as the student population becomes increasingly more Black and Latino. See: http://teachersunite.net/article/December2006

Black Educator: NYC's Disappearing Black/Latino Public School Teachers.

Ethnicity of New Hires* by School Year: 1990-91 through 2005-06

School Year: Ethnicity
Amer. Indian Asian Black Hisp White Unknown
1990-91 0.3% 3.2% 16.0% 11.9% 49.5% 19.1%
1991-92 0.1% 3.2% 16.0% 15.3% 58.4% 6.9%
1992-93 0.3% 2.9% 17.9% 15.1% 59.6% 4.2%
1993-94 0.4% 3.1% 18.4% 13.9% 59.6% 4.5%
1994-95 0.3% 3.2% 23.4% 18.4% 53.9% 0.8%
1995-96 0.3% 3.1% 22.9% 18.4% 54.1% 1.3%
1996-97 0.3% 3.4% 19.0% 14.4% 60.3% 2.6%
1997-98 0.4% 3.8% 20.1% 15.3% 56.7% 3.7%
1998-99 0.2% 3.8% 22.1% 15.2% 57.5% 1.1%
1999-00 0.2% 4.4% 24.8% 16.4% 53.8% 0.5%
2000-01 0.2% 4.2% 25.5% 16.3% 53.3% 0.4%
2001-02 0.2% 4.9% 27.2% 14.3% 53.3% 0.2%

Bloomberg Klein Years

2002-03 0.2% 5.6% 20.1% 12.7% 61.1% 0.3%

2003-04 0.2% 7.2% 16.7% 10.6% 65.0% 0.3%

2004-05 0.2% 8.3% 16.0% 11.1% 63.3% 1.2%

2005-06 0.3% 7.2% 14.5% 11.7% 65.0% 1.3%

2006-07* 0.3% 6.1% 14.1% 11.7% 65.5% 2.3%

*New Hires includes teachers who were hired between 8/25 through 10/31 of
each year. ** Data on the 2006-07 New Hires is current as of 8.22.2006

Teachers Unite: How have the demographics of New York City's public school population, among teachers and students, changed since you've been involved in education?

Sam Anderson: Over the past 40 years New York City's public schools have gone from being comprised of predominantly white students to one that is now predominantly Black, Latino and Asian students. However, when we look at the racial breakdown of the teaching and administrative staff, they are still overwhelmingly white to the point that nearly 80% of the teachers are white. All we have to do is look at the Department of Education's own data. More specifically, when we look at the sixteen year record of the racial breakdown of new hires, we see the re-enforcement of white teacher dominance clearly built into the DOE's personnel structure. Below are the data from the DOE about new hires (this was not easy to come by. But thanks to the persistent work of an Amsterdam News journalist, it is now in the public light).

Today's DOE new hires are more skewed towards white teachers than 10 years ago! This is clearly a reflection of the mindset of the top DOE officials who surround themselves in Tweed with white professionals and Black & Latino supportive staff (from security to low-mid level administrative staff). In addition, this high level staff is dominated by non-educators... from Klein on down to the mid-level corporate-like structures overseeing the actual nuts and bolts of the schooling process.

http://blackeducator.blogspot.com/2006/12/nycs-disappearing-blacklatino-public.html

Study Shows 97% UFT'ers Are From Appalachia

EDN News reports that a recent study of demographics in the UFT show that 97% of the members of the UFT hail from Appalachia, thus explaining the total lack of Obama supporters in the NYC union.

Typical birthplace of most UFT'ers

Teaching: Trade or Profession

A Voice Cries Out blog on teaching as a profession got me thinking (I wish she'd stop being so stimulating so I can go out in the garden and get some work done.)

I started attending some workshops on Friday as part of an introduction to engineering at Polytechnic U in B'klyn as part of a DOE grant - it was a small group but most were elementary school people. The prof who is a major guy at Poly was defining the profession of engineering and contrasting it to what people think engineers are - like building maintenance people -- in other words, trades, which he said people can learn in less than a year at a trade school rather than paying $100,000 or more for a degree in engineering.

Examining the criteria for a profession: design tools and know what tools to use. Knowledge is applied with experience, study and practice and judgements are made based on these factors.

I raised my hand and said that by these criteria, teaching in public schools today is a trade, not a profession. He disagreed, saying teachers should control their curriculum, etc. Not in today's world of deskilling teachers where major newspapers and ELA exams extol the benefits of having little experience or real training. TFA is one of the major instruments in this process - making teaching a true trade where you can go to TFA trade school for a short time - like learning data entry.

Ultimately, when the merit pay schemes are in place where a small percentage of teachers will earn bigger bucks with the rest at much lower pay - the idea of a trade will be complete - except people like plumbers will always make more. My advice to potential teachers - try plumbing instead and enjoy a trade that will pay.

When I hear that we need to close the achievment gap to keep up with the global economy my response is train plumbers instead. Plumbing is impossible to outsource.

Diane Ravitch on Andy Wolf Piece in NY Sun

Wolf should have spoken of state scores in this context. The gains under Crew and Levy from 1999-2002 were larger on the state tests in both reading and math, than under Klein from 2003-2007. On the NAEP, there was a large gain from 2002-2003 in fourth grade reading. From 2003-2007, the reading scores in fourth grade and eighth grade have been flat.

Bear in mind that the NAEP tests of 2002 were administered prior to Bloomberg takeover, and NAEP tests of 2003 were administered in January-March 2003, before implementation of Klein program. --- Diane Ravitch

I'm not going to jump on board in elaborate praise for Crew and Levy as their "reforms" so lauded by the UFT, were no more than bandaids.

The Wolf piece is posted at Norms Notes.
Wolf's negative comments on City Council Ed Committee chair Robert Jackson as compared to a favorable view of his predecessor, Eva Moskowitz, resulted in much comment on Leonie Haimson's listserve:

Robert Jackson is the opposite of somnolent – he is the most active, energetic and committed critic of the DOE and has held countless hearings to point out the flaws of their policies. Moreover, he also provides tremendous support to parents and advocates. On the other hand, Eva was and remains brilliant at getting publicity.

Leonie Haimson

Educational Rheeform

UPDATE: Finding Your Entrepreneurial Core: 24 maxims for becoming an entrepreneurial teacher.
The Eggplant follow-up to a recent Rhee's speech.

NEW BLOG:
Dedicated to Providing Important Information About Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of DC Public Schools, Before She Destroys Public Education
http://rheeform.wordpress.com/

It is interesting that Randi Weingarten actually talked about Rhee, though not exactly critically or in a mild form, at the last Delegate Assembly - clearly in response to some of the blogging going on, unusual in that Randi likes to make it seem the battle is between Klein and her, not nationally. But with her move to that stage she will have to deal with it.

The recent contract demands by Rhee to give her total control over moving people around should be loudly condemned by Randi as an extremely dangerous precedent. But she won't.
It is important to connect the Rhee stuff so teachers in NYC see a connection and don't allow Unity to keep the debate to "oh, when we elect the new mayor all will be well" -- they way they will try to extort more COPE money.

Note how Rhee appears at so many conferences (as does Klein) - they could be in schools really seeing whats' going on but the political agenda is what counts.

Read Ednotes' last posting on Rhee, "Rhee, the Monster of DC, Soon to Follow, the UFT."

Teach for America on NY ELA Exam...

... the debate begun by A Voice in the Wilderness continues at Eduwonkette. where Skoolboy digs out the rubric and even includes Wendy Kopp's speech. Are test makers using product placement to push their agenda?

Progressive Ed Reform of the Day...

...provide health services to students at each large high school. A doctor, dentist, some full-time nurses. That would be as important in closing the achievement gap as any other lame brained idea the Regressive Ed reformers are pushing.

Another in a series of true reforms that would have a long-term impact brought to you by PER.

Ed Trust's Amy Wilkins Agrees With Us (almost- I think)

I got this link from Russo's TWIE.

Blogger Maureen Trantham in her "Great Moments in the Teacher Quality Debate!" reports on how Ed Trust's Amy Wilkins practically assaults former Teaching Fellow Dan Brown at the Ed in '08 conference. See the video and come right back.

But you know something? Amy is right when she is critical of Brown's being thrown as a first year teacher with the poorest, neediest kids. She doesn't go after Brown per se but the policy makers that allow this. Hmmm! Are we talking about Teach For America, here? Wilkins and the Ed Trust are part of the reform crowd that believes we close the - and do I hate these words - achievement gap without investing resources. So does she mean let's give TFA and Teaching Fellows an internship in schools so they can really learn the ropes. But that costs money. So the "reformers" want to do it this way: kill union contracts to the extent that veteran teachers can be moved around like chess pieces. Supposedly that was what Klein claimed he wanted to do - to put the best senior teachers where they are needed,which turned out to be bogus when he launched air strikes on senior expensive teachers.

Dan Brown's defense on the video is not strong enough, offering no alternatives to a system shaped by the powers for their own needs, which is to plug a poorly trained (and cheap), de-skilled (so they can interchange parts) teacher into a slot in a poor neighborhood.

Oh what to do when schools in poor neighborhoods are a short staffed? Use TF and TFA's but really get them ready to teach. Stop taking short cuts.

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