Civil Rights for Suburbs, Mayoral Dictatorship for Cities

Those great civil rights activists Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and Al Sharpton believe in the dual education system. White suburbs get to run their schools. Black and Hispanics in urban areas get no say in schools run by dicatorial mayors who put in chancellors with no experience in education (think it shows?)

The very idea of Joel Klein as Superintendent in towns like Scarsdale and Great neck would create howls of laughter.

Why have the scores at my elementary school all gone up so much?

.... a Brooklyn teacher writes.

The math scores especially have never been higher with only a few 1's, and, for the first time, we had a handful of 4's. The administrators at my school are celebrating this achievement but I am eager to see the citywide results. And I will not be surprised if all of the scores are higher.

Many factors could account for this. We have become better at teaching to the test. The test makers have become better at designing easier tests. And the scorers have become better at scoring the tests with help from the State Ed Department [ed. note - call it "relaxing the rubric."]

Commentary:
Everyone knows that test scores will rise dramatically in NYC as the politicians and a complicent state ed dept. have so much to gain from gaming the system and setting things up so teachers and administrators have too much to lose if they don't go along. That is what is behind merit pay schemes and attempts to tie teacher ratings and tenure to test scores. Make things high stakes enough to force teachers to give up any vestige of academic integrity, the very reason for tenure, which pre-dates the existence of teacher unions by many years.

By the way, is there tenure in high priced suburbs?
Are there calls for those teachers to be rated on test scores?
A hint of merit pay?

G&T: Everything Tweed Touches Turns to Shit

Where are those great civli rights activists Joel Klein and Al Sharpton now?
Another example of non-educator ideologues who think they know it all. Jeez, we status quoers just have to stop being so negative.

Comment by Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters.
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

The NY Times has a front page story today describing how the G and T admissions process this year led to a much less diverse group of students being served, both economically and racially, a fact that was pointed out on our blog as well as Eduwonkette’s weeks ago.

Months before that, when the city first proposed to centralize the G and T admissions process and base the decision solely on uniform cut off scores on standardized exams, we pointed out that this would likely restrict diversity and benefit wealthier students at the expense of poor and minority kids. Apparently others warned the DOE directly, including Joseph Renzulli, who serves as a consultant to a city task force on the gifted.

Using standardized exams for high stakes decisions has a racially disparate impact, according to the National Academy of Sciences task force on the subject – and thus is racially discriminatory.

But Joel Klein’s notion of “equity,” as it is becoming more and more clear, is not to increase diversity and opportunity for all kids – but to base all decisions on an abstract, numerical formula that he and his minions devise without input from others– like the FSF formula and the formula for school grades -- no matter what the results or the real impact on kids.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/nyregion/19gifted.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all

Rumor Mill: Michelle Bodden Goes to UFT Elementary Charter School

There are rumors - even that Michelle will be the new principal - can a UFT VP also be a principal?

Many people at UFT HQ and in Unity Caucus looked at Michelle as the obvious choice to replace Randi Weingarten as UFT president. But we have been pointing out in in our articles on the Randi Succession Obsession that her star was descending. Beside, astute UFT watchers know full well Randi may try to break Al Shanker's 10 year record of holding both AFT and UFT presidencies. (I already have a bet that she is running in 2010 for UFT Pres.)

The speculation is who will be the strong man to ride herd - play the role Tom Pappas played for Feldman and Weingarten - and the guessing is it will be that fellow with the lean and hungy look, Mike Mulgrew.

UFT and Grievances: Daring Not to Win

UFT grievance procedure: Go in young, emerge ready to retire.

I attended the UFT Delegate Assembly yesterday (see James Eterno's full report at the ICE blog) and so many issues came up, I am going to tackle them one at a time in separate posts.

Randi Weingarten made a big deal about an arbitration decision based on a grievance filed by teacher Todd Friedman over getting a U-rating based on taking more than the 10 days as specified in the contract. He took 11. He had an illness and his dad died and he had to go to Florida and he took a few extra days beyond his bereavement time.

His arbitration victory means circumstances of the teacher like illness and death in the family must be taken into account by principals before they bestow a U-rating for excessive absence.

Now, we have heard that principals are will nilly deciding to give U-ratings based on whatever number of days they decide is too much. They want to show Tweed they are rooting out evil doers.



They are able to do this because of the enablers at the UFT.

Randi celebrated the fact that Todd had the guts to stand up and file a grievance and said the union can't do anything unless a teacher stands up. Huh? Don't get me started with this "blame the victim" attitude on the part of the union. There's plenty they could do but choose not to.

"You see, you have to fight City Hall," said Randi as she called Todd up to speak.

"I had to fight the union grievance department to get them to file the grievance the way I wanted," said Todd. "It was only after I appealed to Randi that I got them to change it."

Ooops! Fighting City Hall turns out to be the union grievance department itself.

Randi sort of stood there with egg on her face and repeated her statement about fighting City Hall, even if it's her own grievance department.

Later, I caught up with the special rep who handled Todd's case. "Nice job," I said. "But the people making these decisions that force a teacher to appeal to the union president should be punished," I said. We have to be careful not to risk lose cases that would hurt more people was the gist of her answer.

That attitude has been our complaint for 35 years - first allow incredible loopholes that allow administrators who know what they're doing (and the Leadership Academy has made sure to train principals to expose every loophole) to hammer teachers and then don't take a militant stand in the hope some principals don't know better.

But here's the real rub. Now that we have this "victory" let's say a principal ignores it and does the same thing. What recourse does the teacher have? Do they get an expedited "show them the arbitration and the U comes off immediately?"

I bet not. The union will tell them to, guess what, file a grievance and cite the arbitration.
Follow the bouncing ball:

Step 1: Principal says he/she doesn't accept the teacher's reasons.
Step 2 - oops! The UFT gave that up in the 2005 contract
Step 3 - the chancellor's level where the hearing officer works for, guess who? - Joel Klein. Automatic win for the principal, who is always right.

Now wait a year to go to an arbitrator who might rule in favor of the teacher (not a sure bet as the arbitrator could look at the circumstances and say the principal was right - these people have to split the wins between the union and DOE to stay employed, so if your turn comes up bad, too bad.)

In the meantime, the teacher's U-rating has prevented him from getting per session or maybe even taking a transfer.

Thus, the great union victory on grievances.

Play Bullshit Bingo at Staff Conferences

(Reprised from Ed. Notes, Jan. 2004)

anonymous

Do you sometimes nod off in staff conferences and staff development?
What about those long and boring pre and post observation conferences?

Here’s a way to change all of that:

1. Before (or during) your next staff conference or staff development day, prepare your “Bullshit Bingo” card by drawing a square--I find that 5”x 5” is a good size.

Divide the card into columns--five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:

staff development, leveled libraries,UFT, professionalism, standardized test scores, revisit, blocked reading/math, genre, 25 books, standards, workshops, learning objective, innovative, observations, strategies and skills, result-driven, goals, knowledge base, supervisors, superintendent, chancellor, student-directed, learning centers, CEP, district goals, instructional plans, evaluation

(feel free to add your own.)

3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear a speaker use one of these words/phrases.

4. When you get five blocks checked off horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout “BULLSH_T!”

Testimonials from satisfied “Bullshit Bingo” players:

“I had been in a faculty meeting for only five minutes when I won.” Jack W., Staten Island

“My attention span at meetings has improved dramatically.” --David D., Brooklyn

“What a gas! Staff Development will never be the same for me after my first win.”
Bill R., New York City

“The atmosphere was tense in the last faculty meeting as 20 of us waited for the fifth box.”
Ben G., Queens

“We use the Superintendent’s name in our game and people ask questions to try to get the staff developers to invoke the name so they can get their card filled. Everyone is on edge as we wait for the name to be said.What excitement! "
A Brooklyn elementary school teacher.

“The principal was stunned as eight of us shouted ‘BULLSHIT!’ for the third time in 40 minutes. " --Kathleen L.., Bronx

Note: Can be adapted for UFT Delegate Assemblies

More NYC Students Boycotting Tests?

"My students refused to take the tests seriously for several reasons: the weather (so hot), the timing (last week of school) and the fact that they KNOW these are practice exams, despite me straight-up lying to them, saying that our school would use their grades to place them in their English class next year. The fact that these test scores may be used as data about the capabilities of NYC students is truly frightening; these tests do NOT reflect what my students are capable of." - a NYC teacher

This teacher was required to administer 2 days of standardized testing during the last week of classes (last week) during English class to 9th grade. 10th grade had 4 days of standardized testing last week. The teacher was told by admin that these tests were city-wide. Anyone know if that is true?

Some speculation:

Will kids be leading the way in boycotting tests in the future?
Will teachers be blamed as Doug Avella was?
(Note this teacher, unlike Doug, tried to lie to the kids -- I can see why, given possible repercussions, but in the long run the kids need to trust the teacher.)

Are they being used instead for the teacher evaluation study/ scheme/ to rate teachers on their annual gains in test scores – for the purposes of eventually using this for tenure decisions, contrary to the supposed restrictions in the contract?

Thursday, June 19th, 5:00 pm - Protest: "National Day of Protest

Join New Yorkers on Thursday June 19th for a day of protest against health insurance profiteering. We will speak-out against the proposed privatization of GHI and HIP and claim Health Care as a basic human right! We will mourn the countless victims of the health insurance industry while marking June nineteenth – a day commemorating the emancipation of slaves in North America. The NYC action is one 17 others nation-wide in solidarity with activists in San Francisco, CA who will be protesting the annual meeting of 38,000 health insurance executives. On June 19th join fellow New Yorkers in declaring our emancipation from for-profit healthcare and support for the single-payer national health insurance bill H. R. 676.

Bring friends & signs.

5:00 pm - Meet at Office of GHI, 441 9th Avenue (34th & 9th)
5:30 pm – March to United Health, One Penn Plaza, (34th St. btw. 7th & 8th)
(A/C/E or 1/2/3 to 34th Street)

For more info on the movement to oppose GHI/HIP privatization:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/06/97606.shtml
http://www.myspace.com/saveourhealthcare

For more info on the movement for Single-Payer National Health Insurance:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/
http://www.phimg.org/V2/

March Organizers
Healthcare Now!, The Coalition Against Privatization, Private Health Insurance Must Go! & Physicians for a National Health Program (Metro Chapter)

Supporters
Teachers for a Just Contract (UFT), Independent Community of Educators (UFT), the Take Back Our Union Coalition (TWU Local 100), The Hunger Action Network of NY State, Gangbox: The Construction Worker's News Service, UFT Retirees, D.C. 37 rank-and-file members, D.C. 37 retirees, Socialist Party USA (NYC), & Socialist Action.

More Info: (718) 869-2279, noprivatization@yahoo.com (request flyer)

Cartoon by graphic artist Gary Martin

Status Quoers Dare to Ask for a Piece of KBR's $20 Billion

With the NY Times report today on how an official was fired after refusing to pay $1 billion to corrupt food contracter KBR which has received a total of $20 billion, supporters of the status quo in education have requested a piece of the action to reduce class size, expand early childhood programs and provide services for at-risk teens.

Members of the secretly funded Educational Quality Project laughed at the idea, claiming comparing money funneled to corporations with heavy political contacts and educational funding is an apples and oranges comparison.

EQP founders Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Al Sharpton and Andrew Rotherham issued a joint statement claiming that no new funding was needed to solve educational problems. "Just get rid of teacher unions and turn public schools into charters and all will be well," the statement said. "However, we wish we could get a piece of that $20 billion to open 10,000 KIPP schools."

Henry Closes Eliza's Achievement Gap

Just watched "My Fair Lady" and it looks like Teach for America grad Henry Higgins managed to close the vast achievement gap of one Eliza Doolittle.

NYC Chancellor Joel Klein praised Higgins' work.

"When Doolittle had the cheek to ask 'What will become of me?' Henry blasted right back with, 'Who the devil cares what will become with you?' That's exactly the attitude we encourage our people to have. Look at the data only and ignore other factors. "

When it was pointed out that Higgins had a class size of one and took Doolittle in to live with him for 6 months, Klein responded:

Rubbish. These factors had no impact at all. We analyzed the data and the results are due to the differentiated instruction. And the word wall.

Edwize Tries Smoke and Mirrors - Update

Edwize commenter JW raises questions about the rush to judgement on the part of the UFT to endorse Hillary. Note the disingenuous answer from Leo Casey.

See Leo run.

See Leo try to convince JW that the UFT couldn't discuss or vote on the primary because the AFT endorsed Clinton. As if the UFT must follow AFT policy, not the other way around. [Check our previous post "The Unity Caucus Tail Wags the AFT Dog".]

See Leo ignore the fact that the Chicago Teachers Union did endorse Obama. Oh, yeah, the UFT has an excuse for that - "we gave them permission" said Randi at a meeting because of Obama's favorite son status. Hillary had plenty of roots in Chicago too.

JW asks for the by-law that proves Casey's contention.

Suddenly, the thread ends.

Was anyone out there polled by the AFT as Leo contends? Gee, it's hard to believe Leo would actually out and out lie, so there must be a poll lurking somewhere. Maybe in a vault. Or in Warsaw.

I never read the Edwize unless someone is inserting burning splinters under my fingernails. In the comments on this post, Unity slugs Bill Stamatis and Casey wax unpoetic in praise of Hillary Clinton on education. I mean, hey, just check out what she says for public consumption on her web site and ignore her entire history of ed "reform" from Arkansas through NCLB and beyond – Lock step with the UFT which has done so well by NYC teachers. Ahh let's forget the days when Hillary defended retesting of veteran teachers or the Clintons laid out the basis of a lot of today's phony ed reform movement.

So, why did the UFT rush to Hillary? Tell me again, I forgot. - JW

Stamatis points to Clinton’s web site - and blah, blah, blah

JW comes back with:
Whether Hillary or Obama had the better ed platform this primary season matters less to me than the UFT making an endorsement without polling the membership. I’ll vote for any Democrat in the general election, of course, and the UFT could have done the same: endorse the Democratic choice, whichever candidate the party would eventually put forward by the end of the primary season. I don’t think they had to endorse one of the two candidates specifically. So, my question still holds. Why did the UFT think it was necessary to jump in on Hillary, especially without asking members which way they were leaning?

Now watch Leo "Obfuscate" Casey in action:
Your information is incorrect. First, in a national election, the endorsement is made by the national union, the AFT. [Like somehow the AFT is not run by the UFT.]

The AFT endorsed Hillary Clinton, and the UFT’s participation in the primary elections was based on that national endorsement. That is how we have always done national endorsements.

Secondly, the AFT commissioned extensive, scientific polling of the membership, and the decision to endorse was taken with the results of those polls in hand. The national membership supported the endorsement of Hillary over Obama by better than 2 to 1 and over Edwards by better than 3 to 1. In New York, those numbers were even more in favor of Hillary.

JW comes back with:
If endorsement by the national union is the way it’s always been done, is this procedure codified in the by-laws that it has to be done that way? If so, I’d like to know where I can see this text. Failing codification, it’s a question of custom, which doesn’t mean it’s actually the right way, or the most democratic way to endorse a candidate, or even that it should be continued to be done this way. As to the “extensive, scientific polling of the membership” done by the AFT : Neither I nor anyone I know in the most recent primary season or in any other primary season as long as I’ve been a teacher has ever been polled by the AFT. How scientific or extensive could it be? And what does that mean anyway? I’ve read that the UFT and AFT had ties with Clintons as far back as the 80s. Obviously, Weingarten had every intention to honor that bond, and maybe even to gain from the endorsement personally. It was not in her interest or anyone else’s at the national level to find out who the members really wanted, whether Obama, Clinton, Edwards or any of the others. The UFT is the largest member of the AFT, and I can’t imagine the AFT acting contrary to the wishes of the UFT. What the UFT says is the way the AFT goes, it seems to me, and not the other way around. The “scientific” polls could well have been manufactured, for all we’ve been told about them. On ed issues, I’m not a rabid Obama fan. I just believe this is all political and who the membership wants to endorse has little do with anything. If you stand by those “scientific” polls, then I’d like to know I can get a hold of the questions, the names of the participating locals, the percentages of members polled, and similar kinds of information.

David Brooks and the Status Quo at the NY Times

I've been thinking about how to address David Brooks' ridiculous op ed in Friday's NY Times on education where if you don't agree with the likes of Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Andrew Rotherham and, best of all, Al Sharpton (read all about his extortion racket,) you are labeled a status quoer. On first look, I thought it was a Tweed press release. Well, now that I think about it, it read a lot like Tweed PR chief David Cantor.

NYC Educator's brilliant piece today pretty much nails Brooks, who ought to visit the lovely trailer NYC teaches in, but I want to add a few points.

Brooks focuses on where Obama will go on ed policy. Brooks puts him between the regressive ed reformers and the progressive ed reformers whom the RER zombies are branding as "status quoers." NYC Educator focuses on the fact that none of the so-called regressive ed reforms seem to have worked, but Brooks wants to continue to arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic anyway.

In his own fit of rhetorical gibberish, Brooks refers to the "patina of postpartisan rhetoric" as he writes about the competing vision of the Progressive Ed Reform Movement (PERM):

The status quo camp issued a statement organized by the Economic Policy Institute. This report argues that poverty and broad social factors drive high dropout rates and other bad outcomes. Schools alone can’t combat that, so more money should go to health care programs, anti-poverty initiatives and after-school and pre-K programs. When it comes to improving schools, the essential message is that we need to spend more on what we’re already doing: smaller class sizes, better instruction, better teacher training.

Does Brooks really believe we're spending more on smaller class size? Maybe in the private schools his friends attend. What does he think about the fact that the class sizes in NYC are 25%-35% higher than the rest of the state? Who really supports the status quo, people like Brooks or the PERMs? Brooks and the RER's are really about busting teacher unions. Lucky for them they have a compliant AFT/UFT that is frightened of being branded as SQ's to deal with.

Brooks says, "the crucial issues are: What do you do with teachers and administrators who are failing? How rigorously do you enforce accountability? Tough decisions have to be made about who belongs in the classroom and who doesn’t. Parents have to be given more control over education through public charter schools. Teacher contracts and state policies that keep ineffective teachers in the classroom need to be revised.

What irony. Has he seen how parents in NYC have less control over their schools than ever as regressive ed reformers use mayoral dictatorships to hand entire urban public school system over to Bill Gates and Eli Broad, while Brooks' friends in the suburbs actually get to elect school boards and vote on budgets?

What to do with reporters and editors who are failing?
Who belongs in the NY Times newsroom?
As NYC Educator points out, Brooks and the NY Times were vigorous war hawks and don't seem to worry about accountability and failures when it came to their own promotion of the weapons of mass destruction and general coverage of the Iraq war.

And then there's the issue of how a trillion dollars can appear out of nowhere, but those who call for even a fraction of that expenditure to lower class size are branded status quoers.

Let David Brooks take a look at the failure of the NY Times, not only in relation to Iraq, but in the biased coverage of education in NYC. True accountability starts at home.


Check out this review of Susan Ohanian's new book for some sanity.

The Unity Caucus Tail Wags the AFT Dog

REVISED Monday, June 16 8AM

Some people find it hard to believe that a caucus of around 1500 people can control a 1.4 million member organization. But the UFT is firmly under the Unity Caucus thumb and the AFT is controlled by the UFT.

Actually, it's worse than that – it's more like one person – the president of the UFT, plus entourage – that controls the Unity machine, which itself is not a democratic organization.

Some people are confused. They think Randi Weingarten is getting a promotion when she becomes president of the AFT next month. Maybe a promotion in prestige. But in terms of power, the AFT president has significantly less power than the President of the UFT. The AFT president deals with other union leaders who control their own locals, so it is a powerless position in terms of the number of people under control, which is limited basically to the AFT bureaucracy. Unless of course the AFT president also controls the UFT, as has been the rule since Al Shanker took over in 1974 (other than McElroy's filling the slot between Feldman and Weingarten.) That is one reason why Randi will not give up the UFT presidency unless that base is totally secure, which without her choosing a clear successor (which she intentionally hasn't done), will not happen.

Randi is a pretty shrewd cookie and knows how to play this game. Thus, telling people there are 6 possible successors. Divide and conquer. (See links to our previous series "Randi Succession Obsession" in the sidebar.) Imagine a scenario where Randi goes to Washington, appoints a successor as did Shanker and Feldman before her, and finds the person she chooses has that ambitious lean and hungry look and starts purging her people, leaving her as a supplicant. Ain't gonna happen for a while.


The numbers tell the story: The UFT is the elephant in the room
The AFT has around 1.4 million members, with the UFT's share being 200,000 plus. But it goes beyond that when you look at New York State United Teachers' (NYSUT) 600,000 plus, which is controlled by the UFT. So, do the math and you see how the UFT tail wags the AFT dog. And why when I was recently asked whether Randi Weingarten will face opposition in the AFT election, I answered, "no more than token, at most a candidate from the left, since there is even less of an opposition caucus in the AFT, with the Unity-like Progressive Caucus in total control."

And one point about Randi's being crushed by Hillary's defeat because now she can't become Sect'y of Education: I do not believe for a minute that she had any intention in that direction. What real long term power does a cabinet position hold other than for a few years?

In fact, Randi would have served, and will serve, Hillary's purposes in a much better way as the head of a national union. And with the goal of making Hillary the president one day still alive, Randi is well positioned to use the national pulpit of AFT presidency to promote their goals, especially if she can pull off a merger of the 3.4 million member NEA and AFT and if she can convince the NEA people to make her president of the merged 5 million member union.

At that point she would have surpassed even Al Shanker, who could never have accomplished such a merger because NEA people despised his ruthless, authoritarian and undemocratic methods. Hmmm, on second thought, nothing's really changed in the UFT. Except that Randi is so much slicker than Al and will try to convince the NEA she is a democrat in addition to being a Democrat. Don't sell her short. As we've seen here with the UFT and Tweed parallel large PR machines, you can get people to believe anything.

If she does, who is to say she would not be in line to head the entire AFL/CIO? I know, some labor people say a teacher union head could never be in that position. But unions are on the run and Randi has figured out a way to "save" them. Just give away as many hard won rights as possible to convince management the unions are willing to work with them in a collaborationist way.

NYC teachers have seen the results of this "new unionism" strategy promoted by Leo Casey. They wish the rest of the labor movement luck.

Who's Funding the Education Quality Project?

Reformatted: Thread is in reverse order. Leonie in blue, Cantor in red.

GBN News discovers answer to secret funds for Educational Equity Project.

Sometimes all you need to do is put up a thread without comment. Do you need more to understand why just yesterday someone characterized Leonie as a true heroine of the education wars against the regressive ed reform zombies. Of course, Leonie would be characterized by the NY Times' David Brooks as a "status quoer."

From Leonie Haimson on nyceducationnews listserve:

See David Cantor's comments below -- on the fact that this Klein/ Sharpton alliance is being funded by an "anonymous donor" -- though apparently not by Bloomberg.

I would think that the kind of public campaign that the Chancellor is embarking upon, including staging "events at both political conventions” and attempting to influence the position of the next President should be obligated to reveal its source of financing.

David also questions my description of the press office as large and well-funded -- though I still maintain that is larger than the press office of any other city agency and much larger than under any previous Chancellor. I have an excel file from October with the names, salaries and positions of thirteen people employed in the Communications office, in case anyone would like to see it. Not that they don't earn their salaries, working overtime to cover the blunders and mistatements of their superiors.

David: two questions -- who is paying your salary when you write press releases for this Klein/ Sharpton effort and/or answer calls from reporters about it? Are you getting paid extra by this "anonymous" donor -- or does your official salary funded by taxpayer money cover your efforts?

Secondly, are you thinking of writing an expose a la Scott McLellan about your adventures in the land of Tweed when Klein's term in office is over? I myself would pay a pretty penny for such a book, and I bet many others would as well. Let me know if you'd like some contact information from publishers who would likely be interested. Unfortunately, I must turn down your offer to come fix your copying machine; I don't have any particular expertise in that area (not that ever stopped the Chancellor in his hiring decisions.)

Perhaps by cutting down on the high salaries of some of the top educrats at Tweed -- or eliminating one or two positions in the burgeoning Accountability office, you might be able to afford to pay a repairman.

thanks as always,

Leonie Haimson



From: david cantor [mailto:cantorrac@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 11:20 PM
To: Leonie Haimson
Subject: Re: question for David Cantor: who is funding this project?

Leonie: The project is being funded anonymously. No public money will be spent. The mayor is not funding the project.

Re comments on your blog: If Class Size Matters ever wants to hold a press conference in Washington, the National Press Club room we used (Zenger Room) is available for $500. Also, I invite you to come over to the press office when next you're at Tweed and check out our "huge" communications "juggernaut" at work. I think you'll be surprised. If you're any good at fixing a copy machine we may put you to work.

David Cantor

Press Secretary

NYC Dept of Ed

On 6/13/08, Leonie Haimson wrote:

So tell us then, David, who is funding this, if not Gates and Broad?

I see that on the webpage of http://www.educationequalityproject.org/press/ , you are one of the two contact people listed:

Contact: David Cantor - NYC Department of Education (212) 374-5141
Rachel Noerdlinger - NAN/Al Sharpton Media (212) 876-5444

USA today: "Neither Sharpton nor Klein offered details on the Education Equality Project, but said they sent letters to both presidential candidates Wednesday and plan to stage events at both political conventions."

So is this campaign coming out of our taxpayer money? In the midst of an economic slowdown so dire that Bloomberg says he is forced to cut all city agencies, including Education by $450 M? And/or is this project being subsidized by Bloomberg himself?

It's easy, though, to see how people including myself could assume that Gates and Broad were funding this. If you go to the Ed ''08; webpage it says:

Strong American Schools is a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, two of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world, have provided grant funding for Strong American Schools. Roy Romer, the former governor of Colorado and most recently superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is our chairman and lead spokesman.
You click on Roy Romer's link and you get to:

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Bringing Equity to the Education System
Today I joined with New York City Schools' chancellor Joel Klein, the Rev. Al Sharpton and a host of other civil rights leaders, elected officials, and education reformers to announce the launch of the Education Equality Project. The new project will challenge politicians, public officials, educations, union leaders, and others to view fixing public schools as the foremost civil rights issue of the early 21st century.

Other quotations from press release:

"Our nation's economy and individual family income is tied to improving our skills through education," ED in '08 Chairman Roy Romer said. "Americans cannot afford to sit back and watch its schools fail our students. We need to raise expectations and opportunities for every single student, regardless of race, color, creed, or income. Most importantly, we need strong leaders to take initiative. Today, I am joining these influential leaders to call for change."

"Nationally, our public education system is failing to provide our students with the skills they need to compete for the best jobs in the global workforce," said former Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr., who serves as a spokesperson for ED in '08. "Too many of our students are not graduating from high school and too many who do graduate are not prepared to face the challenges of college, the workplace, or life. This crisis in education is destroying the foundation of our economic success and national prosperity. I am glad to join the bi-partisan coalition to sound the national alarm to improve our schools."

Bloomberg is well known for his generosity to many organizations through the Carnegie Corporation– see this today's news, about his latest contributions of $60 million: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/nyregion/13charity.html?ref=nyregion ( full list is here: http://www.carnegie.org/sub/news/VGrelease.html )


All in all, very confusing and mysterious. Please enlighten us, David!

Leonie Haimson

Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 12:16 AM
To: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [nyceducationnews] Klein, Sharpton Ally on Achievement Gap

No Gates or Broad money is going to this initiative. Zero.

David Cantor
Press Secretary
NYC Dept of ED

On 6/12/08, leonie@att.net wrote:

as I predicted, this "new" coalition will focus on charter schools and union busting-- not a word about the need for the critical reforms that have actually been proven to work to narrow the achievement gap -- like class size reduction.
This strategic alliance, or "beautiful friendship" as Klein likes to put it, appears to be based instead upon the ideological biases of its funders -- the Gates and Broad foundations.

Klein, Sharpton Ally on Achievement Gap

By
RUSSELL BERMAN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 11, 2008
http://www.nysun.com/national/klein-shaprton-partner-on-racial-gap-in-education/79786/

The Story of A and E

A story to illustrate why the simplistic "close the achievement gap and all will be well" zombies out there make longtime teachers froth at the mouth. I was inspired to tell this story after my meeting with the Teach for America alum from the previous post.


My memory is a bit hazy, but I think it was in the mid 80's. I picked up the phone and heard shrieking. "Mr. Scott, E is dead. E is dead." It was A, one of my all-time favorite students. Both A & E were in my top performing 6th grade class in 1975. We had kept in touch over the years.

E, her boyfriend and another woman were found shot to death execution style with bullets in their heads in the Bronx. She was around 20 at the time. "Drugs," the papers said. I raced over to the funeral home. Young friends of E were milling about crying (not the only time I got to witness such scenes). E's mom,who I had known for so many years, was catatonic.

A had gone to one of the 3 competitive special high schools and then on to a top university and eventually turned to teaching and even subbed at my school a few times.

Coming from a poor family with a single parent, A was a star from the day she entered school. No achievement gap here. None of the 8 teachers she had at our school from pre-k through me in the 6th grade would think of taking credit for her achievements. (Think of the merit pay she would have brought us.)

Her amazing mom was the key. Tall, thin, supremely dignified and proud, her voice with hints of her southern roots, she was a school lunchroom worker raising two daughters in the midst of a neighborhood that lost so many kids. Talk about accountability. I wouldn't have dared think about not being accountable to her. If they're giving out merit pay, it should go to people like her.

E wasn't quite as successful a student, but was certainly not behind in math and reading. There were 3 kids in the family. In 1975, the family was whole, with a father present who seemed dedicated to the family. To an outsider, this seemed like one happy family. But not soon after E graduated from my school, things went bad. The dad walked out. That seemed to lead to a downward spiral all around. Mom didn't do too well. One brother served some serious time in prison. The other had problems in school.

I don't know to what extent E's "achievement" was affected. I assume she finished high school and probably just fell in with the wrong guy.

Postscript: A few years later my wife and I attended A's beautiful wedding when she married her high school sweetheart. I thought about E that day and what her wedding would have been like.

A's mom was there, standing tall and proud.

Can TFA's Be Saved?

I was at a small meeting yesterday that was attended by a 4th year Teach for America alum. Not biased against the union, she understands what the UFT leadership is all about and is interested in knowing more so that one day she could run for chapter leader. She wants to know about the rights of union members and how to defend them.

"The first few years of teaching, you barely keep your head above water," she said, "and you don't think much about your rights." She talked about the TFA training, which she said is really dependent on the group leader. After the summer institute, recruits do not have much to do with TFA, she said.

We talked about reaching out to other TFA's, or those that stay. Maybe even a campaign to get more to stay. This TFA is a politically conscious about the larger socio-political context of teaching and feels sharing that viewpoint with others would be helpful.

"Teach for America is all about a narrow concept: closing the achievement gap. Results count. The idea of teaching the whole child is not really part of their equation," she said. "Luckily, I went for my masters at an institution that took the opposite approach and focused on the whole child. Maybe too much. So I got the benefit of both worlds."

This TFA gets it and is jumping into the broader social justice struggle that goes beyond the achievment gap and over time hopes to get other teachers to do the same.

Over time I got to see kids who did not have an achievement gap at my school still get lost to the streets and some that were behind find success later on. So I've never seen closing the achievement gap as the end all and be all. Fighting the lure of the streets and family dissolution seemed to be part of the bigger battle.


Read the followup: The story of A & E

Sharpton & Klein

Perfect together.
From a DOE Press Release:

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Reverend Al Sharpton Launch Weekly "Education Equality Hour" on Webcast Radio Show "Sharp Talk with Al Sharpton"

http://www.sharptontalk.net/

Of course they got the first version wrong. Leonie Haimson commented:
They changed the website address so it works now; doesn't anyone in their huge, highly paid press office ever check these things first?

Michael Fiorillo had a stronger statement:

What little significance anything Rev. Al does, meaning its relationship to his political and financial interests, is to be found in the bit about him teaming up with "Ed in '08:" he's obviously trolling for money from Broad and Gates, who are the funders of this oligarchic effort to generate public support for their campaign to undermine public education.

The man is a political whore of the worst sort, and should be exposed at every opportunity.

How the UFT Spends Dues Money

Check the ICE blog comments for the latest posts for some fun reading from the union's LM-2 report. Believe me, it's even worse than that.

Ethics (and the lack there of)

(For The Wave, June 13, 2008: www.rockawave.com)

by Norman Scott

Defining ethics can be more elusive than holding onto to a wet bar of soap, but one general view is it has to do with right and wrong. Some say there is no such thing as ethics. That right and wrong is based on your point of view. Or the majority point of view. Would this mean that if the majority of people decide to kill off the minority, they were acting ethically? Most people (sadly, not all) think genocide is not ethical. It seems that some things are obvious right and wrong, but when it comes to the NYC Department of Education under Joel Klein and his boss Michael Bloomberg, all bets are off.

The BloomKlein “regressive education reform” has more to do with the ideology of a corporate/privatization agenda than with kids.

I received a report that at a recent Panel for Educational Policy meeting (the monthly show for the public) parents and teachers were protesting the constant shoving of semi-private charter schools into public school space, the greatest land grab since the Nebraska territory was opened.

Joel Klein responded that he was concerned with all the children in NYC. What exactly does that mean? Screwing Peter to pay Paul? Causing more overcrowding in increasingly beleaguered public schools, while giving a charter in the same building frills and smaller class sizes? What he really means is he is concerned with his “let’s steal the public school system and put it in private hands” constituency.

A parent asked, somewhat naively, why charter schools were needed at all. Why couldn’t Klein do the same thing in public schools? Not having a real answer, he again talked about his concern for all kids.

At this point, Manhattan borough PEP rep Patrick Sullivan said, “Isn’t your support for charters an admission of failure since you have had control of the public schools for six years?” Duhh!! Somehow, this is a point the NY Times doesn’t get. Or doesn’t want to get. My correspondent said that Klein had as sick a look on his face as she’d seen. The walls are closing in. Once they are gone, oh, the stuff that will come out.

Five years ago, I spoke at one of the early contentious meetings Klein was holding and said that the school systems of Baghdad and Kabul would recover sooner than NYC public schools after the BloomKlein terror. Maybe we should add western China to the list.

Klein wants to expand teacher bonus pay by 20% while school budgets are cut
Tweed wants to use $25 M of public funds to expand the program from 230 to 270 schools, which was privately funded. Bonuses are based on the same formula that led to the ridiculous school grading system, almost completely dependent on one year’s gains or losses in scores. Since the program has not yet been evaluated, one would think you would wait to see the results. But when the agenda is ideological and self-serving, why wait for results? Ahhh, ethics.

Speaking of which –
“Randi Weingarten said the bonus program was meant to encourage collaboration between teachers and administrators, not to improve teacher quality.” – NY Sun. This one has to go on Letterman's Top Ten funniest list of Randiisms.

The Sun reported that Weingarten...Was a partner to the city in conceiving the program last year. … she said that, given the proposed budget cuts, the bonus-pay program falls into the category of an extra that should not be expanded if it means less money will go to core services. "I like this program. I wanted it," Ms. Weingarten said. "But not at the expense of cutting schools."

Asking the ethical question - Well, Randi, if it is at the expense of the schools now, why wasn't it at the expense of the schools before?

One of the thousands of DOE spokespersons said:
...The program was a clear example of one of the Contracts for Excellence categories: improving teacher performance.

The code words "improve teacher performance” really mean “raise test scores by hook or crook so we can claim we had a major impact on closing the achievement gap and we can use that to advance our political careers." The real “expense” to the schools, teachers, students, and parents is the attempt to bribe teachers into putting their entire focus on high scores on one or two tests, to the detriment of the rest of the educational process.

Can't you see the thought flashing through teachers' minds: Gee! For the extra 3 grand, I'll REALLY teach. The entire process is an insult to teachers, but the UFT wore its (lack of) ethics on its sleeve in supporting the program.

The teachers at each school get to vote on the program and the UFT pushed hard to get them to say “Yes,” though miraculously, over 30 schools said “No.” Klein has urged school committees to give out bonuses according to the size of test-score gains made by each teacher's students, rather than equal distribution. Teach gym or library or computers or science? Sorry folks, out-a-luck. Until there’s a test. How about a bonus to a gym teacher for every kid who can finish a race?

If you want to read more on how attaching high stakes to test scores make the results highly suspect – check this blog by Steve Koss (http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2007/12/campbells-law-no-its-not-soup.html) where he says, “the more you base decisions like promotions, firings, or bonuses on a particular number or set of numbers, the more likely it is people will either cheat or otherwise try to game the system.”

What should Randi Weingarten's response have been?
Dear Joel,
Since you insist on playing games with the budget, we are joining ICE, TJC, Teachers Unite, Justice Not Just Tests, NYCORE, Time Out for Testing and other educational groups around the city in urging UFT members on the compensation committees in all 270 schools to reject the bonus pay plan in the future and use the money saved towards reducing the cuts you are imposing on the schools despite a large budget surplus.
Your (ex) pal
Randi

Ahhh! Just a dream on a hot summer day!

Los Angeles teachers march during first period; UFT Does a Survey
Ninety percent of the teachers in LA spent the first period on June 6 marching around 900 schools while in New York the UFT called a secret meeting of chapter leaders on June 9 to hand out surveys for teachers to fill out rating Joel Klein’s performance. I’m not opposed to doing this since it will show Klein has basically zero support from the very people who are expected to implement his programs. But with BloomKlein being lame ducks, this is merely another public relations gimmick to make teachers and the public think the UFT is really doing something. It will have zero impact.

Does something strike you odd about the vast difference in union activism between the left and right coasts? Some think it’s the teachers. I think it is the union leadership.

Nominate Tweed's greatest foul-ups!
Famed educational historian Diane Ravitch has been a major voice in exposing the BloomKlein follies. She is holding court over at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com where Diane says:

Six years into mayoral control, it is time for an accounting. For the sake of history and memory, can we begin to compile a Directory of Tweed's Greatest Foul-Ups? Parents and others; please contribute your nominees for this distinction by posting them on the comment section of this blog. The decision of the judge will be final.

So many to choose from, so little time. Oodles of them are posted on my blog where I write this kind of crap every day.
Got some ed news? norsmco@gmail.com
Blog: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Results from Principal Survey relevant to the heat wave

In our recent principal survey, 38% of principals said their schools lacked sufficient electrical power, and many commented on the need for more air-conditioning.

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.

Clearly these would lead to unbearable conditions given today’s temperatures.

492 principals completed our survey in full -- representing more than one third of all NYC public school principals. Their schools contain about 350,000 students or 37% of our total public school population.

For the results in full, please go to http://www.classsizematters.org/principalsurveyresults.html

Leonie Haimson