KIPP is the way the white and powerful want the poor of color to be educated — A Question for Obama: Why Does KIPP Not Look Like Sidwell?

The achievement gap has left the stadium, ladies and gentlemen, while growth models have taken the stage.  Now that the urban school systems have been blown up, thus clearing the way for the corporate charterites,  the canyon between test scores of the rich and poor is no longer of interest.  Indeed, the achievement gap has become a "mindless measure," to use the words of Jay Mathews.
....Jim Horn 

KIPP is the way the white and powerful want the poor of color to be educated... Ira Socol

This stuff is so good, I've delayed leaving for the beach to get it out there. Jim Horn put up a scathing piece the other day, including videos, at Schools Matter and followed up today. He delves into the shifting vocabulary from closing the achievement gap to the current quality teaching/value added craze and explains it this way:

this new value-added universe is not even interested in those troublesome group comparisons any longer that are based on the poverty chasm. Unless, of course, the reformers need to shut down your neighborhood school and turn it into a corporate-styled testing madrasah, i. e., charter school. Then your percentile ranking becomes a crucial tool in deciding who is in that bottom five percent that just keeps replenishing itself as the last group is scraped off to become charterized.

Jim nails exactly what the Tweed yokels are trying to pull off with their road show explaining the test score gap. Oh my God. This stuff is getting me hot. Screw the beach. Here is a section from Jim's Sept. 1 post:

Below is an open online letter from Ira Socol to the President.  I have ventured to add a few comments and a couple of video clips.

Dear President Obama,

I wanted to discuss the things you believe are "innovative in education," just so I might assure you that in this field - in the field of America's future - your administration is doing irreparable harm.

 "Students at both KIPP and Achievement First schools follow a system for classroom behavior invented by Levin and Feinberg called Slant, which instructs them to sit up, listen, ask questions, nod and track the speaker with their eyes." Yes, the first thing KIPP teaches is Calvinist church behaviour. "They all called out at once, “Nodding!"' Yes. Stare at your master. Sit still. Nod to demonstrate your compliance. Speak in unison according to the script.

Mr. President, this is not innovation. We know this formula. It drove the colonialist education systems of Wales and Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was the hallmark of British Colonial Schools from Lagos to Cape Town to Delhi. It was the path followed by the U.S. government's Indian Schools.

Read the entire piece at Schools Matter: Why Does KIPP Not Look Like Sidwell?

In today's excellent follow-up responding to Jay Mathews, including this:

Jay and the the new generation of reformers doing the same thing as the last generation (when will they become the status quo?) would rather look at test score growth over time, especially when big achievement gap closing claims by your favorite politicians do not materialize. Focusing on individual gains makes the disparity between the haves and the have-nots much easier to ignore, since this new value-added universe is not even interested in those troublesome group comparisons any longer that are based on the poverty chasm. Unless, of course, the reformers need to shut down your neighborhood school and turn it into a corporate-styled testing madrasah, i. e., charter school. Then your percentile ranking becomes a crucial tool in deciding who is in that bottom five percent that just keeps replenishing itself as the last group is scraped off to become charterized.

The New Status Quo
I love the "when will they become the status quo" line? We have been having fun with this idea here in NY by referring to BloomKlein in just that way. As a matter of fact, we have been forming a group to do street theater called "The Status Quo Players." Even thinking of tee-shirts. How's this? STATUS and QUO shirts with an arrow pointing to the left saying "I'm with QUO"? Here is the intro to Jim's piece today:

"Irrepressible" Bloggers vs. the Borg

Jay Mathews is the insider's insider on corporate education reform issues, serving as the media mouthpiece for the psychological sterilization movement of KIPP and the KIPP knock-offs.  The Elder himself, Bill Gates, carries a supply of Jay's KIPP book to hand out to anyone interested in the Oligarchs' choice of a final solution to educating the poor and the brown of urban America.

At the same time KIPP is becoming the urban model for corporate ed reform, the movement is in the process of pivoting from the the phony campaign under Bush ostensibly to close the black-white achievement gap, with the same high expectations for all, thus avoiding "the soft bigotry of low expectations," blah-blah, to a new phony campaign of assuring that poor children have the same access to high quality teachers and schools because education is now the "civil rights issue of our generation."  Blah, blah, blah.  While the pivot leaves in place the high-stakes standardized testing that declared 30-40 percent of public schools failures and charter targets under the last 9 years of NCLB,  the pivot demands a shift in what is measured by the tests and how it is measured.  The achievement gap has left the stadium, ladies and gentlemen, while growth models have taken the stage.  Now that the urban school systems have been blown up, thus clearing the way for the corporate charterites

The focus now is on "a year's worth of individual student growth" for a year's worth of teaching (much more on this later, with a feature on the Wizard of Oz, Bill Sanders).  In short, the new target of corporate ed reform is to blow up, or disrupt, the teaching profession by measuring effective teaching on how much test score growth a teacher can oversee.  And as the new CEO-led KIPP chain gangs are to replace urban public schools, so then an endless stream of non-union white missionary temps are being prepared to replace the professionals who now staff the urban schools.  Test score gains, or lack thereof, will be used to justify the firing of professionals and the use of temps from TFA and the TFA knock-offs that Arne fondly calls alternative teacher certification programs.

So Jay defends KIPP - of course. Discipline is exaggerated. Ira Socol left comments on Mathews' blog, to which Mathews responded. Here are a few excerpts but head over to the piece when you are through here to read it all.

So yes Jay, I have been in KIPP schools...I have been in KIPP schools (3) and - personally - I have found them terrifying.

But more than that Jay, I have some really extensive experience in the types of communities KIPP seeks to serve. I know these kids, and I know what they could do if they were offered the kind of educational opportunities available at Sidwell (or Cranbrook, or St. Ann's or etc).

And I know one more thing. Barack and Michelle would never send their daughters to a KIPP school, nor tolerate KIPP-style education in any school their daughters attended. As I've said, KIPP is the way the white and powerful want the poor of color to be educated. But they aren't suggesting it because that's a path to equality. They are suggesting it for just the opposite reason - they don't want the competition for their own children. 

What concerned me? An absolute lack of tolerance for mental, learning, and behavioural diversity, in classroom after classroom, corridor after corridor. Of course I come from a Special Education background, so this was far more disturbing than it might be to others. I also found the brutality of teacher-student, and especially in Indianapolis, administrator-student communication fairly shocking. If you would send your grandchildren there, you're a different kind of parent than I am.

In Chicago I saw a young teacher working one-on-one with a series of students who needed reading help. A few things stood out. The students who came to him were all, quite obviously, struggling with different aspects of the reading process. One had essentially no phonological awareness, one was really struggling with the symbols (he could not, as an example, associate the lower case letters with the equivalent upper case letters), a third read fluently but with almost zero comprehension.

The teacher, very clearly untrained in any of this, repeated the same efforts with all the kids. He was clearly operating from a script. And as his efforts inevitably failed, he became angry with the students, repeatedly blaming them for "not trying hard enough." The child with no phonological awareness was called "lazy" repeatedly. KIPP only phenomenon? Of course not, but I saw similar scenes throughout all the buildings.

in KIPP classrooms I have seen teachers encourage children to humiliate others. And this is done with the "pack" using the same words, as if scripted. You may see that as positive, I see it as hazing, and perhaps a significant reason for KIPP's rather stunning attrition rate. http://epicpolicy.org/newsletter/2010/06/new-kipp-study-underestimates-attrition-effects-0 A rate the KIPP Foundation seems to go to great lengths to obscure. 

I could go on but I'm getting giddy. Read more here:

"Irrepressible" Bloggers vs. the Borg

Lois Weiner and Karen Lewis on Democracy Now as Educators Push Back Against Obama’s "Business Model" for School Reforms

People have gotten to know about Karen Lewis (the winner the GEM award in the upcoming GEM newsletter). But not enough people know about Lois Weiner (see tab on her in the heading). Lois has taught us all about the neo-liberal agenda. Putting these two together is brilliant. See the video.

Here Karen takes apart Arnie (he's be arrested if he tried to teach because he is not credentialed) and because he doesn't know what to do - see her great impression of Arne - he says let someone else - the privatizers - do it.

Lois looks at the global aspect of the market based deforms. And talks about the national impact of the CORE victory in Chicago. And she gives a shout out to our pals in Teachers Unite.

Educators Push Back Against Obama’s "Business Model" for School Reforms

It’s back-to-school season. As millions of children around the country begin a new school year, the Obama administration is aggressively moving forward on a number of education initiatives, from expanding charter schools to implementing new national academic standards. We talk to Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Lois Weiner, a professor of education at New Jersey City University. [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business

See transcript at Norms Notes.  Lois Weiner and Karen Lewis Democracy Now Transcript

New York Charter Parents Association endorses Bill Perkins for State Senator

Contact Information:
Mona Davids Phone: 646-912-4794
President Email: mdavids@nycharterparents.org



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


New York Charter Parents Association endorses Bill Perkins for State Senator

August 23, 2010, New York, NY----- The New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA), the first and only independent charter parent association in New York City and New York State, today proudly endorses State Senator Bill Perkins for re-election representing the 30th District.

“Bill Perkins showed the courage to stand up for parents and do what is right, without worrying about the political consequences,” said Mona Davids, founder and President of NYCPA. “All the money, attacks and threats of a challenger, funded by the charter school lobby and hedge fund millionaires, did not sway him from standing up for us. At NYCPA’s request, Senator Perkins convened the first hearings on charter schools in their 10 year existence in New York State that exposed many of the questionable practices of charter school administrators that were violating the rights of NYC children and their parents.

“It is only because of Senator Perkins that we now have charter reform with increased transparency and accountability. Senator Perkins committed what many people called political suicide, putting his political career on the line, to fight for the rights of charter parents, enhanced transparency, financial accountability and real educational reform. Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson and Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, Chair of the Education Committee, both commended Senator Perkins for his courage and credited Senator Perkins for his role in passing the new revised charter law that includes much needed charter reforms with the lifting of the charter cap.”

Mariama Sanoh, Vice President of NYCPA, and a charter school parent added, “Bill Perkins listened to the cries of charter parents whose children were being pushed out and counseled out of charter schools. He stood up for us and agreed to help us fight for our right to have parent associations in our schools, to include special needs children and English Language Learners in charters, to require that charters have monthly board meetings and to notify parents and the community of the meetings. He stood up for us and now we are standing up for him.”

Said Mona Davids, “We support Senator Bill Perkins because he is not anti-charter, but for protecting the rights of parents wherever they choose to enroll their children, whether at district or charter schools. Senator Perkins proved to us that he is not bought and paid for by the charter school lobby and we trust that he will always put parents and children first.”



About NYCPA
New York Charter Parents Association is a nonprofit organization founded to advocate for families with children in the New York State public school system - both public charter and public district schools seeking public school choice. We are the FIRST AND ONLY independent charter parent organization in New York City and New York State. We are "OF THE PARENTS, FOR THE PARENTS AND BY THE PARENTS". We are not controlled by the charter center, NYC Department of Education or any charter school therefore we put our children first before any special interest group.

UFT Will Ensure Class Size Limits Are Followed

From UFT Chapter Update:

Based on your reports, the UFT will be using the expedited grievance procedure in the contract to ensure that our class size limits are enforced.

It sure is good the UFT is doing this. I seem to remember the chapter leader at Francis Lewis HS filing 65 or more over size grievances last year. Even won most. DOE ignored many of the "wins." UFT response?_____

With the UFT "ensure" means they'll provide you the energy drink so you can handle all the extra kids.

Related: Class Sizes Rise: Will the NY Times likely notice what’s going on in their backyard?

Political Retaliation Against Teachers by Ed Deformers Like Klein and Rhee Deform Their Supposed Agenda of Improving Quality Teaching

"This is another example of the Rhee administration’s petty, personal retaliation against teachers who are not members of the Rhee/Fenty inner circle — retaliation that has nothing to do with the competence and ability of teachers." - Gary Imhoff, in TheMail.

From the earliest days of the PEP meetings I raised this issue that even one example of teachers being punished for political reasons that have nothing to do with their teaching taints attempts to remove truly poor teachers. Joel Klein of course has done nothing but support the most awful principals from hell (PFHs) no matter what the evidence.

I think the first case we (Betsy Combier) raised was that of Dr. Bob Drake, a chemistry teacher at Bronx HS of Science who was fired by PFH Valerie Reidy because he objected to her using "Dr." before her title since she was not a phd. Of course Klein ignored the case. Drake by the way was hired by other systems in top performing schools in the suburbs since then at much higher salary than he was getting here.

Reidy meanwhile continued her vendettas - most notably within the math department where 20 teachers filed a complaint against her and she had a top level math teacher and chapter leader U-rated -twice. He has since transferred with UFT assistance - which looks like a good thing on the surface but also shows how the UFT allows its chapter leaders to be eaten - which undermines the union at its core.

By the way, I am convinced that part of the core curriculum at the Leadership Principal training academies is how to defang and destroy union reps or activists.

But political vendettas by principals under the guise of going after bad teachers is another story the ed press ignores. Where is that value added for bad reporting?

Of course Michelle Rhee who talks a big game also has her political vendettas in DC.

Today Gary Imhoff in TheMail has this piece.

Many of you are familiar with Wilson High School history teacher Erich Martel, or at least with his past battles to improve public education in DC and specifically at Wilson. Now he has been reassigned to a technology high school by DCPS’s administrators, motivated by the complaints of a principal who was upset by Martel’s fight to keep the school’s administration honest and accountable (see Bill Turque’s blog, http://tinyurl.com/28tnrbz, and the front-page article in the September 1 issue of the Northwest Current, http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/NW Sept. 1 1.pdf). This is another example of the Rhee administration’s petty, personal retaliation against teachers who are not members of the Rhee/Fenty inner circle — retaliation that has nothing to do with the competence and ability of teachers. See a lot more about this in Martel’s message in this issue and in the links from his message.

Yes, Bill Turque is one ed reporter who must have a high value added, as does WAPO's Valerie Strauss.
Here is Erich Martel's

Open Letter to Chancellor Michelle Rhee

Erich Martel, ehmartel@starpower.net

[This letter and its attachments are a “protected disclosure” (DC Code 1-615.51).] I am outraged that you would permit Instructional Superintendent John Davis to involuntarily transfer me from Woodrow Wilson H.S. to an off-budget assignment at Phelps ACE H.S. (http://www.dcpswatch.com/martel/100730.htm) on transparently fabricated grounds of my “significant educational philosophy differences with the Wilson H.S. administration” and then to besmirch my decades-long commitment and contributions to students and colleagues at Wilson H.S. and throughout DCPS by affirming that action as being “in the best interests of DCPS.”

The involuntary transfer came after I sent several “protected disclosures” (DC Code 1-615.51) describing mismanagement and other violations at Wilson H.S. to Ms. Henderson, to Mr. Davis, and to you and which I made for the purpose of correction. Each one described actions by one or more members of the Wilson H.S. administration that undermined the learning environment at Wilson H.S. The action by Mr. Davis is, therefore, an act of retaliation, as defined by law. (My reports were in compliance with the DC Whistleblower Reinforcement Act, which Chancellor Rhee E-mailed all principals and teachers on April 29, 2009, to inform us of our responsibility to report waste, fraud, and mismanagement the DC Office of the Inspector General.)

In this report, I am making requests and reporting additional violations: fraud, cronyism, and serious allegations of improper behavior by DCPS employees and abdication of their responsibilities for supervising 88 students on a class trip. Everything I am reporting would not have happened, if Mr. Cahall held his subordinates accountable, if Mr. Davis held Mr. Cahall accountable, if you and Ms. Henderson held Mr. Davis accountable, and if Mayor Fenty held you accountable. At Wilson H.S., that failure has resulted in cronyism and private arrangements that have had a depressing effect on student learning and a chilling effect on teacher morale.

Our school has one of the most accomplished and dedicated faculties in the city; yet fundamental academic decisions are made behind closed doors by an inner circle with little or no classroom experience. The results show on DC CAS, SAT, and AP results. [Finished online at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-09-01.htm#martel] 

More GEM Video From August 30 PEP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roSDxs16NPU

Carol Boyd Does Poetry at the PEP

I was asked bY CEJ to extract this video. More to come tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzrsxfe3sY8

TAGNYC Has Advice for Reassignment Personnel Awaiting Word of Assignment from the DOE

Teachers, Counselors, Other Affected UFT Personnel:

Some Reassigned Personnel have received emails from the DOE telling them to report to a central location. Many others have yet to be contacted.

The DOE has our information. However, should you not receive notification by September 7th, TAGNYC advises to report to 65 Court Street in Brooklyn (Borough Hall stop on the Lexington Avenue line)or to any DOE Human Resource location in your borough if one exists. Or report to the DOE Administrative Offices in Long Island City (address below). Demand to speak to a Human Resource person and demand to sign in. Stay at that location and call the Union and tell them you have reported to duty and give your location. Be sure to get the UFT person's name. If you are going to 65 Court Street (meaning you have not heard by late September 6th, we would appreciate being advised so we can let others know we will have company.

The UFT is powerless to get the DOE to move any faster than it wants to or is able to. An email to the UFT will serve only to document that you contacted the UFT.

Below is a copy of a letter an email received by a Reassigned Person.

TAGNYC

I also received an email from Support HR at 1:38 pm today. Part of the email says as follows:

On 9/7/2010 12:00:00 PM, you must report to the following location for details and information on your new assignment.

DOE Administrative Offices
45-18 Court Square
Long Island City, NY 11101

At that time, you will be met by staff handling reassignments and will be given specific information about the exact location to which you will report, the assignment and the supervisor.

Please bring with you a valid picture identification (either DOE ID card or other government issued ID). Any questions concerning your reassignment will be addressed at this meeting.

Please bring a printout of this email with you.

VALUE-ADDED ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT QUALITY RUBRIC

See NY Times piece by Sam Dillon on value added.

By the way, can we see value added results from education reporters?
Do they get demerits when they misreport stories constantly?

From Susan Ohanian: http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=831

VALUE-ADDED ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT QUALITY RUBRIC

Publication Date: 2010-08-25

By NYC Teacher: 

Name Withheld Due To Concern About Potential For Intimidation, Harrassment, and Capricious....

 

How about rubric tit-for-tat? Surely, as leaders of the building, administrators will appreciate feedback. 

Professional Evaluation Standards Value-Added to Teacher by Administration The evaluator actively engages the teacher through ongoing professional dialogue and practical observation, focuses on the diverse needs of specific students, inquires about teacher's perception of his/her support needs, professional background, student baseline performance, efficacy of current teaching practices, prior training, and utilizes this information to address specific goals that are objectively achievable, and supported by the professional teaching knowledge base. The evaluator models recommended practices. Support of Teacher Knowledge And Use Of Curriculum [expected value-added = 15 points] Support of Teacher Knowledge And Use Of Methodology [expected value-added = 15 points] Support of Teacher Knowledge And Use Of Assessment [expected value-added = 15 points] Support of Teacher Knowledge And Use Of Interpersonal Skills [expected value-added = 15 points] Evaluation Quality Indicators Engages In Ongoing Prof. Dialogue = 2 Addresses Student Diversity = 2 Addresses Teacher Support Needs =2 Accounts For Student Baseline Performance = 2 Understands Teacher’s Current Practices = 2 Models Sugg. Practices, Where Appropriate = 1 Connects Goals To Prof. Knowledge-Base = 2 Goals Are Objectively Achievable = 2 Evidence:______________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Evidence:__________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Evidence:__________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Evidence:__________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ This report will remain on file, alongside its corresponding teacher evaluation, in the event that the teacher evaluation is used to make high-stakes decisions regarding my professional standing with this organization. ____________________Signature ____________________Homeland Security Witness

PEP Boys and Girls: First Reactions

I know I'm a bit late with this but I had to get some serious beach time in today. And then out to dinner. And then the Yankee game. 

Here are some reactions to the PEP meeting of August 30 to makeup for the disrupted one of Aug. 16. There were various groups there and some parents and teachers blew bubbles and launched balloons during the fuzzy math presentation. I will have my own report tomorrow after the video is processed.

Lower East Side parent activist Lisa Donlan talks about the Tweed spin:

And what of the years of the crowing and spinning and lying that Klein and his mouthpieces have done in the media and political mailers over this false bubble of smoke and mirrors progress?

Let's collect all of the quotes where he (and the Mayor who appointed him) take credit for the increase in scores, and claim these as evidence of the improvements they (and mayoral control) have brought to the "old' supposedly corrupt and dysfunctional system before these miracle workers came to show NYC AND THE REST OF THE NATION AND THE WORLD how its done.

Did we tell them so?
Oh yes- we did.
So the "we did not know", "it is the state's fault" excuses are not valid.

Don't forget the exchange for autocratic mayoral control was supposed to be accountability.

Who is accountable in NYC?

When will these guys stop excusing themselves- with "this takes time"? "give us time" " we have further to go" ?

8 years and counting and no evidence of improvement or progress?

Yet they close schools, fire teachers, make kids repeat grades, give out bonuses, open unproven charters and new small schools (to the detriment of the nearby schools) on much less data, over much shorter windows.

A child who started in First grade in 2003 when Klein imposed his (first of many) visions on our schools is in 8th grade now.

Can we give those children " more time"? Can we "push them to reach a higher standard"?

If they are not just liars and fakes, if they mean a single word of what they say, they will resign immediately, admitting failure and corruption and dysfunction.

Failure to own up to this debacle is proof to me that this whole "reform" is not a sincere effort to change the conditions of children in our poorest communities. It is a mere power grab and co option of a large public budget for political aims.

They have shown that this is really about adults and what is good for them!

A teacher responds:

Preach it lisa. If bloomklein hadn't used test scores to justify ramming their agenda of closings, charters, and accountability down our throats it would be a lot easier to simplify the testing issue. The truth is they knew those numbers were an illusion and they manipulated the public using that faulty data to promote their free market ideology at the expense of our children. (While cutting budgets, narrowing the curriculum, attacking teachers, restructuring how many times, and expanding the top brass positions at the doe... Criminal!)

Lisa Donlan then says:

And just last night at the PEP Shael Suransky the latest Accountability Czar dared to justify the last 8 years of mayoral control and the test score debacle because "the old school boards used to steal from district budgets".

Can someone please run a comparison:  old school board scandals- net worth from 1995-2002 vs: DoE's no bid contracts, sweetheart deals, theft,  corruption,  Conflict of Interest, double dipping and hidden or untraceable budget line items from 2003- 2010?

I bet the money handed over to Harcourt Brace, CBT McGraw and IBM for Aris, standardized tests,  test prep material , interim tests in that period far outstrips any printing deals to relatives  or old school pianos that were taken home,  etc

Lots of familiar elements here, including conflict-ridden board and principal once hailed as a "Champion of Children" apparently absconding with millions.

I was pretty pissed when Shuransky made his low ball comment about districts steaing in the old days. Of course there was theft but as Lisa points out it was penny ante stuff compared to the BloomKlein big time crooks. Lisa was responding to this story:

L.A. Unified moves to close charter school over alleged misuse of $2.7 million

An audit finds that the founding principal at NEW Academy Canoga Park allegedly misused or misappropriated money, depositing funds into an Ameritrade account and claiming payments to a nonexistent company.

Read: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charter-20100831,0,3493919.story

Here is NY1's Lindsay Christ's story and video of the PEP meeting:

Parents, DOE Go Head-To-Head Over Test Scores

By: Lindsey Christ

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/124669/parents--doe-go-head-to-head-over-test-scores/

Communication broke down Monday during a meeting that was supposed to allow parents and school officials to share opinions on state test scores. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
On Monday night, the Department of Education was prepared to hear from angry parents --- and there were plenty.
The meeting, held on Manhattan's Upper West Side, started quietly, as DOE officials explained that the state raised the bar for proficiency this year, which is why so many fewer city students passed. But when the public comment period began, the auditorium got louder. Forty people signed up for two minutes at the microphone, and they were angry.
"Real harm has been caused. Testing-Gate has caused harm to students, parents and tax payers," said David Bloomfield of the College of Staten Island.
"Pretty much we feel that we've been lied to in terms of the score of the test. They were saying that we had a higher score and then we find out that isn't true and a lot of schools have been closed because of that," said parent Elbibio Molina.
This was the second time the DOE had tried to address this issue. The first time, two weeks ago, angry parents shut down the meeting when the panel refused to even consider a motion to hear public comment.
Only half the panel members showed up for the rescheduled meeting Monday and parents said that was another indication of how little their voices are heard. By the time Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and his deputies spoke, parents shouted over them, walked out en masse, and turned their backs to the stage. In the end, both officials and audience members claimed the other side just wouldn't listen.
DOE officials say students have still made progress even though according to the new standards, many fewer students are proficient. But parents who attended the meeting say they want a better explanation for the lower scores.

Where the UFT Money Honey Flows

This email dropped in from an anonymous source soon after our earlier post -
UFT/Unity Machine Facing Cuts? Why Not Just Raise Dues So They Can Continue to Live in Style?

Follow the UFT’s Money 

by He/She Who knows Too Much

Anna Phillips’s story on today’s Gothamschools.org about shrinking UFT dues is wrong. We have 36,000 brand new members--the health home care providers! What’s happpening with that dues money?

Meantime, here are my recommendations for curbing the UFT’s elite socialist paradise and capping its unconscionable dollar leaks:

►Rent out the 40 parking spots in the UFT building instead of rewarding Mulgrew's pampered class who park for free instead of being with the great unwashed on the subways and buses.

►Cut back on the consultant contract with Glover Park, whose partner is Howard Wolfson, Bloomberg's deputy mayor. Remember the mayor, the guy who wants to destroy public education in New York?

 ►No more open bars at chapter leader weekends, thus saving $30,000 per weekend.

 ►Force Mulgrew meet his deadline for reading every word in the New York  Teacher. His delays cost the union tens of thousands in extra printing and mailing costs.

►Pay cuts to $100,000 for everyone who earns over $100,000, the top teacher salary. CFO David Hickey makes $205,000 a year. (You can check everyone's top pay at ICEUFT.

 ►No more expense accounts for Hickey to travel to Coney Island to hang out with Mulgrew at the Cyclones ballpark to "throw out the first pitch." (N.B., Mulgrew keeps striking out when trying to get us a raise).

►Make sure the cut in hours is across the board and not fall on the mainly black and  Hispanic support staff, most of whom make around $30,000 while whites makes triple and quadruple that sum.

 ►Reduce TV and radio ads--one million bucks--which do nothing but promote Mulgrew.

 more to come. 

From the ICE blog side panel (top).

UFT Reports Filed With Labor Deparment

Each year our union is required to file UFT employee salaries, membership, and disbursements reports. The form, called an LM2, is available here. These reports were prepared on December 30, 2009 and reflect transaction for the year ending July 31, 2009.

UFT/Unity Machine Facing Cuts? Why Not Just Raise Dues So They Can Continue to Live in Style?

Anna Philips at Gotham has an interesting report on the loss of 2000 UFT members and how it is causing the UFT to cut back.

The bags of swag at the city teachers union’s regular conferences might be lighter this year, the catered dinners less lavish. The recession has caught up with the union and it’s beginning to cut back.
Hit with the combination of a two-year hiring freeze and typical teacher attrition, the United Federation of Teachers has lost roughly 2,000 members in the last year. With them has gone about $2 million in dues.

As usual, some of the comments are fun to read. NYC Educator nails the 800+ Unity junket to Seattle. I left my own dropping:

With the lifting of the charter school cap watch for the UFT to lose more members to charters. And with the cuts coming see if Unity still offers perks - like those elaborate chapter leaders training weekend sessions in Princeton - a major area of recruitment into Unity.

It was over 800 people sent to Seattle. They took staff and had guests. They each received around $1750- $2000 to cover expenses. A hundred dollars a day in meal money - and there were so many free vendor parties and meals we who paid our own way didn’t have to spend all that much on food.

And watch those yearly NYSUT conventions where the same 800 get to play - this past April they went to Wash DC. Even when they hold it at the Hilton in NYC all 800 get to stay at the hotel on our dime.
And David Hickey - the LM-2 UFT reports lists his whopper salary.

Check how many UFT staffers make over $150,000.
Would it surprise anyone to see them try to sneak through a dues increase at the rubber stamp delegate assembly?

Is Obama Toast? Is Hillary Waiting in the Wings?

Last Update: Tues. Aug. 31, 10am.

When Obama was elected we posed the question: Would he be a Herbert Hoover or an FDR? Well, now that this question has been answered, the next question is: Will he be a Herbert Hoover or an LBJ?

I know a lot of people are comparing Obama to Jimmy Carter - a sitting president who lost in a re-election bid as opposed to LBJ, a sitting president who chose not to run.

Carter, who I have a lot more respect for than most people do (his energy policies), was caught in the midst of the gas crisis, the Iran revolution/hostage situation, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which many think was the nail in the coffin for the Soviet Empire. Hmmmmm, serious irony here in that under Reagan, the Taliban and Bin-Laden were enabled in the cause of defeating the Soviets.

So let's look at the deterioration of Obama support to the extent that it looks like he has no chance to be re-elected. And I should remind you that he only won with 53% against a weak, under financed candidate saddled with at the time a nincompoop VP candidate running for a party that had destroyed the American economy in the midst of two horrendous wars.

The economy, stupid
We have a double dip recession or even a great depression coming. Remember that the 1929 crash was a precursor to the real heavy stuff that came in 1932. So in essence we are somewhere in 1931. As a student of history who studied the Great Depression I was always worried about another one but felt the laws put in place in the 30's would protect us. Naturally, they stripped them all away in the 90's - yes, Clinton helped it along.

I've always felt deflation is a real threat and even a few months ago when I brought it up in family discussions with my wife's family - a polite term for screaming all out wars - they laughed. Yet, you hear the word being mentioned more and more, especially by Paul Krugman. See his July column The Third Depression.

Keep in mind, if not for the financial crisis that broke a few months before the election Obama may not have won or if he did, it would have been by a hair. By 2012 it will be Katy Bar the Door time.

Political gridlock - total inability to address the issues
Today Krugman, a Nobel prize winning economist who always manages to convince me, does politics. In "It's Witch-Hunt Season"  he truly takes apart the Republican game plan - no matter who the Democratic president is. He reminds us of the endless waste of time over White water and blue dresses. But he points out in the 90's the economy was humming. When the same thing happens after the Republicans take power in the House and or Senate and investigate everything Obama does, including whether he uses too much toilet paper, we will be in beyond gridlock territory.

So what will happen if, as expected, Republicans win control of the House? We already know part of the answer: Politico reports that they’re gearing up for a repeat performance of the 1990s, with a “wave of committee investigations” — several of them over supposed scandals that we already know are completely phony. We can expect the G.O.P. to play chicken over the federal budget, too; I’d put even odds on a 1995-type government shutdown sometime over the next couple of years.

It will be an ugly scene, and it will be dangerous, too. The 1990s were a time of peace and prosperity; this is a time of neither. In particular, we’re still suffering the after-effects of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, and we can’t afford to have a federal government paralyzed by an opposition with no interest in helping the president govern. But that’s what we’re likely to get.

If I were President Obama, I’d be doing all I could to head off this prospect, offering some major new initiatives on the economic front in particular, if only to shake up the political dynamic. But my guess is that the president will continue to play it safe, all the way into catastrophe.

Organizing ability now goes to the right
And let's not forget the ability of the Republicans and far outers to organize their base through the tea party movement. Thus, the vaunted Obama organizing has been copied and trumped by the right while his organization has been dissipating. They claim they are using the Aulinsky tactics of the left to disrupt and take control of meetings and the political process. They are certainly outflanking the center and left in every way.

A perfect storm
Obama is facing a perfect storm. Bad economy and possible depression (Hoover). Bad war (LBJ). Republican constant assault (Clinton). The gulf disaster. Plus these factors:

Alienation of Obama base
Add alienation of his own base, especially rank & file teachers, who I predict will be extremely reluctant to drag themselves out to actively support Obama (they may vote for him reluctantly but won't go to Allentown, Pa. on a Sunday morning like I did in 2008) no matter how much their union leaders threaten them with Palin or Beck or whatever flotsam ends up being the 2012 Republican candidate. Reality Based Educator who blogs at Perdido Street School expresses the level of outage at Obama that the ed deform movement has engendered, though he goes much further when it comes to Obama economic policy.

Obama/Duncan Ed Deform Policy

When so many people on the ground in education condemn the RTTT policies with such vehemence, everyone who gets it - and these numbers are increasing daily - begin to question other Obama policies. If he can this so wrong on issues we know, what else is he screwing up. Economy? War? Environment? It becomes a laundry list of failing confidence. Notice how this is the one area that the Republicans are in total agreement with the Obama policy despite the fact that it imposes the feds on what has historically been local rights over school policies. Pretty hypocritical. Why aren't the tea parties screaming about this? Libertarians are more serving of anti-unionism than of some principal of local control when push comes to shove.

Wall Street/Financial Money Dries Up

Obama 's victory in 2008 was fueled by the financial disasters brought on by Bush which brought vast disaffected financial monies into the Obama camp. Much was made of the Obama campaign ability to outflank McCain. In 2010 and 2012 the situation will be reversed.

Loss of the Jews

In 2008, Jews supported Obama 70-30. Those numbers have been reversed, mainly due to the perception he is anti-Israel (which is totally untrue.) So Jewish money, organization and votes will desert Obama from now through 2012. Think Florida.

And then there is Afghanistan - and Iraq

Obama takes credit for leaving Iraq -which gets some support from the left. If Iraq totally blows up again and the 50,000 American troops still there start coming under assault of some kind, look for people to accuse him of going backwards

Afghanistan is bound to come undone and that is Obama's war. So think Tet Offensive in VietNam and its aftermath. Around March 1968 Johnson, realizing he can't win, announces he will not run in the 1968 elections and will instead work for peace.

Predictions

Given that just about everyone agrees that the midterms will be a disaster for Obama - just how bad is what is being discussed - and even Democrats are abandoning him - similar to what Republicans did with W in 2008 - Obama will be dealing with an ungovernable, vastly polarized nation where he will be helpless to take action.

Obama faces primary challenge, or pulls out altogether: Enter Hillary
As it becomes clear that under no circumstances - even with Palin as Republican candidate - can Obama win in 2012, pressure builds in the Democratic party for him to stand aside to save the country from Palin. If he refuses, look for a Eugene McCarthy type primary challenge to Obama from the left - or also someone from the Dem right. Who knows anymore?

At this point, people are pleading with Hillary Clinton to come in and save the party and the nation. Could she pull a Bobby Kennedy and actually enter the primary?

If all this happens, the concept that history repeats itself will be written on every lamp post in the nation.

After Burn

GEM's Angel Gonzalez is in Puerto Rico for the month and look at all the trouble he is causing. As  many of you may know, Angel's best pal is Puerto Rican teachers union president Rafael Feliciano and has been in the middle of the fray. Angel checks in with me every few days and he has loads of video, pics and reports on the strikes and job actions.

PEP Meeting: Stop Bloomberg test fraud Monday, August 30, 2010 - 5:30pm

Location: LaGuardia High School, Amsterdam Ave. btw W. 64th St. & W. 65th St.: A, B, C D trains to 59 St.-Columbus Cir. or #1 to 66 St.-Lincoln Ctr.; map http://bit.ly

Think the testing scandal is outrageous? Come out the PEP meeting on Monday! Let em' know!

What: PEP meeting
Where: LaGuardia High School, 65th and Amsterdam, A, B, C D trains to 59th or 1 to 66th.
When: Monday August 30th, 5:30.

Welcome back to another fun year of hard work and loud protests.

As everyone knows the DOE and Bloomberg were recently exposed for 8 years of out and out lying about the progress that NYC public school students have been making on standardized tests. We doubt that anyone on this list serve was surprised.

However the indignation and actions that have bubbled up (no pun intended) over the last few weeks in response have been exciting to see. At the August 16th PEP (panel for educational policy, the mayor's rubber stamp for his educational policies) the DOE presented an explanation of the test scores and hundreds of parents were not having it. They closed the meeting down. Watch below.

They are going to try to make their presentation again this coming Monday, August 30th. We are hoping for an even bigger turn out, especially of teachers, to let the panel and the DOE know that no one is buying their nonsense.

Please come if you can. Try to get in early and sit front and center.

Let's start this year off right!

NYCORE

Patrick Sullivan's comments at the last PEP meeting after the DOE presentation trying to explain the testing fiasco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_TGCwlaIYY [3]

Parents response after being denied the right to speak back to DOE's presentation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvnnzqC8lb4 [4]

In Spanish with English subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7vkvI3roc [5]

Join our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/NYCoRE [6]

Follow us on twitter: nycore3000

CPE Convention Thoughts

Aug. 29, 2010, 7am

Background info: Coalition for Public Education (CPE) Convention Sat. Aug. 28

It seems I just rolled in from the day's events yesterday and in a sense that is almost true. I decided to drive into Manhattan for some crazy reason and had loads of trouble finding a place to park. I almost gave up and pulled into a lot but luckily asked how much for the day. "$47," I was told and I pulled right back out. I finally found a spot on some place called Herbert St. and had a long walk back to Barclay St. for the convention. But what a pleasant walk along Greenwich St. on a wonderful sunny day, past numerous restaurants with sidewalk cafes.

I got to the DC 37 building around 11:30 while Assemblywoman Inez Barron (wife of Councilman Charles) was speaking. As usual she makes so much sense it makes your hair hurt. She was a teacher and principal and besides all her political insights I find her analysis of the curriculum that is being forced down teachers and students throats in Test Prep, USA very enlightening. Barron has a vision of how students should learn and how a school should work. I also loved what she said about discipline. Talking about some of the insane "gotcha" policies today, she said, "We did what we had to do," she said. "But first we made sure the parents were on board."

Bill Perkins makes an appearance 

Harlem State Senator Bill Pekins, who held hearings on the abuse of charter schools (I taped about 7 hours) and has become the leading target of charter schools, hedge fund millionaires and the NY Post, was there in the afternoon. They dug up someone named Basil Smickle to run against Perkins. Read my posts of last week on Smickle campaign contributions from hedgehog funders:

NY Post's Carl Campanile underestimated Smikle's charter lobby contributions
NY Post's Carl Campanile Discovers Dem Who Opposes Perkins, Ignores Hedge Contributions

Perkins is not popular in parts of Harlem for complex reasons, so he is not a shoo-in. And he does have flaws. But if he loses to Smickle no politician will stand up against the charter school lobby and Eva Moskowitz, who is using her charter school parents as shock troops against Perkins, will be the big winner.  So, if there is one campaign you contribute to make it Perkins. And if you have time, check in with his campaign and volunteer. Tired and busy - just think of Evil Moskowitz and Joel Klein gloating. Or just look at this picture - again and again. Some Perkins links: here and Mona Davids endorsement  and here. [I'll be doing more on the Perkins/Smickle race soon.)


There was mucho schmoozing going on all day. Some of the GEM film crew were there doing interviews for the film we are doing. I interviewed Sam Anderson of the CPE and Black Educators, who way too many people are not aware of. I don't know him personally and have only had limited contact with Sam but he is always so incredibly articulate and knowledgeable I can talk to him forever. But he had duties to take care of for the convention so we only had a brief interview. I am going to meet him in Brooklyn and he is going to give me a tour around the public school that is being closed and also the new charter school going up nearby to replace it.

Then I spoke to Harlem parent activist Bill Hargraves. See Bill in action leading a walkout at a Harlem Success Academy so-called public hearing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7bb1OrfbAE. Bill always drops loads of goodies.

Finally, I managed to corale Magnificent Mona Davids, the charter school parent activist who has been demanding parent rights. She had some important things to say. So much great footage, so little time. (Her endorsement of Perkins made news.)

I was on an afternoon panel with Leonie Haimson, Special ed parent activist Patricial Connelly and the legendary Jitu Weusi of 1968 strike fame (and beyond). This part of the CPE event will need a separate post.

Outside Schmooze
As often happens, the follow-up to these events often turns out as interesting as the event itself. A large group gathered outside towards the end - around 4:30 - and just kept chatting. It seems ed activist are so wrapped up they can't stop. Lots of fun talking about the security we will face at the upcoming PEP meeting on Monday night (at LaGuardia HS near Lincoln Center.)

We finally broke up and I was walking with 2 parent activists (who shall remain nameless). They said they were getting something to eat and I who can't miss a meal hogged my way in. It was around 5pm.

When we left the diner at 8PM we had laughed our way through salads and burgers and some fabulous sharing of info. Boy do I get gossip, but of course they would have to kill me if I spilled.

I wasn't through yet it seems. I got a call from my wife's 20-something cousins who were taking the ferry from New Jersey to meet some of their cousins in Chinatown. So after a long walk to my car, I spent a half hour stuck in traffic getting there. Luckily one of the parents came along so we could continue to plot - 3 hours just isn't enough, you know. I finally connected with my relatives around 9pm. Their 5 cousins from Florida, Long Island and Manhattan joined us.

So now I wsa surrounded by 7 twenty somethings with platter after platter of delicious food coming out. There were 2 teachers amongst them, one of them at a private school in Manhattan, so there was some ed talk, but mostly sports- thank goodness.

"Didn't you just eat," some of you might ask? Never stopped me - notice my belly when you see me. But at least I didn't join them at the follow-up half-nighter in a bar.

I rolled home at 11pm when my wife reminded me I had to go feed my friend's cat.

No matter how hard I tried, Oreo wouldn't discuss ed deform.

AFTER BURN
As always, there were a batch of GEM and ICE people at the CPE - I counted at least 7-  to show support. GEM and Ed Notes shared a quarter page ad in the CPE journal. There is some irony in that at least one of the active CPE folk is connected to New Action, which as usual had no presence. At one point this past year before the UFT election there was some unfriendly fire directed at James Eterno.
New Action head Michael Shulman was later invited to speak to a CPE meeting, part of the Unity/New Action campaign to disparage ICE. It was something I was not happy that the CPE allowed this underhanded stuff to take place at the time and still am wary of that element of the CPE. I don't hold it against the CPE, but I hope the hypocrisy is noted.

Double Burn
I have to miss my acting class this morning. One of my frat brothers' daughters is getting married at 11:30 in Long Island. Last week I auditioned for one of the card playing roles in The Odd Couple at the Rockaway Theatre Co's December production.

I originally was going to go for Murray the cop but he seemed too affable.

When I read the part of the nasty, sarcastic, wise cracking Speed, I said "Eureka."

Let's Take a Meeting

I can't tell you how many people tell me they have tried to contact Michael Moore to ask him to make a film about education, with the hope he would expose the ed deformers. My answer has always been, with so many so-called liberals jumping on the ed deform platform, how can we be sure he is not sympathetic to the ed deformers himself? Well, anyway, no one seems to have had a response from Moore.

Yesterday, a group of NYC teachers gave up a beautiful sunny afternoon and took a meeting. A meeting to discuss ideas for a film to respond to the ed deformers.

That old movieland expression – take a meeting–  expressed with irony about the world of Hollywood, with more than a hint of "what a waste of time these meetings are" was belied by the quality of this meeting.

The teachers are from a new generation of teacher activists – 30 somethings with an average of a decade in the system – they have spent most of their careers under the rule of the BloomKlein ed deform system and have been activated by the very deforms. To them, BloomKlein represent the new status quo. Dedicated and highly professional educators, popular with colleagues and parents - and yes, their supervisors  – the very people the ed deformers claim they seek as saviors.

But they are fierce defenders of the public school system, unalterably opposed to charter schools because of the damage they do, the high stakes testing regime, and critical of the collaborationist policies of the UFT and Randi Weingarten – activists who are intent on organizing masses of teachers and parents and community to make a stand.

They are the ed deformers' worst nightmare.


Speaking of Moores, let me include a piece from Paul Moore (no relation to Michael), from an older generation of teachers who teaches in inner city Miami.

The Achievement Gap

Addressed to Bill Turque, Education Writer for The Washington Post:

Hey Bill, back before the US Civil War, standardized tests would have no doubt measured an "achievement gap" between white children and children of color. But no rational person would ever have allowed it to be given such an absurd label. The abolitionists, the Quakers, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and the rest would have put the blame for the testing disparity where it belonged, on slavery! That vicious system made it a crime for a child of color to even pick up a book and attempt to learn to read.

Oh, the slaveholders certainly would have welcomed a debate over the "achievement gap" while the existence of the institution was ignored. While chattel slavery is a historical relic now, its racist economic underpinnings are very much alive in this nation. Racism still provides greater corporate profits in workplaces across the country every day. Racism generated huge profits for the banks until their sub-prime mortgage schemes went bust. It's doing the same thing today for Kaplan's "sub-prime" Universities and the Washington Post Company.

The new corporate masters of US public education oversee an apartheid-like system where schools are strictly segregated, where teachers of color are steadily driven from the classroom to make room for white "Teach For America" missionaries and where a second-class education for children of color has been institutionalized. Little wonder the modern overseers are so comfortable making their stand on the "achievement gap" while the economy's ingrained racism and the profound and disproportionate effects of severe poverty on children of color are ignored.

Here's a partial list of the new masters and their housekeepers who shed "crocodile tears" over the achievement gap in public exclusively for personal or political gain. It's quite the diverse group but put them all together and their true concern for the children of this country wouldn't fill up a thimble. Hypocrites all!

George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Rod Paige
Margaret Spellings
Ruby K. Payne
Eli Broad
Joel Klein
Arne Duncan
Michelle Rhee
Bill Gates
Paul Vallas
Jeb Bush
Wendy Kopp
Newt Gingrich
Rush Limbaugh
Michael Bloomberg
Armstrong Williams
Al Sharpton

Parents Across America Fight Ed Deform

Here are comments from two of my favorite NYC parent activists- Lisa Donlan and Leonie Haimson. Leonie has joined in a nationwide parent network to resist ed deform called Parents Across America.

They wrote a letter to Obama which appears on the Washington Post. I won't reprint the letter but here are some of the people who signed on that I know of: Oakland's Sharon Higgins (who I had the honor of introducing to Leonie and Lisa at a lunch I organized last December) and Caroline Grannan in San Francisco. And I see Dora Taylor from Seattle who I think I met at the CORE party at the AFT convention. And I know of Chicago's Julie Woesthoff's work with PURE.

I'm thinking if we teachers do our part to educate our colleagues on the issues, organize them into an active force despite UFT co-optation and develop the ability to mobilize people  along the lines of the way the Tea Party has been doing so successfully, and then join with these kinds of parents, the ed deformers will be on the run. Just do it!

Here, Lisa responds to an email Leonie sent out which I posted on Norms Notes:

DOE is eliminating the EGCSR program

I love Lisa's referring to the ed deformers as "the new status quo."

From Lisa Donlan

Hang on- do I understand this correctly?

Essentially this DoE has taken state money that was allocated for a well proven strategy- small class size in the early grades ( K-3) and is allowing principals to spend those funds on anything they want?
In a recession that has forced schools to reduce staff and cut programs well past the bare bones?

Are all the pundits and pols out there who believed mayoral control would raise academic achievement, bring about greater transparency, equity, and standardization by removing corruption, uneven local management and priorities, increase funding to the schools and remove political agendas and tug-o-wars from our school system PAYING ANY ATTENTION?

Is mayoral, control making good on its promises? Has education in NYC improved these past 8 years?
I really want to know what I am missing from those of you who still believe!

This fish stinks from the head down- ever hear John White talk about how he taught science from a cart?

These guys will one day soon regret their inhumane experimentation with our kids along with the use of  cooked books to justify their games, constructs and best guess theories.

But at the cost of too many children's "health, well being and education"  for too long.

This "new status quo"  has wasted billions on new fangled ideas and reorganizations, vendors and cronies; has  not improved outcomes, raised achievement or closed the achievement gap;  but instead  has brought us to a true state of education emergency.

All our kids need saving at this point!

Come tell it to the PEP on Monday!

Lisa Donlan

From Leonie Haimson

1. I will be speaking tomorrow at the Coalition for Public Education annual conference, Sat. August 28, from 1-3 PM; at DC 37 headquarters; 125 Barclay St.  The entrance is on Murray and the West Side Highway, map here; directions here: More information about the conference is here.  Please join us!

2. Sec. Duncan’s education priorities, which are driving those throughout the country, including many of the test-based accountability systems we have seen fail here in NYC, are very unpopular among voters.  And it’s hurting Obama:  See new poll results here: 59 percent give the president a C, D, or F for his education policies; worse than his ratings overall.

For those of you who thought that NY State’s winning the Race to the top money would help improve classroom conditions, no such luck.  That money is supposed to be spent primarily on more of the same: more data collection, more testing, and more teacher evaluation and merit pay based on test scores.

3. We have formed a national network of parents to work for more positive education reforms, called Parents Across America, and our new letter to Obama is reprinted in today’s WaPost Answer Sheet at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/parents/dear-president-obamasincerely.html ; I also reprint it below.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Remember the federal education jobs bill that was passed a couple of weeks ago?  It was supposed to give $200 million to NYC schools so they could hire more teachers, prevent sharp increases in class size for this coming school year and provide economic stimulus besides?

Unfortunately, at this point, the administration has signaled that they want to keep $170 million unspent to save for next year, despite an expected jump in 18,000 students and a loss of 2,000 teaching positions in our public schools this fall.  They have also cancelled their Early Grade Class Size Reduction program, which had existed since 1999, and which they promised to keep as part of their citywide class size plan in their “Contracts for Excellence.”  This program was designed to hire extra teachers and keep classes to twenty or less in grades K-3.

 If class sizes are huge when your child enters school in a couple of weeks, you know who to blame.

Our letter to Obama is below; if you agree with its sentiments you can send your own message at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

More soon,

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters

Dear President Obama...Sincerely, Parents Across America

Following is a letter about education policy being sent to President Obama from parents representing a number of organizations across the country. It is a followup to a May letter sent about Obama's Blueprint for Reform, which you can find here.

Read it at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/parents/dear-president-obamasincerely.html#more

Coalition for Public Education (CPE) Convention Sat. Aug. 28

*8am-5pm. DC-37, 125 Barclay St. Manhattan. The meat of the event, the Caucuses, will occur from 1:00-3:15pm. The convention is aimed at creating a Human Rights based People's Board of Education. Transform America will be part of the parents Caucus to help parents create the root and base for the People's Board of Education; "People's Community Councils" at every school. Free to attend.

Aug. 27, 2010, 8am

I reported last week on activist community/parent groups:

Parents and Teachers Prepare for the Gathering Storm
CEJ Front and Center

...but did not get into the CPE because I wanted to wait for their convention which is tomorrow - free and open to all.

I attended the CPE founding convention a year ago and will be attending again this year.A number of politicians were present last year, including John Liu who made a strong statement against mayoral control.

I am scheduled to be on one of the panels between 1pm and 3. I believe Leonie Haimson will also be on one of the panels. I'm not sure who else. I am supposed to speak about the union role in education. Heh-heh-heh! I'm twirling my imaginary mustache. Should I lay my Vichy analogy on them? (UFT/AFT: Think Like Vichy).

For one CPEer view of the UFT (not necessarily the official views of the CPE), see co-chair Mark Torres' analysis posted on Norm's Notes: CPE's Mark Torres' View of the UFT. Mark is a chapter leader in the Bronx.

I've been mentioning the CPE - Coalition for Public Education - over the last year without getting into historical details.

The CPE was founded a year ago out of a coalition of community activists, parents and teachers who were trying to end mayoral control of the schools. They held some rallies and other events. Last August they came together to form the CPE. You see, some good has come out of Bloomberg's naked grab for power.

The CPE developed somewhat along parallel lines with GEMNYC  (Grassroots Education Movement) whose founding preceded CPE's by a few months. GEM so far has been more focused on teachers than the CPE which does have a teacher component.

There have been lots of opportunities for CPE and GEM to together and even better possibilities for the future. The two different focuses of the groups increase the organizing capabilities of both.

CPE is very oriented towards the communities of color, as is CEJ (and be careful not to confuse the organizations), which is rooted at the Annenberg Institute with some funding support. CEJ is also a coalition of different groups.

Personally, I've gotten to know some superb activists in the CPE and many of them send a lot of love towards Ed Notes. They have some excellent ideas and some very articulate people who have a vision for a future school system without mayoral control and under community control - a system that worked for many districts pre BloomKlein but was vilified by the ed deformers so they could seize power. That system could have been fixed in a much easier way than the conflagration of disaster ed deform that has ensued.

CPE is calling for a people's tribunal examining the failures of BloomKlein and a People's Board of Education - their own version of the PEP.

It will be interesting how well they and CEJ play together.

Tomorrow, Saturday Aug 28th, the Coalition for Public Education will be holding their 2nd Annual Convention come on down. Here is the flyer and below is a video I shot of their March 4 press conference at City Hall.

CPE Blog: http://forpubliced.blogspot.com

CPE holds press conference at City Hall- March 4, 2010

I was there to tape it. Watch Klein walk by and the place erupts in boos.

This from a mostly black audience toward that great fighter for civil rights. It may play slow in this window so here is the direct you tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIN2ZtYJohs.

AFTER BURN
I will be there with a video camera to interview some people for a film I am working on with other NYC ed activists - our response to the ed deformers. So if you are there put on your makeup.

Tying Up Loose Strings

Some thoughts based on a variety of input coming in.

Aug. 26, 2010

Why Did Louisiana Not Get Race To The Top?

Louisiana lost out to the Race To The Top is that so few school systems statewide were willing to collaborate with the Louisiana Department of Education.  Why?
Because they have had an up-close view of what happened in New Orleans when the state took over the system and privatized schools, abolished democratic control of local schools, and replaced veteran teachers with temporary untrained teachers.  New Orleans was a beachhead for the anti-democratic forces of privatization, and the market reformers who see democracy as an obstacle to progress tried to impose limits are board authority statewide. They also were more likely to see the research that shows virtually no change in the rate of student performance before and after the takeover. Ultimately, Louisiana lost the Race To The Top because local schools officials learned from experience that trading democracy for technocratic top-down control is a bad deal.

Lance Hill, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Southern Institute for Education and Research
Tulane University

Rachel Maddow is in New Orleans tonight and while she didn't address how they privatized the school system, her show addressed the housing issue where homes for the poor were knocked down in favor of gentrification. Same issue in essence. She and a guest talked about privatization and the pushing out of the poor.

Now that ties in with the bogus super duper success of the New Orleans schools since they basically wiped out the public schools and the teachers union with it. Paul Vallas, who ruined Chicago and  Philly was brought in to bring in a Katrina like disaster to the school system. By the way, he is leaving. But he said that no more than 60% of the schools should be charters. Of course, they got rid of poor people but they have calculated there is enough left that they don't want sullying their charter schools with.

AJ Duffy on The Mind of a Bronx Teacher radio show - NOW
 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2010/08/27/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher

An excellent discussion with Duffy, a Brooklyn native by the way who used to hang out on Ave J - is talking about the situation in LA. Now we know that he seemed to be waffling - Randi is getting credit for this in her adoring ed deform press - but he is talking about the flaws of value added. He was diplomatic when Bronx Teacher made an anti UFT comment.

Duffy just made a very good point. Some teachers in LA started off saying, "Sure, I'm a good teacher. Let them come in and evaluate me any way they want." Then they found out that some of the best teachers they know were not coming up roses in the Value-added system the LA Times is using to expose teachers.

Uh-oh. He is talking about self policing out profession. We can't self police until we along with community people get to pick the school admins.

A call from blogger Queens Teacher. Hi QT. (I wanted to say hello but couldn't log on.)
Now he's talking about why the short time teachers are so favored by ed deformers - no health care or pension costs. They can give them decent salaries but it forces them to teach dumbed down curriculum through Open Court systems.

He says: "They're doing away with a wonderful profession."

Ahhh. "The same people who push "smaller is better" - small schools, etc. - deny class size is important. A contradiction. We should throw this back at them (I'm paraphrasing here)."

Bronx teacher says he went to small high school. All the teachers knew him. Bad break for them.

Some great original reporting by SBS. He spoke to LA Times reporter Jason Felch who did the story.

Mr Richard Buddin And Jason Felch Man And Wife

NYC Teacher Expresses A Perfect Level of Outrage

"We had to find a way to change the educational direction of Mayor Bloomberg and [Schools] Chancellor [Joel] Klein," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. "That's what we used Race to the Top for."

The quote above from a Daily News article on NY winning RTTT funds led to this response from on the NYC Education listserve:

Huh?  Aren't many of the 'programs' that Race to the Top will fund expanding and extending the educational direction of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein?  Am I missing something?  

This statement is similar (in its duplicity) to the one teachers received when we were notified about how the UFT "saved" teachers choice; we should be oh, so thankful, for $110. 

Considering I have spent about $800 on my classroom this week in preparation for the school year, I'm not feeling too thankful.  And while $700 million in education funding sounds great, I am thinking I am not going to be too thankful for my "teacher report card" tied to student test scores, more emphasis on testing, expansion of the leadership academy, more charter co-locations... on and on.  I wonder if, at the very least, teachers will finally get some pencils with that $700 million?  For that I would be mildly grateful... throw in some paper and I might not know what to do with myself.

By the way, a NYC teacher told me she was out spending almost a thousand dollars of her own money. Apparently two charter school teachers overheard that public school teachers get $110. They expressed outrage at the unfairness of it all.