The Resistance Strikes Back: Major Hits Undermine Ed Deform Platform

...there are things education can’t do. In particular, the notion that putting more kids through college can restore the middle-class society we used to have is wishful thinking. It’s no longer true that having a college degree guarantees that you’ll get a good job, and it’s becoming less true with each passing decade. 

So if we want a society of broadly shared prosperity, education isn’t the answer — we’ll have to go about building that society directly. We need to restore the bargaining power that labor has lost over the last 30 years, so that ordinary workers as well as superstars have the power to bargain for good wages. We need to guarantee the essentials, above all health care, to every citizen.  
 

- Paul Krugman, NY Times, March 8, 2011

Despite their billionaire supporters and massive control of the media, the ed deformers are starting to take a number of hits. Last week with Ravitch on Jon Stewart and Cavanagh debating ME$ME on NY1 and principals standing up to Tweed and Matt Damon speaking out against high-stakes testing was a good week. Leonie Haimson catalogued some of the victories at the NYC Parent blog: This week, the real reformers finally broke through!

This week is also starting out well. First, let's review some of the major planks of ed deform, all of which will be debunked in this post (and I won't even touch on the testing/charter/choice crap- for now).

• Going to college is necessary to get a good job (the centerpiece of ed deform)
• Merit pay will improve results
• Experience and class size don't matter  
• All we need is harder working teachers to overcome poverty and turn failing schools into wildly successful ones 
• Teacher effectiveness can be determined by value-added formulas

Where shall we start? At the beginning


Going to college is necessary to get a good job

Whenever I hear people yapping about how we have to remain competetive in the tech age - yada, yada, yada - my response is "Tell 'em to become a plumber - if you try to outsource plumbing it takes days for the guy to get to your house from India." John Lawhead 8 years ago was pointing out that less than 30% of the new jobs expected to be created would require a college degree - the bulk of jobs would be McDonald's and Walmart.

Paul Krugman is finally delving into the ed deform bullshit. His Monday's (March 8) NY Times piece Degrees and Dollars: The hollow promise of good jobs for highly educated workers, Krugman corroborates my "be a plumber" line and lays waste to the central tenet being pushed by Obama and translated into charter schools calling their kids "scholars" and having teachers post the name of the college they graduated from (don't look for CUNY colleges) on their classroom doors. Here are a few excerpts in addition to the quotes above- but read it all.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that education is the key to economic success. Everyone knows that the jobs of the future will require ever higher levels of skill. That’s why, in an appearance Friday with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Obama declared that “If we want more good news on the jobs front then we’ve got to make more investments in education.” But what everyone knows is wrong. ....that modern technology eliminates only menial jobs, that well-educated workers are clear winners, may dominate popular discussion, but it’s actually decades out of date.

The fact is that since 1990 or so the U.S. job market has been characterized not by a general rise in the demand for skill, but by “hollowing out”: both high-wage and low-wage employment have grown rapidly, but medium-wage jobs — the kinds of jobs we count on to support a strong middle class — have lagged behind. And the hole in the middle has been getting wider: many of the high-wage occupations that grew rapidly in the 1990s have seen much slower growth recently, even as growth in low-wage employment has accelerated.

Why is this happening? The belief that education is becoming ever more important rests on the plausible-sounding notion that advances in technology increase job opportunities for those who work with information — loosely speaking, that computers help those who work with their minds, while hurting those who work with their hands.... Most of the manual labor still being done in our economy seems to be of the kind that’s hard to automate.

...there are things education can’t do. In particular, the notion that putting more kids through college can restore the middle-class society we used to have is wishful thinking. It’s no longer true that having a college degree guarantees that you’ll get a good job, and it’s becoming less true with each passing decade. 

 CHECK

Merit pay will improve results

Roland Fryer at http://www.nber.org/papers/w16850.    If anything, teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools. Third paper showing no gains in NYC; at least fifth or sixth study overall. And yet the US Govt. under Duncan seems intent on throwing away millions in our tax payer funds on this nonsense.  

Financial incentives for teachers to increase student performance is an increasingly popular education policy around the world. This paper describes a school-based randomized trial in over two-hundred New York City public schools designed to better understand the impact of teacher incentives on student achievement.

I find no evidence that teacher incentives increase student performance, attendance, or graduation, nor do I find any evidence that the incentives change student or teacher behavior. If anything, teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of theories that may explain these stark results.

 CHECK

Experience doesn't matter

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,  Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters.

In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.

Generally speaking the corporate reformers argue that only the first few years of experience matter, though you can see from these charts from a study by Thomas J. Kane, now at the Gates foundation, Jonah E. Rockoff and Douglas O. Staiger  that at year five, effectiveness is still going up for all categories other than uncertified teachers.

MORE at How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

CHECK

Class size doesn't matter 

NY Times: Class Size Rising 

Leonie Haimson debating class size on MSNBC

All we need is harder working teachers to overcome poverty and turn failing schools into wildly successful ones 

Same Kids, Same Building, Same Lies

One of the highlights of the TFA 20th anniversary summit was certainly when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made a rousing speech at the closing ceremony. The most impressive part of his speech was when he described the transformation of Englewood High School in Chicago while he was heading that school district. He said that they shut it down because 60% of the students were not graduating. They replaced it with three charter schools. One of those charters, the all boys Urban Prep, just graduated their first class and 107 out of 107 graduated and got accepted to college. He says then “Same children, same community, same poverty, same violence, same building, different adults, different expectations, different sense of what’s possible and that made all the difference”

it was not the ‘same children’ attending Urban Prep as would have attended Englewood High School.  They had the typical lottery which excludes certain families.  It also had a mandatory three week program for students who got accepted, which eliminated even more students.  And then, they did the typical ‘weeding out’ of kids who weren’t performing.

CHECK

Teacher effectiveness can be determined by value-added formulas


Michael Winerip has a powerful story about Ms. Isaacson, who looks to be a good teacher by all counts but will probably be denied tenure. Ms. Eyre writes about it at NYC Educator: A Note to Ms. Isaacson
Here are some excerpts from Winerip, who has always been a champion of true reform - if he keeps this up look for him to once again be move from the ed beat to something like covering real estate.

Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie- NYTimes

You would think the Department of Education would want to replicate Ms. Isaacson — who has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia — and sprinkle Ms. Isaacsons all over town. Instead, the department’s accountability experts have developed a complex formula to calculate how much academic progress a teacher’s students make in a year — the teacher’s value-added score — and that formula indicates that Ms. Isaacson is one of the city’s worst teachers.
According to the formula, Ms. Isaacson ranks in the 7th percentile among her teaching peers — meaning 93 per cent are better.
This may seem disconnected from reality, but it has real ramifications. Because of her 7th percentile, Ms. Isaacson was told in February that it was virtually certain that she would not be getting tenure this year. “My principal said that given the opportunity, she would advocate for me,” Ms. Isaacson said. “But she said don’t get your hopes up, with a 7th percentile, there wasn’t much she could do.”
That’s not the only problem Ms. Isaacson’s 7th percentile has caused. If the mayor and governor have their way, and layoffs are no longer based on seniority but instead are based on the city’s formulas that scientifically identify good teachers, Ms. Isaacson is pretty sure she’d be cooked.
She may leave anyway. She is 33 and had a successful career in advertising and finance before taking the teaching job, at half the pay.
“I love teaching,” she said. “I love my principal, I feel so lucky to work for her. But the people at the Department of Education — you feel demoralized.”
How could this happen to Ms. Isaacson? It took a lot of hard work by the accountability experts.

Now look at this idiot response from the DOE

In an e-mail, Matthew Mittenthal, a department spokesman said: “We are saying that a teacher’s tenure decision should simply be delayed (not denied) until that teacher has demonstrated effective practice for consecutive years in all three categories. The alternative is what we’ve had in the past — 90-plus percent of teachers who are up for tenure receive it. Do you think journalists deserve lifetime jobs after their third year in the business?”

Hey Matt, guess what?  Stacey Isaacson is OUTAHERE! and much better off for it. The second the economy improves she will be joined by a mass exodus. See: REPORT CARD: “Who Wants to be a Teacher Now?” from the Brooklyn Rail. Also see Stephen Lazar at Gotham: Turnover ideas from a teacher whose colleagues keep leaving.

DOUBLE CHECK

There's even a piece from the venerable Sol Stern: Bloomy's bubble bursts:
Nothing illuminates the vacancy of Bloomberg’s mayoralty more than the false narrative that depicted him as America’s “education mayor.”

TRIPLE CHECK
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Are School Closing Choices Being Made on Basis of Costs of Teachers?

It certainly would seem to be obvious without even looking at the data. Think of the strategy. End LIFO, go after the ATRs, create lots more relatively senior ATRs by under resourcing schools selected for closing on the basis of teacher costs, create a phony layoff crisis, lay off these people and then turn around and hire lots of newbies after declaring crisis is over- exactly what Michelle Rhee did in DC, but this will be on a massive scale. For the UFT to declare victory after this onslaught will take superb PR skills, but watch them try.

Gotham reported today: The city said it wants to close two more schools, both transfer schools. (NY1, Brooklyn Daily Eagle). Here's a job for an enterprising investigative journalist.

One source emailed me:

With the closure of the two transfer schools, announced yesterday, Pacific and Bronx Academy it is pretty clear that the decision to close a school has more to do with the average cost of teachers at that school than anything else. While they cite progress reports and other criteria Pacific had an average teacher salary of 78,000 and Bronx Academy, 76,000. If a correlation could be made between closing and opening schools using average teacher salaries, cost of administration one could predict which schools will be on the chopping block. The info is all on the DOE web site under Budget Summary for each school. The average teacher cost varies a little by license and there are a number of other additions and subtractions to this amount but this measure does seem predictable.

 Are there schools in the same category with lower ratings and lower average salaries that were not closed?

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

The Sunday Funnies: Ed Notes Week in Review

The last two weeks have become a blur, so if you don't mind I'll use this blog on a rainy Sunday to review some of the political and personal events so I don't lose track of where I live. Or what century this is.

Vacation
The school vacation was surprisingly busy. A number of teachers were still in town and were fairly active. The Independent Community of Educators (ICE) held a weekday meeting and did what ICE does best: drill down deep on the last in first out issue.

Film update
I spent parts of two days with two teachers and parent activist Lisa Donlan working on re-editing our "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" film, trying to incorporate valuable suggestions from the 60 people who saw a Feb. 17 preview at Blue Stockings bookstore. We did some more editing last Wednesday to get version 2.0 ready for yesterday's showing at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. The newly burned CD was just finished around 10 AM yesterday and rushed over in time for the 11AM event. And the almost one hour follow-up discussion with lots more ideas on how to make our message as clear as possible will lead to a 3.0 version. People who saw 1.0 and 2.0 unanimously agreed the film is getting sharper.

Sam Anderson of the CPE was on the panel yesterday and said so many important things that I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera to tape the QandA. When someone questioned the extent we should be demonizing the charter school movement Sam said they deserved to be demonized. He also made some great points about how Bloomberg's legal maneuverings to set up the privatization model. I've got to track him down and get his comments on tape. We don't want the movie to get longer than 50 minutes but these points are worth adding.

We've been getting emails from around the nation asking for copies. Middlebury College is showing WFS this Weds (Mar. 9) and wants to show our film on March 16 to about 200 people. Looks like a ROAD TRIP!

We are holding a raffle for those who are willing to host a school or house party for the ITBWFS - and the winner gets: Diane Ravitch Makes an Offer We Cannot Refuse as "...

Co-blogger M.A.B. joins Ed Notes "staff"
One of my colleagues in the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) who edits the GEM newsletter with me, in addition to assisting with the film, is a Teach for America alum. She did the live blogging from the TFA Summit on Feb. 12 – 4 separate posts during the day featured on Ed Notes. She followed up with a summation of her experiences and an analysis of TFA that is one of the best I have read (a must read published at Ed Notes on March 2).

So I made her an offer she could not refuse: join me in this venture so I can get to the gym and yoga more often. I figure her being 40 years younger, there might be a tad more energy. But more important, in the almost two years I've known M.A.B. I have been incredibly impressed with her wisdom, organizational ability, intelligence, commitment to teaching and the children, her views on education, on the union and best of all, we are both Bikram yoga fans. How often do I feel like a child in the presence of a real adult when I'm gently reminded, "focus Norm, focus?"

The announcement: Teach for America Summit Blogger to Co-Blog at Ed ...
CA.B.'s first blog post: Teach for America 20th Anniversary Alumni Summit: ...

Cathie Black in Williamsburg
On the first day after the vacation I headed up to my old hangouts in Williamsburg for a Town Hall meeting with Cathie Black. People came out in droves, with pro-union and anti-charter signs. There was palpable outrage from all quarters of the community over the inundation of the neighborhood by Moskowitz' fliers.

There was definitely a degree of organizing going on here. Principal Brian De Vale galvanized crowd with a spectacular statement directed right at Black. See the video: Must See Video: Brooklyn Principal Challenges Cath...

Interesting that I saw 3 reporters: Yoav Gonen of the Post, Lindsay Christ of NY1 and Anna Philips of Gotham but the only report I saw was from Christ. Oh, and of course me. Here's one piece I did.
Cathie Black District 14 Town Hall: No Sex, but Pl...

I have more great video to process from this event.

Ravitch on "Daily Show" and Cavanagh debates E4E on "Inside City Hall" on NY1.
On March 3 I went to the viewing party organized by Leonie Haimson with Ravitch as the guest and Al Shanker's widow was there too. We watched Julie's appearance from 10-10:30 on NY1 debating an E4E person on seniority and and she got raves. It was my birthday and my wife likes to keep these days reserved, so I had to negotiate just a bit to make the party. (See Goin' to a Party.) I reported with some analysis, Diane Ravitch and Julie Cavanagh Kick Butt. Stewart has been standing up and defending teachers. Accountable Talk has a link.  And Leonie has a good report: This week, the real reformers finally broke through!

More Meetings
Then on March 4 there were 2 meetings: ICE and NYCORE. So I split the baby and went to both. Not much I want to report on these due to some delicate matters being discussed. On Sunday, March 6 GEM had a meeting of the core group and again I am impressed by how many people are so pumped up they come out on a Sunday rainy afternoon. Since the meeting was internal, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

The Personals
I did not just do political stuff but actually had social interactions with non-ed people. On Feb. 18 I went so see a former 4th grade student perform his one man show about growing up in "Da Burg." I wrote about it here: What I Learned From a Former Student: Ernie Silva ...

The next eve we went into the city to meet some friends to see "Of Gods and Men" at the Sunshine but first we went looking for food. We found a Mexican place on 2nd Ave and they served Happy Hour drinks very cheap. So I had a giant Margarita, followed by a giant Mojito. Did I laugh my way through the ultra serious movie? Well, after the movie we found a dessert place on 10th Street where I got my regular eclair.

We got home at 12:30AM and had to head out the next day to meet a batch of young cousins who we celebrate all the birthdays with at one time. They are from both our sides of the family so it is a fun few hours. But first I had to stop in for a half hour at the theater lighting class I'm taking at the Rockaway Theatre Company. Before I knew it I was standing at the top of a 15 foot ladder wrestling with a light. After surviving that we went to East of 8th for brunch. Here we are after stuffing ourselves: The twenty-somethings and the sixty-somethings.

Yesterday I missed this Rockaway event:


Bloomberg Booed in Rockaway
Darn, the parade started just a block away from my house and I could have filmed the booing all the way but I was at the film showing. Leonie posted this at the NYC Parent blog. Here is an excerpt:

Video: Bloomberg booed and excoriated for his attack on teachers and kids

Must See Video: Brooklyn Principal Challenges Cathie Black Face to Face on Unions and Seniority

Principals, 80% (according to scuttlebutt) of whom have been appointed under the Bloomberg regime, are increasingly becoming a Trojan horse for Black & Bloom as they see the favored charter schools inundating their neighborhoods with flyers and expensive ads while their schools are cut to the bone. Black came to a Williamsburg District 14 Community Education Council meeting on February 28 at a particularly sensitive time. The entire neighborhood has been inundated with Harlem Success Academy fliers, ads at every subway stop and on every doorknob while public schools are starved. There are many charters in District 14 but as usual Eva has pushed the buttons a bit too far. She doesn't know just what she is in for and it will be fun to watch this develop as Eve puts young children into the IS 33 building in the middle of one of the most dangerous areas - a point people made at this meeting (video of this in a few days.)

Many of the old guard people who have worked and lived in the district for years are outraged. Not only at the charters, but at the attack on seniority and LIFO. I worked in the area for over 35 years and saw many old friends at the meeting at IS 71. Many teachers and supervisors were neighborhood people and they came out in force.

Here is a video of principal and community leader Brian De Vale going one on one with Black over seniority rights, all while holding a Teddy Bear. Black tried to make a joke - "Don't I get the bear" but when De Vale came up to offer it to her she refused it, saying "give it to a child." What a humanitarian she is - most likely she was afraid of touching it.

Direct link to you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibwyGXD3CI4




I'm including a letter to parents from another Brooklyn principal from another district as another  example of the outrage.

Dear Families:

We can’t help but comment briefly on the debate about teacher seniority that is all over the news. I  remember my mother, Rose Barr's stories of pre-union teaching. Behind closed doors, and with a promise to keep her salary a secret, each year she negotiated her contract. She could not be hired for one position because she would have been a second Jew, and the quota allowed only one per school. She could not wear shorts in public, could not be pregnant and could not ask about her colleagues’ salaries. Most schools don't teach much about labor history and many Americans seem to have no notion of how unions have improved the quality of life for generations of Americans. My father, an early 20th century labor organizer, spent many months of his life in prison, fighting for the rights we are now expected to silently surrender.

Over and over we read about countries where students out-perform Americans. What we need to ask is how educators and education are regarded in those countries. Are teachers vilified or venerated? Are students sent to school with the message that schools, teachers, and educational leaders are to be respected, that education is of great value? Read our newspapers and see what is said about our teachers, people who have committed their professional lives to helping young people learn. Today's New York Times provides an excellent example of the effect of such negative publicity on our profession.

Seniority is a complex issue. First and foremost, there is a big difference between the city cutting positions throughout the city and cutting budgets at the school level. A citywide cut of positions would be unconscionable and should not under any circumstances occur. As bad as cuts to school budgets are, it is much better when we at the school level decide what to cut.

But what about this seniority question? There is no doubt that our system for teacher tenure could use a little tweaking and it would be great if the UFT and the DOE could agree on some changes to this system. But make no mistake about it, it is a dangerous thing when it is said that the difference between a brand new teacher and an experienced one is irrelevant. It takes time to develop your teaching practice and one of the wonderful things about the profession is that you can always learn more as a teacher. There is so much to learn and know when it comes to supporting others in the learning process. When we think back to our first years of teaching, we remember our energy and our commitment, wonderful qualities for new teachers. But when we recall later years, we remember our wisdom and how much we could do for both our students and our newer colleagues. That’s part of what makes teaching such a rewarding profession. We need both the experienced and learned teachers and the thoughtful, new and energetic teachers. In fact, you can’t have one without the other!

Let’s remember to keep on thanking these teachers for their intelligence, integrity, commitment to young people, and love of learning.

Anna Allanbrook    Brooklyn New School (BNS)
Alyce Barr             Brookyn  School for Collaborative Studies (BCS)

UPDATE Diane Ravitch and Julie Cavanagh Kick Butt

Last Update: Friday, March 4, 10:45 PM

I had to run out this morning before finishing this post. Check below for the follow-up.

I was at the viewing party last night for Diane Ravitch's appearance on Jon Stewart with Diane as the guest and we all enjoyed not only watching her appearance but Stewart's wonderful defense of teachers and take down of the ed deformers. No time to find the links now but will update later.

We were also treated to GEM's Julie Cavanagh's kicking of an E4E member's butt from one end of the NY1 studio to the next on "Inside City Hall". And all the while doing it with civility and grace.

Here is the link to Julie:  http://www.ny1.com/?ArID=134963


Let me point out that Julie did what the UFT won't do: defend LIFO and seniority in a strong and well-thought out way. Was that the best E4E has? She contradicted herself time after time.

Here's a link to Ravitch on Stewart show. But watch the first part of the show too where Stewart lays out the ed deformers in a brilliant way.

From Leonie to those who attended the viewing party (I have some tape). (Yes, we survived One if by Land wonderful meal and headed uptown after I sobered up.)

Thanks to all of you who came last night to our viewing party, at such short notice, especially Diane, for being our hero and working so hard every day to advocate for rational policies in public education. 

The conversation and company was terrific and it was great to share it with all of you. 

I have posted links to all of yesterday’s shows on the NYC parent blog, including Inside City Hall with Julie Cavanagh about LIFO, the Daily show with Diane, and the NPR radio show that Diane and I were on yesterday here:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/03/yesterday-was-great-day-for-real.html

Julie Cavanagh told me today that Errol Louis , the host of Inside City Hall, had a print out of our Parents Across America fact sheet on “why experience matters” in front of him during her debate.

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/how-teaching-experience-makes-a-difference/

If you haven’t yet subscribed to our Parents Across America newsletter, please do on the website at www.parentsacrossamerica.org

Thanks so much, and pl. keep in touch!

Leonie Haimson

Goin' to a Party

What could be a better birthday gift for a Real Reformer than going to a viewing party later tonight for Diane Ravitch's appearance on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show?" Well, it wasn't all too easy to make this happen and required more delicate negotiations than a Bloomberg/UFT contract. Or a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

You see, birthdays are a big thing for my wife and tonight she is taking me out to "One if by Land, Two if by Sea" on Barrow St. where I get to nibble on my yearly dose of Beef Wellington.

So, when Leonie announced Class Size Matters was hosting a viewing party tonight from 9:30-11:30 [NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE BELOW] with Diane as the guest at the Hotel Benjamin and since we'll be in the city anyway and since dinner will be over by 9 - hmmmmm.

I opened up negotiations with a woman who I am about to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with - a woman who has had it up to here over my ed obsession even 9 years after I retired.

I was forceful: "It's my birthday," I whined.

I tried bribery: "You don't even have to get my birthday eclair this year." (I got 4 of them - yum.)

I was persuasive. "Leonie needs me to tape it."

I was suave. "Think how much more romantic I will be on our upcoming anniversary trip to Paris."

Finally, I used charm: "I'm spending 2 hours each way driving to Philly to visit your brother's daughter and granddaughter on Saturday. Don't I get something for doing it?"

See you tonight.

Ahhhh, the art of negotiation.

CHANGE OF VENUE TONIGHT:

The Club Room, Affinia Hotel

155 East 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
50th and 3^rd

An updated map is located here: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3295

Related:
Alexander Russo tries to take down Ravitch - over changing her mind- but doesn't address the content of what she is saying.

Sharon left a comment:

At least Ravitch is willing to talk about the exceedingly high U.S. child poverty rate and its effects, and understands that urban public schools are dealing with an even higher proportion of suffering children from that group -- more now than ever before.
For some reason, Duncan, Obama, and the others don't seem to be willing to utter one meaningful word about the topic. Talk about having one's head in the sand!
Just under the warped, manipulative, and undemocratic approach of the big education "venture philanthropists" (Ravitch's Billionaire Boys Club framing is perfect), the biggest problem I have with the reformers is how they seem to live in a fantasy world where the effects of poverty don't matter. They seem to think public schools and their teachers are somehow powerful enough ("if they only tried!" - stomp feet, stomp feet, stomp feet) to overcome those effects. They come off as silly romantics who believe, in their heart of hearts, that EVERY single American child who suffers from the nightmare consequences of lifelong and generational poverty could become upper-middle class -- if only the teacher unions were all dead and charter schools reined the world. And if isn't happening fast enough, too many of these are people perfectly willing to resort to expressions of contempt.
I am so sick of Gates, Bloomberg, Rhee, Canada, Duncan, Oprah, Kopp, John Legend, etc. being given so much primetime airtime to spout off their side. At long last, tonight the world will get to hear a different point of view.
Maybe TDS should get started on lining up Richard Rothstein next.

I left this comment:

Content, content, content Alexander. I saw you at Ravitch's appearance at the Parents Across America event where she spoke for 38 minutes. She laid out a blueprint on the failures of the ed deform movement - boom, boom, boom. one after another. Now in this post you have not one word about the content but it's all about her changing her mind and how certain she is. Where do you stand on what she was saying? Why not address those points - What if I said the same things Diane does - which I do and I was a critic of hers before her conversion. I have always been certain. But so what if Ravitch saw the light? I put up a video of her at PAA - http://vimeo.com/19755379 maybe watch it again and address what she was saying, not her certainty in saying it.
And by the way, maybe I missed it but I didn't notice anything posted by you about that event. How about the Seattle, Chicago (which you should know) or the New Orleans story where parent "choice" has come down to KIPP or KIPP? Which by the way, many of we critics of charters have been predicting with much certainty is what the charter game is all about.

Is Mulgrew In or Out?

If you are reading the tea leaves on where the UFT really stands on LIFO, there is a whole lot of give about to come, though of course it will be couched in terms of a big victory. We raised the question a few weeks ago in this post: Why Won't Mulgrew Defend LIFO?

It is pretty clear to us that Mulgrew won't defend LIFO because he intends to give up ground and today's events confirms it.

Now I sometimes try to look through the obfuscations of Unity Caucus shill Peter Goodman's blog Ed in the Apple for signs of where the union stands - or sits. Goodman's job is to soften people up for the kill. So here is the perfect Goodman scare tactic post: Is NYC Heading Toward a Teacher Strike? How Far Are Teachers Willing to Go to Defend Layoff Rules?

Gee, is the only way the UFT can defend LIFO is to strike? How about making the very strongest case for LIFO that we can make instead of punting? Like, instead of snow ball commercials, how about talking about Peter Lamphere's U ratings for being chapter leader of Bronx HS of Science or Iris Blige or PS 114?  See Jim Dwyer's excellent NY Times piece today: How Not to Rid New York City Schools of Bad Apples:

Over eight years, Mr. Bloomberg has said, he raised teacher salaries by 43 percent. Now he says it’s possible that he will have to cut more than 6,000 positions, and he does not want to do it on a basis of strict seniority, which the law requires — a critical statute that was not changed even when his administration was dishing out raises. (Mr. Bloomberg did win concessions to ease seniority requirements in assignments.)

Education officials spent Tuesday in Albany, arguing that the city should be allowed to lay off teachers using a rating system that currently relies heavily on the evaluation of principals. The prospect of having a principal like the one at P.S. 114 making such decisions does not make the heart leap with joy. Other principals, trying to stretch their budgets, might feel pressured to get rid of older, better-paid teachers.

On NY1, GEMers Peter Lamphere and Julie Cavanagh tonight made a better case than Mulgrew who basically made no case. Tomorrow night on NY1 ("Inside City Hall") Julie will debate another teacher (E4E?) on the LIFO issue. 8pm and 10pm.

I raised the issue of race in this piece: Ending LIFO: Another Form of Racism?

NYC Educator went to the UFT lobbying day in Albany and was also disturbed at signs of a compromise in this post:  UFT--Time to Take a Stand!

But he said something else that was very disturbing. He said there would probably be some compromise bill. He said the UFT tended to do things like that, just as they did on the evaluation system. Now here's the thing--the evaluation system, based on value-added, is crap, because there is no validity to value-added.

The official UFT rationale, that value-added is only 20-40% of the evaluation, is nonsense. The argument that some states have 50% based on value-added, and that we therefore made a better deal, is also nonsense. That we accepted less crap than some other state does not mitigate our acceptance of crap. That we accepted additional crap in 02, and a ton of it in 05, means that there simply is not room to handle much more of it.

Here is the stance we should take on this new "reform"--we refuse to discuss it until and unless we get the 4/4 raises all other city employees got.

Then, and only then, should we calmly sit down at the negotiating table and tell Mayor Bloomberg and his band of corporate goons to go to hell. After that, we can explain our positions to faux-Democrat Andy Cuomo.

There was some back and forth on the listserves that illuminates the UFT about to sell out on LIFO. Some GEM/NYCORE newer teachers who put out that letter (Petitions to Support LIFO and Seniority: Five Year and Under Teachers)  urging support for seniority were asked to attend a Mulgrew press conference on Monday. One of them made this comment:

At the press conference on Monday I was particularly struck by the overly obvious, clearly intentional avoidance of the words seniority and LIFO. The entire point of the press conference was "there is no need for layoffs" and "this is a scare tactic by the mayor." While these are important points, it's also important to say what's wrong with the plan that the mayor is trying to scare us INTO supporting. Mulgrew seemed more incensed that the mayor would go over his head to Albany to change policies rather than come talk to HIM about changing the seniority rules first. But again, his only mention of what was actually wrong with Bloomberg's proposal was when Mulgrew complained that the mayor wasn't coming to the bargaining table about it, plus a vague mention of how the bill was "bad for teaching and learning in nyc." The administrators union leader even said- "Talk to us. Nothing is off the table." Nothing?

Not bad from a third year teacher who "gets it."

Experienced political activist Marjorie Stamberg added to the debate:

On NY 1 this morning, (see link below) education reporter Lindsey Christ said that Bloomberg's layoff plan won't go anywhere because Albany democrats, Sheldon Silver in particular will stop it.


Instead, she reported, Cuomo has his own plan which says that "seniority" should only be "part" of the equation in deciding who gets laid off, and teacher eval based on the new 4-point Race to the Top criteria should be part of it too.


She reported that the UFT seems to be buying into the Cuomo plan!


As we know, if they cave on this, it will be a huge blow for the union and labor struggle. But I think it was in the works for sometime, that is why we haven't been able to get Mulgrew to come out and say he defends seniority in layoffs, only that "nobody should be laid off." All well and good, nobody should and we should fight for that. But that is only one-half of the principle.


I have also been trying to track this down all day, and my Unity chapter leader (who's also on the E Board) was not denying it.


http://www.ny1.com/content/134765/cuomo-enters-albany-fray-over-teacher-layoff-policy

Check out the ednotes sidebar for latest events and Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Teach for America 20th Anniversary Alumni Summit: Conclusions, Questions, and other Ruminations

by M.A.B (The Summit Blogger)

When the opportunity arose to attend the 20th Anniversary Teach for America Summit, I wasn’t inclined to participate. But I was curious how TFA would present itself and what its messages would be. With a bit of trepidation, I agreed to go with a friend with an idea to do some live blogging to capture my spontaneous reactions. [See below to inks to blogs].

As TFA alum who did not leave the classroom after my two year stint, I didn’t have any illusions about what I was walking into ­– that attending this summit would be an adventure. I would hear things that made me angry. The education reform conversation would champion charter schools. Conversations would likely be one-sided. My stomach would churn when the likes of Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein grabbed the microphone. TFA would self-promote, self-congratulate and try to “inspire” us all. I knew all of this before I left for D.C. yet I was still shocked by what I saw and heard.

I joined Teach for America in 2006. I wanted to study education in college but the program offered by the school of education did not attract me. Instead, I enrolled in an individualized study program and designed my own curriculum. I took classes in philosophy, psychology, urban studies and education. When I graduated I was very satisfied with the depth and content of my program. I wanted to be a public school educator, but I had a major problem—no teaching license. I naively took a position as an assistant teacher (“educational associate” was the fancy business name the school gave this position) at a new charter school. The school was quite dysfunctional and its leader had little experience. I was fired after a year for asking too many questions. (I’ll write more about this in another post soon.) From there, I went on to work at a brilliant, but private, Montessori preschool. TFA was a short cut to becoming a teacher in the NYC the public school system.

From the beginning I had mixed feelings about Teach for America. Its mission was based on a good enough idea, but I always viewed it as a bit too grand. How could an organization that placed people in the classroom for only two years truly put an end to educational inequity? Sure, it claimed the two years would “inspire” its members to dedicate themselves to education in one way or another, but it seemed a flawed plan. What our children need most is consistency—at home and in school. TFA places teachers in schools that often already struggle with turnover and desperately need educators who will stick. Could teachers trained for only 5 weeks be in the best position to help our neediest children? Of course the majority of one’s learning as a teacher comes from the experience of being in the classroom, but it takes more than two years to truly fine-tune the craft. Wasn’t it naïve of TFA to claim its teachers would revolutionize these schools? In my mind, TFA had many shortcomings, but my fellow corps members did appear to have pure and honest intentions and a real desire to contribute something positive.

I completed TFA’s intensive five week training institute and began teaching kindergarten at a school in the South Bronx. I went to the TFA graduate school classes and met with my TFA adviser when necessary, but I never clung to the organization or its teachings. I was learning every day in the classroom from my students and fellow teachers. I didn’t get wrapped up in TFA’s philosophy and viewed it mainly as a vehicle towards my certification and career in public education.

I was constantly frustrated by TFA’s placement of teachers in charter schools and the incessant discussion about what we would all do “after our two years”. I wanted TFA to focus on our public schools and to push people to stay in the classroom. And I stated this on every feedback form I ever filled out. (And there were a lot!) Public education is one of the pillars of our democracy, but TFA never truly seemed to champion this notion. It talked about changing our students’ lives through high expectations, dedication and commitment (and the use of data, data, data), and constantly told us we could close the “achievement gap.”

Over the years since completing my TFA assignment, I had seen the organization aligning itself more and more with the corporate reform movement—a movement that blatantly seeks to uses competitive, free-market business principles to improve our schools. I was baffled. Was this Wendy Kopp’s intention all along? Had the organization simply been co-opted by its “benevolent” funders?


Charter Schools and Privatization

I expected the charter presence to be strong and forceful at the summit, but, by the end of the day, it felt like the only force. How did other public school teachers feel about this? Did they leave feeling left out? Offended, like me? Did they leave with bags full of charter gear and brochures, contemplating a move from public to charter?

The story of the public school educator was generally missing. Randi Weingarten was present but hardly painted public school educators and their unions in a good light. One session showcased public school educators who had dedicated themselves to the classroom above and beyond their two-year commitments. But overall the conversations presented were one-sided, slanted and misleading. No one spoke about the need for public schools to be empowered to innovate. No one acknowledged the inherent problems of a privatized system. No one spoke about the incessant attacks on teachers. No one spoke of the other factors that impact student learning. No one spoke of the things (lack of resources, high class sizes, lack of support, the over-focus on test scores, etc.) that truly stand in the way of our public schools succeeding.

A couple of speakers pointed out that charter schools do not educate all children, but this wasn’t discussed at length nor was it brought forth as a serious concern. While I could not attend every session offered, the line-ups for nearly all panels included charter school leaders, teachers or promoters with little or no dissenting voices. (Ten public school educators were listed in the summit program’s list of over 100 speakers.)

In addition to their over-representation on summit panels, charter schools were busy promoting themselves all day. They handed out buttons, stickers, bags, necklaces, water bottles, and even sunglasses, all emblazoned with their logos. Achievement First tagged the sidewalks around the conference center with its emblem. KIPP placed logoed chocolate squares on all of the 11,000 seats before the day’s closing plenary session. Easels held posters advertising meet-and-greets with charter school operators. Fancy brochures promoting the joys of working in a charter school were in all of our “gift bags.” Many charter school employees walked around wearing branded shirts and jackets. Forget NIKE and Adidas, NOBLE and KIPP were the big names in fashion this weekend. Charter education was a product at the summit. It was wrapped, packaged and pushed in our faces. Why is this self-promotion necessary? Is their teacher turnover so high that they are left with no other choice than to push their brand so desperately? Or was it simply an “I’m better than you” contest to see who could outdo the other? My public school doesn’t even have money to buy crayons or copy paper, much less make our own chocolate squares.

Charter schools are a reform I cannot support for many reasons, but the central one is because of what they represent—the privatization of one of our most important public institutions. Access to a free and quality public education is a right—it isn’t something we should have to win in a lottery. It is something we have a right to be a part of. Charter schools are governed privately, with little or no oversight. They are allowed to get rid of students they do not know how or are not willing to serve. I was disturbed by how the summit speakers did not acknowledge privatization as a legitimate concern. One moderator said, “Charters are seen as privatizing education…How do we bring [charter schools] into the public dialogue and change that perception?”

TFA has always presented itself to its corps members as a very knowledgeable and reflective organization. When it is out front like this, pushing an agenda of privatization, I worry about its impact. What did the other alumni walk away with? Were they convinced, like Bill Gates, that charter schools are the only hope? (“Thank god for charters because there is NO hope for innovation in the standard system,” he has said.) The public system hasn’t been offered a true chance to innovate and succeed. Resources are being stripped from our public schools left and right—how can we succeed without the funds and support we need?


Rah-Rah vs. Reality
If we are all thinking alike then we aren’t really thinking.

Riding back to New York on a bus full of TFA alums on Sunday, I heard one word more than any other: “inspired.” Emails came in the next day as well encouraging us all to share our “inspiring” summit stories on tfanet.org. But I wasn’t inspired. What was it that so many people there found inspirational? Was it sitting in a room with 11,000 seemingly like-minded individuals? Was it the floorshow provided by men in Asian outfits stir-frying noodles on raised platforms during the receptions? Was it the lineup of speakers at the day’s opening and closing plenary sessions? Was it listening to big names like Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Arne Duncan, Geoffery Canada and Kaya Henderson? Was it John Legend’s performance?

How could my reaction be so very different from the majority of people I spent the day with? When I sat in the plenary sessions I felt disgusted by many of the people TFA trotted out onto the stage. In the name of educational equity, they promoted Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Geoffery Canada and the KIPP schools leaders whose efforts have actually increased educational inequity in the cities where they worked. Klein worked relentlessly to close struggling public schools in New York rather than support them. Rhee fired D.C. teachers with great enthusiasm without considering what might actually be done to improve the process of teaching and learning. Canada operates a network of hedge fund backed charter schools that have been shown to counsel out students who do not perform. KIPP schools have been accused of using overly authoritarian practices, counseling out students and falsely promoting their graduation rates. (It’s not a 100% graduation rate if 50% of the students left.)

This is what I thought about when these people took the stage. But most everyone around me was clapping for Klein. They laughed lightheartedly at things Michelle Rhee said and they called Canada an inspirational man. How could our reactions be so different? Unfortunately the day offered little time for interaction and conversations of this nature, so was I left only to speculate and question. Time between sessions was limited and getting around the convention center proved time consuming, while the panels themselves were structured in a way that didn’t foster dialogue within the audience. We sat back and we listened. Is this exemplary pedagogy?

When I first joined TFA I was overwhelmed by its messaging. It bombarded us with lingo, catch phrases and worked to get us to adopt its philosophy. Many corps members actually joked about this, especially TFA’s affinity for acronyms. Looking back on these experiences I realize that TFA always presented itself as such an authority—we were provided with the information and there was very little questioning of their approach. In many areas, the organization promoted important and valid ideas. We had to hold our students to high expectations. Check. We had to have clear, focused, and productive lesson plans. Good idea. We needed to consider our students backgrounds and family lives in our approach. Of course. We needed to approach teaching with rigor, dedication and commitment. Certainly. These were good things to drill into our heads. But now TFA was presenting a narrow and unreflective vision of what was needed to improve our country’s schools. Was no one else bothered by this approach? Did anyone hunger for some real dialogue as I did?

What frustrated me most about the ideas touted at the plenary sessions was their vagueness. Wendy Kopp pronounced, “Incremental change is not enough, we need transformational change.” Klein soon followed and told us that transformational change wasn’t enough—we needed “radical change” in education. People around me applauded and cheered. But what did their statements even mean? Testimonies continued in this empty, but seemingly motivational fashion. In the evening, in a prerecorded message to the group, President Obama talked about the importance of teachers and the key role they play in shaping the lives of our nation’s children. Of course, this was nice to hear, but what policies have we seen Obama promote that really help teachers or support our work?

By the end of the day, I felt defeated, not inspired. How could anyone be inspired by the mirage TFA had created? But what was I to do? Should I shame TFA for presenting these narrow views or its alumni for settling for what they were being told?

After spending the day blogging about the summit and my reactions, I received some interesting feedback from other TFA alumni. One wrote that she was also disappointed by TFA’s overall message, but focused mainly on my lack of agreement with TFA. I was asked why I had even come to the event if I didn’t agree. I responded with questions as to why my opinions were so alarming. Shouldn’t our educational system focus on fostering divergent thinking? Shouldn’t an organization that claimed its mission to be education-based encourage debate and diversity of opinion? Were my critics just reacting defensively because I challenged something they viewed as so perfect?

I felt like an outcast during the summit – that no voice on the panels I attended represented my points of view. I was looked upon with disdain as I attempted to distribute literature exposing the truth about charter schools in New York City. I was surrounded by 11,000 people, yet I felt almost completely alone.


Corporate Cooption?

Flipping through the summit brochure as I rode back on the bus, I noted the hefty donations from groups and individuals I have seen promoting the corporate reform agenda. Twenty million dollar donations had been received from the Broad Foundation, the Walton Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and others. The summit’s first listed sponsors were Ford, Bill and Melinda Gates and State Farm Insurance. Other sponsors included Google, Coca-Cola, FedEx, Comcast, Fidelity Investments, Wells Fargo, Prudential and Chevron. Reading this list of sponsors and funders made me think deeply about where TFA gets its philosophy. Who was driving its decisions, its philosophy, and its message at the summit? Its board of directors contains a wide mix of individuals—many university and college presidents/professors, leaders and CEO’s from various industries, one TFA alum, and of course, John Legend—but do they shape TFA or does that money so benevolently donated come at a price?

Having read one of Wendy Kopp’s books and been through her program, it seemed that TFA was started with very pure and honest intentions. Did Kopp foresee her organization becoming co-opted by corporate interest? Did she envision aligning herself and her organization with the movement to privatize our nation’s schools? How did this unfold?

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at all. Our cities have been going through the same process of cooption for years. Governments should be run like businesses, we are told. Corporations are taking more and more control and perhaps TFA has simply fallen prey like so many others. The donations coming into TFA are enormous, but are ideals being sacrificed for money? And how long will these donations keep pouring in?


How to move from criticism to conversation

After a day of feeling alone and alienated, I wondered how, if at all, I could engage with my fellow alums about what I saw as TFA’s many missteps. I was sure there were others who would sympathize with my perspective, but I knew (especially after receiving comments on my blog posts) that there were huge and seemingly irreconcilable differences of opinion. But I couldn’t allow myself to think that our differences were irreconcilable, could I? The summit didn’t offer enough time for dialogue with fellow alums and I wasn’t sure how to start such a presumably difficult conversation. But I think it is these conversations and efforts that are the most crucial. I know that most of the 11,000 people I sat with in the convention center joined TFA for a good reason—they see education inequity as a problem and wanted to help do something about it. My intention is not to demonize the corps members of TFA, but to ask them to think critically about what they heard at the summit and the message TFA puts forth. It is my hope that we can perhaps begin a true, honest, and critical dialogue.

A place to start could be with questions raised in a summit session on Segregation in America. Pedro Noguera (a Professor of Education from NYU and perhaps the only critical voice at the summit) challenged the “choice” movement and strongly argued that the current reform movement is leaving the neediest students behind to be educated by the least experienced teachers. He said TFA is complicit—aware this is happening, yet continuing without altering its path. He said education is inherently political, far from the narrow view of education put forth by TFA.

I work with educational activists in New York and it is often a struggle to dialogue with those with whom we do not see eye to eye. But if we hope for anything to change, we must begin with learning to listen to each other and finding the things—like our belief that children deserve better—that we can all agree on.


M.A.B. has been a New York City public school Kindergarten teacher for 5 years. Previous to this she worked in a charter school and a Montessori Preschool. She has been involved with the Grassroots Education Movement for the past 2 years.


Posts from Teach for America Summit Blogger

Part 1: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit

Part 2: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit - Randi Weingarten

Part 3: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, - Afternoon Session

Part 4: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, With Closing Plenary

Teach for America Summit Blogger to Co-Blog at Ed Notes

Ed Notes will no longer be under the sole stewardship of the old folk. TFA Summit Blogger who caused a bit of a stir with her posts from inside the TFA Summit on Feb. 12, will be doing some co-blogging at this site, using the handle "M.A.B."

The addition of a 5th year teacher's educational perspective should enrich the content of Ed Notes. M.A.B. brings a midwesterner's perspective as a counterpoint to the usual Ed Notes Brooklyn-tinged "in your face" attitude. The almost 40 year difference in age should make for some interesting interactions as M.A.B. brings a political/educational view directly from a kindergarten classroom in one of the poorest areas of the city. M.A.B. will remain anonymous to enable her to write about the classroom and the school.

I've been working with M.A.B. in the Grassroots Education Movement and have been impressed with the range of skills this young activist has demonstrated. On Feb. 12, her TFA Summit blogs came through all day with extensive coverage from the perspective of someone who is not a true believer. Diane Ravitch tweeted: "hilarious/depressing."

Links to M.A.B. Feb. 12 postings

Part 1: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit

Part 2: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit - Randi Weingarten

Part 3: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, - Afternoon Session

Part 4: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, With Closing Plenary

M.A.B.'s next post will be a follow-up to these posts. "Teach for America 20th Anniversary Alumni Summit:  Conclusions, Questions, and other Ruminations" will be posted March 2 in mid-morning.

Leonie on FOXNews - It's 3 against 1

video here

Of course -An anti-union City Journal guy

Megyn is a FOXer - and not neurtal.
What about union money to politicians.
Leonie - let's look at where the billionaire money is going.
Megyn interrupts - public sector earn more - also that teachers are off in summers.
Leonie compares to billionaires and Wall St.
Tracy Byrnes - nothing to do with WallSt
Megyn supports her. Doesn't interrupt.
Unless Leonie gets in their faces she will not get a word in.
City Journal slug - never belonged to union in his life. Are 93% of Americans repressed?
Leonie - polls show that vast majority of Americans support unions - FOX slug interrupts Leonie again as does City Journal slug. Now brings up pension issue.
Megyn - unions put Democratic politicians - talks about how much money unions are giving to politicians.
Leonie - who is pushing attack on unions - 1% control 25% of the wealth. We will not survive as middle class disappears.
FOX slug talks about jobs.
What a fix this is.
Leonie - very wealthy should pay fair share -

Megyn's got to go - of course - sounds disgusted that Leonie's words about equity would foul the FOX air.

Cathie Black District 14 Town Hall: No Sex, but Plenty of Lies and Videotape

District 14 Principal Brian De Vale with Teddy Bear pal

LAST UPDATE:
Tues., March 1, 8AM

Links to coverage of last night's meeting:
Parents and community members lambasted Chancellor Cathie Black in Williamsburg. (Brooklyn Paper)


Preamble
I was able to view tonight's events from a different perspective than I usually do since I knew the scene and the players so well, having spent over 35 working in District 14 (Williamsburg/Greenpoint). To me this was a sign that BloomKlein did not totally stamp out the old and bring in the new. But even one of the new Leadership Acad grads who I know (and like very much) seemed to be on our side. See videos in upcoming posts.

I returned to the scene of the crime tonight when I attended the CEC 14 Cathie Black town hall meeting at IS 71, the home of the old district 14 office and the monthly school board meetings where I and other radicals used to question the basic policies of the old school board. It was old home week as I saw so many people from the old days - principals, teachers, parents - even a former student - who now has 2 grandchildren - does that make me a great grand teacher?

And now we were all on the same side - opposing the policies of Black & Bloom. Many of the schools seemed to be represented and anger was pulsing throughout the auditorium.

There was to be no direct questions from the audience but the usual tactic of having people write questions on index cards to keep Black from having to look her questioner in the eye.  I didn't know what to expect from the CEC, which consists of parent leaders. Would they cull the questions to be less confrontational. But they came up BIG, with one question after another directed right at the gut of Black, most of them anti-charter school in nature.

The audience hooted and hollered at Black and her responses and there were pro-unions signs all over the place.

And then Principal and District 14 Council of Supervisors head Brian DeVale took took the mic to confront Black directly., holding a Teddy Bear to symbolize President Theodore Roosevelt who created the civil service system. When he finished, Black said, "Don't I even get the bear?" Brian came up and offered it to her but she told him to give it to a child.

This will be making the news and NY 1's Lindsey Christ was there to get it - so check out her reports. I got all the video too but it will take my a day or more to figure out what to do with so much good material.

After Brian's speech most people left but there was some great stuff to follow.

Question: Do charters have the same disciplinary code as public schools?
Answer: No.
Duhhh!

I had some fun with Santi Taveras when he tried to pull a political stunt when he expressed outrage that one question on a card said, "Why can't we fire the kids?" I asked him directly: Don't charter schools fire kids every day? He wouldn't answer.

Another principal asked him directly if he actually believed the PEP was listening to the community or was the question pre-decided. Taveras staked his educational rep on the fact that it was an honest process. The principal looked at him incredulously. Taveras immediately jumped 10 spots up the food chain of dishonest Tweedies.

Here are some pics taken by GEM's Lisa North.

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Petitions to Support LIFO and Seniority: Five Year and Under Teachers and Parent Groups Strike Back at the Ed Deform Empire- and CSA Too

Last Update: Monday, Feb. 28, 2011, 8AM

Hi folks,
A group of us who met at a recent NYCORE meeting drafted this letter from newer teachers in support of the seniority rule. Will you pass it on to your lists? We are hoping to get as many "newer" teachers (who have been in public schools in NY for 5 years or less) to sign today or tomorrow as possible so we can get it to the media tomorrow. Thank you! 

A group of parents group and a group of younger and newer teachers, outraged by bogus groups like ME4ME, have decided to strike back with a petition supporting senior teachers and LIFO. They worked on this idea after meeting at a NYCORE breakout group - a groups you wouldn't know existed if you read the mainstream press or even Gotham Schools. (Sign up for the NYCORE March. 26 conference.) In addition, Leonie Haimson and other parents are also calling for support for teachers with their own petition. And guess what else? The principals' union, the CSA, is joining in too.

Read all about it below:

Let's see how much this counter attack by a group of relatively new teachers gets from the press - listening Gotham? I guess not so far this AM - here you have young teachers, parents and supervisors - and it's NOT a story?

Copy and paste this and circulate to the appropriate people in your schools. Remind them that if they remain in the NYC schools it won't be long before they are more senior to a whole lot of new people. 

Dear colleagues,

 In the current budget negotiations, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Black are pressuring Governor Cuomo to overturn the teacher seniority rule, known as “last in first out,” which would eliminate protection in the law for more senior teachers.  Attached is a letter from newer teachers (who have taught in New York State for five years or less), expressing our opposition to overturning seniority rights.  In addition to the reasons outlined it the text of the letter, we support upholding the seniority rule for the following reasons:

·      We recognize the importance of hard-won teacher job protection measures –including the right to due process in job evaluation. 

·      We value the irreplaceable knowledge of experience in honing the craft of teaching and the importance of more senior role models for newer teachers.

·      Bloomberg and Black wish to measure teacher performance, for the purpose of determining who should be laid off, by student test scores.  Turning the classroom into a stressful test-preparation zone restricts the space we have to learn about the real needs of our students and how to respond to those needs with all the creativity and rigor that the media extol us for.

·      The new teacher programs (New York City Teaching Fellows, Peace Corps Fellow, Teach for America, and others) by which many of us came to work in New York City public schools often shortchange teacher development.  These programs place inexperienced teachers directly in the classroom, often in new schools that are not organized enough to provide us with beneficial support. Thus many of us commence our careers under extremely stressful working conditions which contribute to a high new teacher turnover rate. The resulting “revolving door” of newer teachers may, ironically, facilitate the budgetary number crunching of our financially stressed superiors, as alternative certification programs provide a constant pool of entry-level faculty who are less expensive to employ. We reject top-down reforms which treat us as cheap labor without building in the true cost of professional development and adequate collaboration time for new teachers.

·      Even if we were to be kept on now thanks to a merit system that undermines seniority protection, this does not mean we will be able to practice our work into the future without constantly being required to prove our worth as educators according to the popular evaluation rubric of the day. 

·      Bloomberg and Black’s plea for “flexibility” in deciding who to lay off is, ultimately, a strategy to weaken teachers’ power to collectively organize and advocate for more support for all teachers.

Please join us as we stand with our senior teachers to fight to uphold the seniority rule and other union-won protections. 

An Open Letter from Newer Teachers of New York State

 February 21, 2011

Dear parents, students, colleagues, school administrators, elected officials, and members of the public,

Currently, New York State's seniority rule protects experienced teachers from layoffs, a policy sometimes known as "last in, first out." In recent budget negotiations, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Black have pressured Governor Cuomo to overturn this rule. We, the undersigned teachers who have been teaching in New York State for five years or less, stand in solidarity with our more experienced colleagues and strongly support maintaining the seniority rule. 

As newer teachers, we rely on our more senior colleagues for guidance and support.  Senior teachers offer us their advice, their formal mentorship, and their connections with communities.  Without more senior teachers, we would lose our bridge to lessons learned through years of dedicated work in the school system.

In addition, the rates of black and Latino new teacher hires in New York City have steadily declined since 2002, while the vast majority of New York City public school students are black and Latino. Opening up more senior teachers to layoffs would risk further decreasing the already sparse ranks of teachers of color.  These teachers provide guidance for younger teachers of all backgrounds, and play an important role in the lives of our students.

We also believe that Bloomberg and Black’s so-called “merit-based” system for retaining teachers will foster competitive, fearful school cultures that are detrimental both to teachers' professional development and to student learning. In addition, Bloomberg and Black seek to measure teacher performance by student test scores, an imperfect measure at best, and one that encourages narrowly test-focused curricula.

Finally, Bloomberg and Black's arguments against the seniority rule are based on the fact that newer teachers work for lower salaries than our more experienced peers; allowing experienced teachers to be laid off would therefore reduce the total number of necessary layoffs.  This argument, however, fails to account for the true cost of professional development and adequate support for newer teachers.  It also ignores the fact that teacher experience is one of the most reliable predictors of student learning.  If student achievement is the priority, then experienced teachers are more than worth their cost.

Ultimately, the debate over who to lay off is a distraction from the root causes of inequity that continue to affect our profession and the lives of our students; budget cuts should not include any teacher layoffs.  Education is an investment in our future, and cuts to education are ultimately short-sighted.  We reject political tactics that raise the specter of massive teacher layoffs in efforts to divide the workforce and pit parents against teachers.  In the interest of our students, we stand with senior teachers in supporting the seniority rule.

Sincerely,

Newer Teachers of New York State 

Click below to add your name:

http://bit.ly/eCXaC8

 Parents Support Teachers

 Friends,

I just created a petition entitled Prevent ANY teacher layoffs and protect the seniority rights of teachers! because I care deeply about this very important issue.
To send a message to the Governor and your state legislators, click here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/prevent-any-teacher-layoffs-and-protect-the-seniority-rights-of-teachers

It'll just take a minute.

Meanwhile, our other petition, against any budget cuts to schools now has 598 signers; you could be the 600^th!

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-nyc-schools-from-huge-budget-cuts-and-increased-class-sizes

Once you're done, please ask your friends to sign both petitions and spread the word. 

thanks,

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters

Excerpt: Remember that these layoff numbers will be projections, not real numbers but a worst case scenario that is meant to scare you, your staff and parents and generally strike fear into your hearts and generate support for their bill to eliminate your seniority and tenure rights.  In the past, similar projections have been greatly exaggerated and layoffs, if any, have  amounted to substantially fewer than projected.

Council of School Supervisors & Administrators <http://mk1.netatlantic.com/t/11093990/153674972/92259/0/>

Feb. 25, 2011

The note below alerts you to the fact that the DOE was likely to email you with teacher layoff projections for each of your schools in an attempt to present you with a worst case scenario.  Our analysis of the DOE's strategy is included in the note.

This evening, we learned that late in the day the DOE gave the media those projections embargoed for Monday.  The DOE did not share those projections with CSA.  This DOE strategy gives reporters ample time to contact you over the weekend to ask you how these projected losses will affect your schools. We don't want you to be blindsided by the DOE's action; therefore, we strongly suggest that you take the time to read the message that follows.

Layoffs and Last-in/First-out

You have been reading recent news reports about a bill introduced by Long Island Republican state Senator John Flanagan that would strip teachers and supervisors of their current  seniority and tenure rights. Teachers would be laid off if they have had an unsatisfactory rating in the last 5 years, have been faced with a fine or suspension, have been the subject of an SCI, OSI or OEO investigation, have been  in excess for more than six months or meet one of several other criteria. The criteria in this bill also apply to  Principals and Assistant Principals.   In terms of seniority rights, it puts you in the exact same boat as teachers.

In addition, in the very near future, you may receive DOE projections telling you that thousands of teachers have to be excessed due to a budget crisis in NYC. The projections are likely to include the specific impact on your particular school and your teachers.  Remember that these layoff numbers will be projections, not real numbers but a worst case scenario that is meant to scare you, your staff and parents and generally strike fear into your hearts and generate support for their bill to eliminate your seniority and tenure rights.  In the past, similar projections have been greatly exaggerated and layoffs, if any, have  amounted to substantially fewer than projected.

CSA, UFT and many good government groups are fighting not just to whittle down the number of projected layoffs, but to eliminate them altogether.  We accept Governor Cuomo's  contention that  New York City, with its $3 billion surplus and its revenues way above projection, does not need to have any teacher layoffs at all.  We also believe that additional funds can be raised by leveling a fair tax on the extremely rich.

CSA has and always will support improving accountability for teachers and school leaders and continues to be open to discussing better ways to better evaluate the work of educators. But we do not believe that the threat of layoffs should be used as a political tool to eliminate your seniority rights wholesale.

As union members, you should contact your state legislators and local council members to ensure that budget cuts to education will not result in teacher layoffs that would be tragic for the children you serve.  If you need assistance contacting your appropriate elected officials, contact our government relations department:  herman@csa-nyc.org and Sondra@csa-nyc.org in New York City and Alithia@csa-nyc.org in Albany.


For CSA's full response to the Flanagan bill, please click HERE. <http://mk1.netatlantic.com/t/11093990/153674972/96407/0/>