Test Protests Grow as Brooklyn Principal Takes the Lead

I've always maintained that the ed deform agenda is so viciously anti-child and anti-teacher and anti-parent that it will eventually collapse under its own weight of failure. Of course we will lose a generation of students, ruin careers of a generation of teachers and destroy entire swaths of the public school system before we begin to hear echos of that famous "What have I done" quote from the end of Bridge on the River Kwai. (See clip here or below). I'm also reminded of a memorable B film I saw as a child - The Magnetic Monster. We will win in the end.

GEM has been deeply involved in the battle against high stakes tests (where's the UFT, which I consider the biggest obstacle in creating an effective fight back) though its prolific Change the Stakes committee with the listserve over the past week going wild with parents and teachers chipping in on the awful tests. (You can join the listserve by signing up at the blog but warning -- the volume is high but so many amazing people).

The prolific Mark Naison posted this:

Thank you Pearson for some of the Worst Tests in History Being Administered in NY State Public Schools!

Too bad the content of recent NY State 3rd to 8th Grade tests is being withheld from the public because from what I hear they would make great material for Saturday Night Live, if not Saturday Night Fever. The idea that that teachers will be evaluated, and students promoted or held back on the basis of these ill designed tests strains credulity. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Pearson for designing tests that are so ambiguous, illogical and culturally biased that they discredit the entire New York State Department of Education, which paid 32 million dollars for these tests, and the US Department of Education, which required they use them to evaluate teachers in order to receive Race to the Top funding.

Yes, Pearson is coming under severe attack for making money on the backs of our kids while producing inferior products. You don't hear Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein talking about it's all about the adults -- that is only reserved for unions. Fred Smith has been posting on the list serve about the use of our kids as guinea pigs to field test questions with a whole battery coming in June. 

Years ago a teacher was fired for inciting a revolt in his 8th grade kids against these useless June tests where 4 entire classes refused to take the tests (Testing, Teachers and the UFT: An Historical View).

There is a lot of rumbling from parents about boycotting these puppies given that refusing to take these tests will have no impact on the schools (other than pressure from Tweed). And there will be growing pressure to have the tests published. And if not, there is an underground crew apparently copying for underground publication as a way of undermining the testing industry. Remember George Schmidt was fired from the Chicago school system for publishing and exposing the ridiculous CASE tests -- the public exposure led to their abolition and George should have been lauded as a hero and given a raise -- of course he is a hero to generations of teacher activists.

Valerie Strauss has a piece about the growing protests.

Elizabeth Phillips, Mark Naison's wife, is one principal in NYC who stands up. She also protested the use of teacher data reports. Here is her letter to John "I never met a charter I didn't like" King, the ed deform front man for NY State, joining a despicable succession of state ed commissioners.

P.S. 321                                                                             lphilli@schools.nyc.gov

180 Seventh Avenue • Brooklyn, New York 11215                     • 718-499-2412 • FAX: 718-965-9605 

• Elizabeth Phillips, Principal                                               • Beth Handman, Assistant Principal

• Elizabeth Garraway, Assistant Principal                                   • Ryan Bourke, Assistant Principal

April 19, 2012

Dr. John B. King Jr.

New York State Education Commissioner

New York State Education Department

89 Washington Avenue

Albany, New York 12234

Dear Commissioner King:

I urge you to carefully review this year’s state ELA exams.  I have been principal for 13 years and have read the tests each year.  Although there are always issues with selected questions, generally it is only one or two per test that the assistant principals and I can’t quite agree on.  I am genuinely shocked that with the increased importance of state testing,  there are so many more flawed questions than ever before.  I wish I could go into detail here, but it violates test security for me to discuss the content of the tests or the questions, which is why I feel so strongly that it is important that you see these tests for yourselves. 

In particular, I would recommend that you carefully read through day one of the fifth grade ELA.   The reading passages themselves are not too challenging—surprising since the passages in the 4^th grade test were not particularly easy and the Common Core Standards call for more rigor.  However, the questions were nothing short of ridiculous.  Several of them were ambiguous and seemed designed only to trick children (and adults….the answers were not clear to many of us).  Overall, the questions did not serve to determine whether or not children had good reading comprehension skills.   You could have excellent comprehension skills and miss many questions.  Although to me the fifth grade was the most outrageous of the elementary school exams, there were problems with the other exams too.  It is puzzling to me that in 2012 in New York State, a testing company that won the lucrative contract to develop these exams did not think it was important, on day one (the most heavily weighted day) of the 4^th grade exam, to include any selections that were in urban settings.  Children who spend a lot of time outdoors and in rural or suburban settings definitely will find “friendlier” texts, both fiction and nonfiction.   Take a look so you can see what I mean.  Fortunately, day two is better in this regard.

I would also urge you to actually do the listening section of grade 3 (first part of day 2).  Have someone read aloud this incredibly thin, brief passage two times as required and then see if you can answer the questions, including the short and extended responses, without looking at the text (since kids are not permitted to look at this text).  The questions are not really ones that you can answer well from the text, even if it is sitting in front of you and you can refer back. 

Because I am an elementary school principal, I do not see the middle school exams.  However, a middle school principal from outside of New York City wrote this to me after day one:  “As I reviewed the exams for the sixth through eighth grade yesterday, I was appalled. I felt that sixth grade was the most difficult of the three exams, followed by eighth, with the most fair exam being the seventh grade. There were so many questions that contained answer choices where the ELA teachers could not decide which answer would be 'best'. I felt terrible for my children, especially for my English Language Learners and my special education students.”  And 8^th graders, who really can’t be controlled in terms of not talking about the test, are having a field day on the internet mocking what appears to be one of the most ridiculous selections ever included on a test! 

These exams are so deeply flawed, and now so incredibly high stakes.  The idea that teachers may lose their jobs and schools (at least in New York City) may be closed based on how children do on these problematic exams is incredibly upsetting and demoralizing to educators.  The fact that the state has decided that these exams can never be made public just exacerbates the problem, as the general public will never know how silly the exams are.   And, to use an “added value” measure on tests that are not consistently more difficult from year to year is another serious problem. 

I understand that you are very busy, but given the importance of the state tests at this time, it is absolutely critical that you analyze them carefully.  If you agree with my assessment, I hope that you will consider recommending to the State Legislature that given the flaws in the tests, we are not yet ready to use them for high stakes decision making.  I also hope you will consider making these exams public after the test scoring is completed.  It is ironic that teachers’ individual ratings are made public while the actual test that determines those ratings is not.  I know that the state already has a long-term contract with Pearson, but there is something seriously wrong with a testing company that has such inappropriate questions and passages on such a high stakes test. 

Thank you for considering all this.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Phillips

Principal   

What Have I Done?




The Bridge on the River Kwai

— MOVIECLIPS.com

Report from the Hearing on Citizens of the World Charter Schools

We reported on this story a few days ago:  Exposing Segregation Tactics of Eric Grannis and Citizens of the World Charter Schools.


The hearing was Thursday night but had Broadway tickets so I couldn't make it though I did get to the closing schools rally at Tweed (33 Schools United: City-Wide Rally Against School Closures at DOE Headquarters).

Posted by Brooke:

Started late, but there was an AMAZING turnout! 100 people - PARENTS showed up at IS71 to speak out against these proposed charter schools, holding signs:

- Citizens of WHAT world?
- Citizens only track Record is Wonder of Reading Scandal.
- DOE, do the MATH, D14 doesn't need another Elementary School
- The community of Williamsburg says NO to co-locating PS110
- Indict Kriste Dragon
- CWCS is bankrupt

We had planned an organized round of talks to address every single aspect of their proposal. SUNY wasn't going to be there, but the transcript will be sent to SUNY.

Kate Sobel showed up with Etoy Ridgnal and 2 other members of her team. NO ONE was there from the community in support of these proposals. Sobel spoke about how she came from Teach for America, adopted a black child, and single highhandedly erased the achievement gap with the kids she taught at a latino school in Los Angeles. It was difficult for the audience to contain our outrage towards her arrogance and paternalism.

Our elected officials were there in FORCE:

- State Committe Member Lincoln Restler
- BBP Marty Markowitz (represented)
- City Councilmember Diana Reyna (represented)
- City Councilmember Stephen Levin (represented)
- NYState Assemblyman Joe Lentol
- US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez

All of them spoke on the record that they are vehemently opposed to these two proposed charter schools. I want to be Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez when I grow up. We were proud to be District 14 families tonight.

I had a 25 page attack on their curriculum, pedagogy and programming, but was only able to get through 5 pages before time ran out.

At one point, and the irony in this was unmatched, as I was telling Citizens of the World that their concept of service learning and community building was not unique and listed the community projects that our schools engage in, I noticed that all four Citizens of the World staff were talking to each other and not listening to anything I had to say. This was the one opportunity that they had to get feedback from the community regarding their proposals - and they weren't listening at all.

I wanted the DoE and SUNY to hear that we understand the proposals for these two schools. That these proposals are redundant and wasteful - poor copies of the schools we already have. I wanted DoE and SUNY to know that we see through the Citizens of the World charter school proposals. We'll see.

We walked out chanting, "The people united will never be defeated..."

Lots of stuff happened in private arguments afterwards.

- Etoy Ridgnal claimed that the private listserv of mostly white affluent and new parents was plenty of community outreach.

- After I pointed out in my talk that their proposal lists Everyday Math (and uses the Everyday Math website as evidence of it's success) is being used less and less in schools and the DoE is rethinking their Everyday Math curriucla, Sobel told a parent that they plan on using Singapore Math and that they will let their teachers use whatever math curricula that they want.

I mention this only because I flat out asked SUNY if Citizens can alter their proposal based on feedback AFTER it's been written and they said that they can not. What's in the proposal is in the proposal.

We'll see. The next step is a letter writing campaign.

Brooke

33 Schools United: City-Wide Rally Against School Closures at DOE Headquarters Today, April 19th @ 4:30 pm

PRESS RELEASE
Date: Thursday April 19, 2012: 4:30-6 PM

Contact:
Michael Solo, Teacher at John Dewey High School: 917-750-7510 (mmvs1226@aol.com)
Kevin Kearns, Teacher at Lehman High School: 201-314-6914 (kevin@lehmanuft.org)

33 Schools United: City-Wide Rally Against School Closures at DOE Headquarters

On April 19th, 2012 at 4:30 PM at Department of Education Headquarters (52 Chambers Street, New York, NY) teachers, parents, students and community members will rally to protest the DOE policy of closing schools.

With a cynical misrepresentation of the truth, Mayor Bloomberg is holding 26 Persistently Lowest Achieving (PLA) schools hostage to his demands. The NYCDOE walked out on negotiations with the UFT to finalize an evaluation system for teachers. Agreement on an evaluation process would have allowed School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds to continue being available for the (PLA) schools. Funding for the schools has been frozen because of the impasse in negotiations. The NYCDOE refuses to return to the negotiating table and has threatened 26 of the 33 (PLA) schools with closure through a process called "turnaround".

"Turnaround" is a failed policy because it is disruptive and distracting to the entire school community. It is a model that has been borrowed from the business world and we all know how well the American business model has fared during the past decade. Turnaround destroys bonds between students and teachers. It demoralizes the entire school community when instead the school community should be bolstered and strengthened.

All of the PLA schools have endured years of neglect and threats from the NYCDOE. We have worked hard to move our schools forward and we are making great strides in overcoming the tremendous obstacles that were put in our path by the NYCDOE. Why is Mayor Bloomberg still threatening our school communities?

Bloomberg's policy of school closure has gone on too long.  In three terms of Mayoral Control, Bloomberg has now closed over 100 schools.  Many of the schools voted to phase out on February 9th, were schools opened under the Bloomberg administration.  The policy of closure, phase-out, and now turnaround, has not improved our school system in any way.  Bloomberg continues this policy only to hide the data that would paint him as a failure on education.  He is ruining the lives of a generation of students all for his own political gain.

As recent research has demonstrated, having a consistent set of teachers increases student success. However, a huge turnover in staff will have a negative impact on the students who remain at the affected schools, decreasing the likelihood of students' graduation and achievement.  Furthermore many of the programs that are successful at these schools, including electives, clubs, and AP courses, many not run when the majority of the new staff is untrained.

Mayoral control of the NYCDOE under Mayor Bloomberg has been a colossal failure. The very idea that one person has been granted the authority to close any school without input from teachers, parents, and students is a mockery of the concept of democracy. What lesson are our students learning about how this city and our nation work if the voices of affected communities are shut out? We need an end to mayoral control of our public schools.

Bullies depend on their victims to be unprepared to defend themselves.  A coalition of chapter leaders, delegates and members from many of the original 33 Turnaround schools have decided to fight back. We are tired of being used as pawns in Mayor Bloomberg's bid to cripple our schools and public education. We will continue to push back until the policy of school closure has ended.

For further information see:

stopturnaround.blogspot.com

Impeach Joel M. Miller, from dysfunctional NYS Assembly After Comments on Coddled Teachers

Here is my response to Miller's comments.
The single most important factor in our success as a society is the effectiveness and quality of politicians.
The current evaluation system of politicians protects the ineffective ones and I believe it is time to stop shielding them by allowing voters who can be mislead by campaign money decide.
Currently, our politicians receive no penalty for failed political practices as incompetent incumbents can spend decades in office.  
Thus we need a PDR - politician data report. Fire them if ineffective according to numerical data.
Miller's record of results should be analyzed and we should come up with a single number by which he will be judged. If he has a record of failed political judgement as indicated in his statement he should be removed immediately.
-----------
NYC Principal Brian De Vale also responded:
Dear Mr. Miller,

Please read the comments attributed to you below. If they are accurate, then I believe that you are clueless and have no business having any involvement in developing education policy.

Brian De Vale
--------------
Miller comments were passed on by Joe Knapp through Mark Naison.

So, yesterday I received a scathing letter from Assemblyman Joel M. Miller of the 102nd District.....
Here are some quotes:
"The current (evaluation) system protects the ineffective teachers and I believe it is time to stop shielding them."
"The parents are entrusting that our system provides qualified educators for the students;"  Isn't it our state that give them their certification????
"Without teacher evaluations, there is no incentive for teachers to improve their teaching methods."  Really, there are no teacher evaluations in place?  And I need that to want to improve?
"Currently, our teachers receive no penalty for failed teaching practices, nor do they receive rewards for good teaching."
1.  I have seen plenty of ineffective teachers removed in my 13 years as an educator.  2.  I do not need a "reward" for good teaching, I am intrinscly motivated and my students success is good enough reward for me.
"For anyone to stand in the way of allowing teacher evaluations to be public is protecting ineffective teachers and promoting for a poor educational system."
"Currently, there are public databanks for professionals in various career areas.  For example, physician performance information is available to the public through databanks.  TEACHERS INSIST THAT THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS.  IF TEACHERS CONSIDER THEMSELVES PROFESSIONALS, WHY SHOULD THEIR EVALUATIONS NOT BE PUBLIC INFORMATION?  I FAIL TO SEE THE REASONING BEHIND WHY TEACHER EVALUATIONS SHOULD REMAIN A SECRET."
Mark, this is obsurd, please forward this email and the email address of Assemblyman Miller (millerj@assembly.state.ny.us) so that they may express their dismay with his position.

Joe Knapp
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATOR CERTIFIED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK!!!

Principal Lies to Parent Regarding Opting Out

I mentioned the stress it placed on my son, along with the fact that the teacher evals were tied to scores. "Oh my  gosh, so are you from the union? You sound as if you're making an argument for the teacher's union!" -- NYC parent in convo with principal re: opting out

As angry as I was before, seeing the tests today (which we are not allowed to quote in any way) has sent me over the edge! I haven't even read all of them yet but the fifth grade test is unbelievable. Easy reading selections and lots of trick questions--more than I have ever seen before--that are absolutely no indication of any kind of 5th grade level reading comprehension. My APs and I can't even figure out what answer they are looking for in some questions! I think we absolutely need to fight that these tests be made public. People will be shocked to see them.  --- NYC Principal

Ahhh, the high stakes testing game is bringing out lots of people who were not activists before. Over 30 years I have battled against HST that began with a principal in 1979 forcing them down our throats and forcing me out of the classroom that I loved so much. The UFT support for HST was one of the issues that broke me with Randi --- I won't go into details now. The forces are growing amongst parents and teachers while the UFT/AFT as an org stays out of the battle- other than issuing a lame statement every so often.

I haven't had time to address the amazing group of parents who have sprung up around the opting out of the test issue, led by the people involved in the GEM Change the Stakes testing committee. There are wonderful emails flying around that I can barely keep track of. And they go beyond NYC and are reaching out nationally. These parents who seemed isolated before have begun to find each other through the Change the Stakes conduit. Build it and they will come - which is what GEM seems to do so well. What I love about this process is how GEM does not try to take ownership and control but allows the group to breathe and go forth and organize. I foresee this opt-out group touching base with the Willimsburg/Greenpoint parents fighting Eva/Eric and this can create a citywide organizing group to jump into the political battles ahead. A bunch of them were at our evaluation event yesterday and were delightful to meet.

The UFT of course is silent (and they took quite a bashing at our Teacher Evaluation Nightmare Forum  yesterday.)

As I was finishing this up I came across this post on Schools Matter: Special Ed Child Forced to Take Test, Mom Threatened by School Officials in Oceanside, NY

While many parents in NYC report some decent experiences when discussing opting out with their principals, this parent faced the kind of principal so many teachers face.

Well,  I had a somewhat disturbing conversation with our principal. I brought my child in to school at noon, after the testing period, and was told that, "according to Legal", if he entered the building at whatever time, they were "required" to  administer the test. I hadn't read through the threads here today, where i see that some schools have made accommodations that permit some of the opted-out students to help out in other classrooms. So, if "Legal" says my son is "required" to take the test if he's in the building, why is this not being enforced city-wide? (answer: it's a bunch of bull).

She acted as if she were confused by my opposition to the test: "testing has been around for years!" Yes, I said, but not in this way-- and please don't pretend you're not aware of the controversy surrounding these particular tests. I mentioned the stress it placed on my son, along with the fact that the teacher evals were tied to scores. "Oh my  gosh, so are you from the union? You sound as if you're making an argument for the teacher's union!" (not that there's anything wrong with that). I pointed out that the real issue for me, as a parent, was that the tie-in to teacher evals is bound to alter the dynamic between student and teacher-- or should i say test-taker and evaluee?

I politely told her that this was no easy decision for us (after she rather offensively said "I don't see how you could place him in the middle of all this")-- as if I were simply using my child to, i don't know, run for political office...

Finally  I said, "we understand that we'll need to talk about possible consequences to our decision, but we feel we're making it in his best interest" to which she replied "well, he'll have to go to summer school."

Really, I said. He's been on the honor roll; he's reading at the fourth-grade level; he won first place in the science fair-- what possible academic justification would you have for making him go to summer school? She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "We have to follow the rules, whatever they are" (like the one "requiring" her to administer the test if he's in the building?)

I left it with "well, we don't accept that" and "thank you for your time"... I handed her the temperate, polite letter I'd written explaining our decision and she promised to read it. How wonderful for us.

But I'm glad we're doing it. We don't intend to back down in the face of such bland bureaucratic intimidation-- I only wish I could do this without putting my son in this situation...although when we left he said "you and me...linked, Dad. I'm on your side."

Right. So on to victory. Sigh.

 And this came in from a principal:

As angry as I was before, seeing the tests today (which we are not allowed to quote in any way) has sent me over the edge! I haven't even read all of them yet but the fifth grade test is unbelievable. Easy reading selections and lots of trick questions--more than I have ever seen before--that are absolutely no indication of any kind of 5th grade level reading comprehension. My APs and I can't even figure out what answer they are looking for in some questions! I think we absolutely need to fight that these tests be made public. People will be shocked to see them.

Leonie asks:
Can we have teachers take a look at the ELA passages and tell us, either on or off the record, how confusing and/or ambiguous the choices of answers are?

And note this:

Texas anti-testing resolution; 282 districts adopted so far TASA - http://goo.gl/mTdc7

 This is the website of the Texas Assoc of School Administrators , which has been promoting the reso.  PAA along with other national orgs will release an adapted version next week for NYS and the nation.

More incoming:

There has been a notable difference in my students' affect on this second day of testing. They are much more restless and easily frustrated. Out of the 6 kids in my testing group, 3 have refused to answer the extended response question (a straightforward question, but the story was SO short that the kids have to repeat details they gave in the short response questions). One boy accidentally spilled water on his table and a little bit got on his test. He's currently in the corner curled up in a ball saying he's going to get arrested for messing up the test book. "Fortunately" there are 2 hours left in our testing period so I have plenty of time to convince him otherwise. 4 more days....lord. :(

 

-----

I am a literacy specialist in Rockland and I proctored the fourth grade test today. I thought that the test was terrible and not a true measure, in my opinion, of reading comprehension.  First, some of the early passages in the test were very long (more than two pages) and meandering, making it difficult for 8/9 year-old readers to clearly discern the principal problem among several - or the problem the test-maker thought was the principal problem. These long passagers put an undue burden on young reader's stamina during the early part of the test. Even though I am an adult who reads a lot (I am currently finishing my doctoral dissertation in language and literacy) , i found getting through the long passages and questions mentally tiring. This was in part due to the fact that the questions were convoluted and designed to "catch" students in test traps. In addition, some of the test's print features were inconsistent (i.e., same exact phrases were bolded in some question and not others). The word choice both in the question stem and in the answer choices was meant to obscure meaning. Choosing at times arcane vocabulary to refer to text information in the correct choices.  I have been a teacher for 19 years and a literacy specialist for 13, and I can say with some degree of confidence that this test was unfair and not a good instrument to measure students ability to read proficiently and use complex text to think critically and learn about the world. I feel sad for my wonderful and hard working students who sat for 90 minutes running through an unfair reading rat maze for political antics and for the benefit of corporate profiteers. I am afraid for the profession I love and for the future of public education.

Exposing Segregation Tactics of Eric Grannis and Citizens of the World Charter Schools

Our schools are 8% white, but theirs will be 55% white.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint say NO to segregated schools

• Beware: “Citizens of the World Charter Schools” has already been associated with a number of financial scandals and ethical improprieties.

Grannis and wife

• "Citizens of the World Charter Schools" are financially unstable. Expansion of their schools is necessary for them to stay in business. Our children should not be prey to this Ponzi scheme.

Everyone come to the Thursday, April 19th hearing @IS 71 215 Heyward Street, Brooklyn NY 11206 from 6pm to 8pm to fight the Citizens of the World Charter Chain. They are planning on opening TWO schools in District 14 - one on the north side and one on the SOUTH side! we need your support. https://www.facebook.com/events/185195068267404/

Some people view this Grannis move as an attempt to start being perceived as the one really wearing the pants in the family. Don't believe it.

I have so much information to post on the expansion of the Moskowitz/Grannis machine with the open intention of draining as many white kids as they can out of the public schools in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. This is a direct attack on schools like PS 110, PS 31, PS 34, PS 84, PS 132 and PS 17, MS 50 and the to be closed MS 126, all schools in the main gentrifying areas. Even the national chess champs (IS 318 Wins High School Chess Championship)  [today's wonderful front page article in the Times] are threatened by this diversion.

Just think about this. You actually have some integrated and diversified schools and the husband and wife vulture capitalist Grannis/Moskowitz team aim to disrupt that.

The positive thing about every outrage perpetrated by the ed deformers is that the opposition is growing and hopefully this will create a crescendo to abolish mayoral control. The weakest link in all this is the UFT -- which was so reinforced at the amazing ed eval forum we held yesterday (video coming). Really, if you are a teacher and not involved in this, Why We Need a New Caucus in the UFT- SOTU Meets Apr. 21, you are being led to slaughter.

I can't make the meeting to oppose the charter on April 19 but we did arrange to tape it. (Don't forget the closing schools rally at Tweed is earlier at 4PM which I will make.)

Here are some items for your attention. I have a great 22 page pdf that I have to figure out how to put up but if you want a copy email normsco@gmail.com

 https://www.facebook.com/events/185195068267404/

 =========

CALLING ALL WILLIAMSBURG / GREENPOINT PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS!! DEFEND OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM PROFIT-DRIVEN SEGREGATION

Come to the Community Education Council for District 14 Hearing on “Citizens of the World Charter Schools”

• “Citizens of the World Charter Schools” is a Los Angeles charter school chain with two proposals to open schools in our area, one on the south side of Williamsburg and one in Greenpoint, in the fall of 2013. These schools are brought to us by Eric Grannis, husband of Eva Moskowitz, who already has forced three of her Success Academy Charter Schools on our district.

• The official proposal for these schools is riddled with false information and manipulated data in a mercenary attempt to discredit our local public schools and manufacture a desire for these schools.

• Their proposed schools offer nothing new or different. They are poor copies of our neighborhood schools, (PS84, PS132, PS110, PS31, PS34 and the new PS414), and will not have the experienced teachers and principals or the commitment to our community that we enjoy in our neighborhood schools.

• “Citizens of the World Charter Schools” wants to pull white middle class children out of our public schools. They manipulated our demographic data by disregarding the Hassidic population and child- less hipsters when they discussed the discrepancy between our district population as 55% white and our district schools as 8% white. They want schools that will mirror our district demographic. Our schools are 8% white, but theirs will be 55% white.

• If these redundant and wasteful school are approved, they will siphon precious funds from our existing schools, and worse – they will seek to co-locate in PS110 in Greenpoint and either PS84 or PS414 in Williamsburg, dramatically segregating those buildings and creating class-warfare. Our neighborhood schools will lose vital art rooms, science rooms, computer rooms, music rooms, and rooms used for special education.

• Beware: “Citizens of the World Charter Schools” has already been associated with a number of financial scandals and ethical improprieties.

• "Citizens of the World Charter Schools" are financially unstable. Expansion of their schools is necessary for them to stay in business. Our children should not be prey to this Ponzi scheme.

PLEASE JOIN US IN OUR FIGHT TO SUPPORT OUR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
CEC14 MEETING   
    Thursday, April 19, 2012 from 6pm to 8pm    
     215 Heyward Street, Brooklyn NY 11206

-------------------
Stop the Grannis/Moskowitz charter invasion of District 14

COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL FOR DISTRICT 14

 BUSINESS/CALENDAR MEETING:

 Thursday, April 19, 2012   (Business: 6:00 pm - 7:00pm / Calendar: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm)

 I.S 71

215 Heyward Street,   Brooklyn NY 11206

by Kate Yourke, parent activist, Williamsburg/Greenpoint

Citizens of the World is a charter school in Los Angeles, CA which hopes to expand to become a national chain of publicly funded, privately run charter schools.

Citizens of the World recognized an opportunity to move into our School District to capitalize on NYC’s policy of offering charter schools free rent in our public school buildings.

This free rent has created a business model attractive enough for Citizens of the World to begin its national expansion here in NYC, coming all the way across the country to exploit District 14’s under enrolled public schools, hoping to capture the potential of wealthier, white families moving into our gentrifying District.

Founding Board Chair of Citizens of the World is Kristean Dragon, who is also Executive Director of The Wonder of Reading. Citizens of the World’s newly formed “national network” shares its address with Wonder of Reading.

On Jun 20, 2011, NBC4 Extra ran an investigative piece on scandals surrounding the Wonder of Reading program, called Book Wars: Episode Two. It describes a situation where inadequate oversight allowed public bond money to be used for improperly awarded contracts to companies requiring kickbacks- and for cost overruns to double and triple the expense of rebuilding 177 school libraries in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

From the report:

“Accountant Chris Hamilton draws an even more sober conclusion about the problems detected in the Wonder of Reading program.

"I call it the perfect storm," he says, "because you have someone who admits they've paid a kickback. You have cowed and intimidated vendors. You have no oversight. You rarely see that all in one case…"

Along with shared leadership and a shared address, Citizens of the World has a $5.2 million contract with Wonder of Reading extending into the 2014-2015 school year.

Citizens of the World recognizes similar lucrative subcontracting opportunities here in NYC, starting in our School District, where they also intend to capitalize on the fears of newer white families preparing for their children’s entry into school. Citizens of the World’s District 14 outreach efforts began with Eric Grannis (husband to Success Academy’s Eva Moskowitz) subversively infiltrating a yahoo group for local parents in the guise of a local dad. Inviting parents on this mainly white, middle-class yahoo group to a discussion of their ideal school (a discussion held in an pricey baby boutique,) a few parents were cultivated to strategically promote the school in exclusive meetings in luxury waterfront hi-rises. Parents with no experience in the public school system were told that all our neighborhood schools were failing, and that the low-income families of color would never accept them in their public school communities. The repercussions of Eric Grannis and Citizens of the World’s smarmy entrance into our neighborhood are still being felt in broken friendships, betrayed trust, and heated arguments in local play spaces. I cannot fathom the negative impact of their type of divisive, racist manipulation if Eric Grannis and Citizens of the World were to be successful in co-locating 2 large charter elementary schools in our District.

Charter Schools were developed so that educators and community leaders could respond to specific community needs.

However, the structure of charter law in combination with the system of Mayoral Control in NYC has instead allowed schools from outside a community to be imposed on that community despite universal opposition.

This Thursday’s CEC meeting will be entered into the CWCS application to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of charter law, which requires the applicant “rigorously demonstrate” public outreach “in conformity with a thorough and meaningful public review process.” In reality, Eric Grannis and Citizens of the World intentionally hid this proposal from the larger community, making only private invitations, never announcing their intention to bring this school to our District, much less holding any public meeting, discussion, or forum on their intentions.

Mayoral Control could force our community to make space in our public school buildings for these 2 charter schools which have targeted our vulnerable District from 3,000 miles away – charter schools whose leadership is implicated in vast corruption and profiteering from public money- charter schools suggesting they educate according to the premise of Citizenship, while they operate in a manipulative, secretive, and racist manner as they segregate and divide our community in the pursuit of our public school system budget.

Mayoral Control offers our community no opportunity to impact the approval and siting of charter schools, although we will suffer their impact. The stakes are enormous and the impact would be profound. We must make sure our voices are heard, involve our neighbors and stand up against this destructive intrusion, stand up for our truly public schools. I ask the Community Board to pass a resolution opposing the Citizens of the World Charter School, and I ask everyone in this room to spread the word, attend Thursday’s CEC meeting, write letters to Carl McCall, SUNY Board of Trustees, and push back against this effort to privatize our public education system.

Why We Need a New Caucus in the UFT- SOTU Meets Apr. 21

Find out more. Join us for: An Open Meeting

Sat, April 21st 12 – 3pm

Graduate Center for Worker Education, 25 Broadway

The single most important thing in defending teachers and public education we can do from inside the UFT is building a broad-based movement from the bottom up that can reach deep into the schools. I don't have to agree with everything that will emerge but as long as the process is democratic and everyone has a say I can live with not having everything go my way. This is impossible in Unity Caucus or the way they have run the union for 50 years.

Really nothing will change in the UFT until there is a viable alternative to Unity Caucus. As a matter of fact it will get worse.
I won't list the unwillingness or unwilligness of the UFT leadership to fight back. How ironic that principals are doing more to defend us on the evaluation menace?
(Today will be another dreary Delegate Assembly and nothing gets one more depressed  - or motivated - than these monthly travesties of democracy.)

It will take work and commitment. As in Chicago's CORE, this can be done with a few hundred committed people.

Are you ready?

Share the leaflet with your co-workers and help build this group from the ground up. Email me for a copy of the leaflet.

WHY WE NEED A NEW CAUCUS in the UFT

We believe our strength lies with our members, organized into strong chapters.
This requires an active effort to educate our membership about how their union works, and involve them in democratically determining its direction.

We believe in social justice unionism.

We fight for equitable public education and against racism in the schools.

Building an alliance of students, parents and community members as a key part of our strategy. The UFT must fight for our members and our students.
Our working conditions are our students learning conditions.

We prioritize members working together to build power in our schools.
Through collective struggles, our members will gain confidence and organization to mobilize an escalating series of actions, in our communities, city-wide and nationally, that can begin to take on the bigger challenges facing our union, educators and public education as a whole. Every educator in America knows that our profession, and our students, are under attack.

The onslaught of high-stakes testing, privatization, weakening or elimination of job protections, school closings and charter co- locations threatens the very existence of public education as we know it. Unionized teachers in particular have been singled out for demonization.

The strategy put forth by our union leadership to take on these challenges is inadequate. UFT officials rely primarily on lobbying, media blitzes and procedural lawsuits. When occasional mobilizations are called, they are organized without a long-term plan for escalating actions or increased membership involvement. The union leadership takes a concessionary stance in order to maintain its "seat at the table” with politicians and corporate forces like Bill Gates, who turn around and attack teachers and the union at every opportunity. Union leadership then sells serious concessions to the members as victories claiming - "It could have worse”.

Some of the key policy failures of the UFT leadership:
• Supporting mayoral control even in the face of the devastating impact
• A weak stand against closing schools
• A compromising position on charter schools and co-locations
• Giving up on the fight to reduce class size
• The acceptance of rating teachers based on high-stakes tests
• Agreeing to merit pay even though every single study shows the failure of this policy
• Steadily deteriorating working conditions and power in the workplace
• Erosion of job security and tenure protections
• A one-party undemocratic system that shuts out the voices of the members
We need something different. A union that fights for the rights of students, teachers and communities. A union that fights for racial and economic justice inside and outside our schools.

Find out more. Join us for: An Open Meeting
Sat, April 21st 12 – 3pm


Graduate Center for Worker Education, 25 Broadway

For more information email: sotuuft@gmail.com or look for State of the Union on Facebook.

One on One With Diane Ravitch and Deb Meier

Diane Ravitch and Deb Meier knock it out of the park in an interview with GEM for the upcoming film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind High Stakes Testing.

Diane Ravitch will be on Brian Lehrer today to counter the infomercial interview he did with Michelle Rhee last week. I'm a fan of Lehrer and though he did toss in a few tough comments, there was no real challenge to Rhee, though a parent and principal did get in a few shots. At one point Brian called her Dr. Rhee, maybe confusing her with Dr. MengeRhee, the German butcher of WW II.

Well anyway, when I heard she was going to be on, I rushed to edit the interview I did last week with Diane for our new movie (The Inconvenient Truth Behind High Stakes Testing).

What a treat! building Bridges one-on-one with Diane Ravitch and Debbie Meier, the two rock stars of the real reform movement within a few days of each other. (One dream is to get them next to each other and just turn on the camera.) Both interviews cover a lot of ground with Deb talking about the impact on kids and Diane on policy, really the essence of what they both do so well.

Diane was between trips for a day or two and was so gracious in giving us time last Monday morning. Our meeting was scheduled at Brooklyn Borough Hall for 10AM so I got there 20 minutes early. It was a beautiful day and there were little green tables in front of the steps so it made sense to not waste her time searching for an indoor location (when Debbie and tried it at Starbucks the noise was impossible). Besides, the setting with a park in the background looked so good.

It didn't take me long to notice it was a bit windy. And not much longer before a 40 mile an hour gust practically blew me away. OMG! The film crew will kill me if I mess this up. I pulled a table over to the side of the steps to give us some shelter and I also had a remote mic - luckily since I often use a mic mounted on the camera. You can hear the wind, but most of the interview is clear except for a few spots where the wind gusted.

Diane arrived promptly at 10 wearing a cool leather jacket and jeans. She truly did look like a rock star. She said we should have done the interview in front of 110 Livingston St., the old DOE HQ and a major topic of one of her books but we figured we would have to buy a condo first.

With the wind tousling her hair she shakes, rattles and rolls through 20 minutes of comments on high stakes testing. (I tried to edit out my whiny voice where possible.) See below for the Deb Meier interview. where she nails what education should be about. I also had the treat of talking to her off camera about open classrooms as Deb was a hero of mine when I was teaching and struggling with that concept in the 70's.

https://vimeo.com/40501011



And in case you missed it, here is my 10 minutes with Deb Meier a few days before which I wrote about previously here.


http://youtu.be/owi2SKa4EA8

IS 318 Wins High School Chess Championship

Bill Hall, the executive director of the United States Chess Federation, which organized the championships, said he had never heard of a middle school winning the high school championships. “To my knowledge, it has never happened before,” he said. I.S. 318 beat several other city chess teams this weekend, including Stuyvesant High School and Edward R. Murrow High School.  -----NY Times, Schoolbook

This is really big news. I reported on the Daily News attack on the school in this March 5 post

In Defense of IS 318 after the data reports came out where they charged that the school had a high number of ineffective teachers based on the inaccurate TDRs, even sending a reporter and photographer to one of my long-time friend's home on a Saturday morning.

I also wrote about the school when long-time principal, AP and teacher at the school, Fred Rubino, died suddenly recently (A Giant is Lost: Fortunato (Fred) Rubino). Somewhere up there Fred must be kvelling -- or whatever the Italian word for that is.

About half the school’s 1,600 students take chess classes, said Leander Windley, the school’s principal.

800 kids have time off from test prep? Though they do test prep like everyone else, they manage to create all kinds of interesting programs for the kids. By the way, I know Windley since his teaching days when he was one of the first teachers I involved in a robotics program, which 318 still has.

“This is the greatest achievement we’ve ever had, and probably ever will have,” John Galvin, one of the coaches, said in a telephone interview from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Wait a minute. You mean the chess team is out of town before the testing season?

John Galvin, an AP at the school, has been involved with this program for so many years. He goes back to the late 80s or early 90s when I was teaching all my upper grade classes chess when I was a cluster teacher. John actually organized a district-wide chess tournament where 8-10 schools participated, including mine. Interesting point in that the tournament was held at MS 50, the school Eva is currently invading -- (see After burn.) You know how Eva likes to brag about her chess programs, which the eager pro-charter press reports all the time, while a public school has to win the national championship to get coverage.


After they collected their award on Sunday evening, Mr. Galvin and the team hopped in cabs to catch a 9 p.m. screening of “Brooklyn Castle,” which happened to be showing at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival across town. It was the first time many of them had seen it.

The film also looks at the challenges I.S. 318’s longtime principal, Fortunato “Fred” Rubino, who died suddenly earlier this month, faced in maintaining the team through a time of budget cuts. A $25,000 grant from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Co-generation power plant helped pay for this year’s travel, Mr. Galvin said.

Yeah, watch WalBloom jump to take credit -- lookee, we cut their funds to the bone but due to the nurturing we gave them they can do miracles.

After Burn
Speaking of Eva, MS 50 is already getting new stuff for Eva, some of it almost a joke if you read the post from the Inside Colocation blog about the Cobble Hill school:

We returned from Spring Break to find this new floor in the basement, where the charter school will be moving in. Of course, there are no new floors anywhere else in the building. The blue was shocking. I heard one adorable student say, “I don’t know how to swim, Mister.” Another said, “They spent their money on something stupid. We don’t need new tiles.” And another said, “I think the charter school did it.” All of these students will, I’m sure, be surprised to see the changes yet to come.

Gather Ye Data: Testing Day Reminder From Fred Smith

I posted this request from Fred the other day:Fred Smith Requests Your Help
Here is a last minute reminder.

Folks,

If you are a teacher who is giving the ELA Test (or you know a teacher who is giving it) would you please confirm the following information about the total number of multiple-choice items that appear in Book 1, which is being given tomorrow.

Grade 3  36 items ____ Number of Passages ____   Grade 4  37 items ____ Number of Passages ____

Grade 5  39 items ____ Number of Passages ____  Grade 6  39 items ____   Number of passages ____

Grade 7  39 items ____  Number of Passages ____  Grade 8  39 items ____  Number of Passages ____

The above numbers come from the Teacher's Directions, so I assume they are accurate.  If not, please let me know of any discrepancy and tell me how many items appear in the Test Book.

Also, please indicate the number of reading passages (stories, poems, etc.) in Book 1. 

Book 1 contains the field test items.  These items won't count in the results of tomorrow's tests.  They are embedded with the items that actually will count. Knowing how many items and reading selections are on tomorrow's test will help me evaluate the ELA's structure and expose its weaknesses as an examination.

Feel free to call me with the numbers at  (718)-437-5659 if you don't want to email.

Thank you.

Fred

Parent Anger Builds Over High-Stakes Standardized Tests: Some NYC parents take a stand, refuse to have their children tested

Change the Stakes issues press release on high stakes tests. 

UPDATE: With Test Week Here, NYC Parents Consider the Option of Opting Out – SchoolBook - http://goo.gl/fP3cu

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/04/16/with-test-week-here-parents-consider-the-option-of-opting-out/

I haven't been writing much about this growing movement but have been involved in it through the GEM Change the stakes committee which also spurred the Real Reform Studio arm of GEM to work on a new film. Tomorrow's Teacher Evaluation Nightmare - Forum
is also connected. It has been exciting to see this committee sort of take off on its own after emerging from a GEM idea to focus on this issue a year ago. It has attracted a dynamic group of parents who are committed to fighting the impact of high stakes testing. I am proud that Ed Notes was taking a stand on this issue as far back as the late 90's when I was bringing resolutions to the UFT Delegate Assembly where Unity Caucus affirmed their support for the testing agenda by overwhelmingly defeating every one of them.

See Susan Ohanian comment below in the Afterburn.


Change the Stakes

Changethestakes.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Janine Sopp, 917-541-6062

Andrea Mata, 646-831-3903 

Parent Anger Builds Over High-Stakes Standardized Tests:
Some NYC parents take a stand, refuse to have their children tested 

New York City – As the annual rite of standardized testing begins in the city’s public schools, the stakes are higher than ever before: low scores can prevent students from moving to the next grade and limit their middle and high school choices, while aggregate scores that fail to improve over time can be used to close schools and, as of next year, to fire teachers. Some parents believe the stakes have gotten too high.

“I’m not opposed to standardized tests, but the emphasis on testing is out of control. It’s seriously compromising the quality of education at my son's wonderful school,” said Andrea Mata, mother of a 3rd-grader in Manhattan. “Too much time is spent on test prep, and everything else – notably science, social studies, and our school's entire dual language curriculum – has become secondary,” added Ms. Mata. She has decided to take action; her son will not take the state language arts test this week. 

Ms. Mata is not alone in her anger and frustration. Parents in the city and elsewhere across the country have begun to unite with teachers and administrators to fight high-stakes testing through a spate of new organizations and campaigns.1 

But unlike Ms. Mata, most New York City parents who oppose the tests are reluctant to “opt out” because of possible repercussions for their child, their child’s teachers, and their school. New York does not allow parents to legally opt out of state-mandated standardized tests as Pennsylvania and California do. 

Although only a handful of parents are likely to refuse to have their children tested over the next two weeks, some hope their actions will encourage other parents to join the broader movement to end high- stakes testing. “It’s been difficult to get definitive answers about the consequences of opting out, but we feel so strongly that these tests are hurting our son’s education that we felt compelled to take the risk,” said Robert Kulesz, father of a 3rd-grader in Queens. 

Critics of high-stakes testing cite a long list of harmful effects on children and their education. Because the stakes are so high, schools have narrowed curricula and neglected non-tested subjects. Teachers are rewarded for high test scores rather than for inspiring a love of learning, fostering creativity, or encouraging critical and interdisciplinary thinking. Students know that doing well on standardized tests is highly valued, which creates undue pressure and anxiety. As the length of the tests increases, so does the stress, especially for younger children who have a harder time sitting still for long periods and for children with extended testing time to accommodate learning issues. Critics also point to the vast resources expended on testing when the city has lost thousands of teachers and class sizes are increasing. 

Despite the rising tide of opposition to high-stakes tests, the city and state already have plans to implement more: New York is part of a consortium of states working to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math to be given throughout the school year.2  New local assessments also are being developed for earlier grades and in subjects like the arts.3  New local assessments also are being developed for earlier grades and in subjects like the arts.

According to Janine Sopp, a parent who is active in Change the Stakes and opting her 3rd grader out of this year’s exams, resistance against high-stakes testing is likely to grow in the months and years ahead unless officials at the federal, state, and local levels heed mounting opposition. “Parents and teachers are frustrated because our concerns about what high-stakes testing is doing to public education have been ignored or even dismissed. 

Officials who keep upping the ante have little or no classroom experience and typically send their own children to private schools but somehow think they know what’s best for public schoolchildren,” said Ms. Sopp, whose daughter attends the Brooklyn New School.
Parents will get another chance to opt their children out of standardized tests before the school year is over. According to the State Education Department, most schools will be invited to serve as field testing sites for Pearson, the for-profit test development contractor. The field tests, which are scheduled for June, will be administered in only one or two grades per school.4 They allow the test company to try out sample questions for use on future exams but serve no educational purpose for the children taking them. 

To schedule interviews with parents opting out of this year’s tests, call Janine Sopp (917-541-6062) or Andrea Mata (646-831-3903). 

### 

Change the Stakes (changethestakes.org), a committee of the Grassroots Education Movement, was formed to expose the damaging effects of high-stakes standardized tests. We are a group of parents and teachers working to build and unite opposition to these tests in New York City. See our online petition demanding that New York State develop a non-punitive process by which parents concerned about the impacts of high-stakes testing on student learning can opt their children out of standardized tests. 

========
1 In addition to Change the Stakes, other organizations that oppose high-stakes testing include Time Out from Testing, United Opt Out, Parents Across America, Save Our Schools and Fair Test. 

2 The consortium is the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, http://www.parcconline.org/. 
 3 http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-07-22/local/29818539_1_arts-education-budget-cuts-high-school-students
4 http://www.p12.nysed.gov/apda/ei/38fieldtest-memo-12.pdf. 

-----
Testing: How to Stop the Reign

NOTE: NCLB testing begins tomorrow in New York, when 1.2 million kids begin to take the ELA and math tests in grades 3 - 8. This year the tests contain embedded multiple-choice items that are being field tested, enabling the new vendor (you guessed it, Pearson) to develop future tests on the back of the children. The items won't count but they will make the exams considerably longer.

Fred Smith presents a strategy for making this greedy scheme backfire:
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_nclb_outrages.php?id=4232

Ohanian Comment: I don't give up on my dream of the day the corporate-politicos schedule the massive testing scheme and no parent allows their children to participate AND a huge majority of teachers engage in the professional act of refusing to administer the tests.

Teacher Evaluation Nightmare Updated - Forum - April 17

GEM, Class Size Matters and Parents Across America along with the GEM high stakes testing committee, Change the Stakes, are sponsoring this event on Tuesday, Apr. 17.

The idea for this event emerged out of a GEM steering committee meeting in Feb. We  postponed once because the UFT announced it would be doing some protest on March 15 which turned out to be the usual nothing.

The Change the Stakes committee has evolved into a strong parent influenced group with a lot of opt-out action. Leonie has some good stuff about it: NYC Teacher supports parents opting their children out of standardized testing and wishes she could as well!

And The Assailed Teacher also posted: The New Civil Disobedience

A great panel has been recruited headlined by Carol Burris and joined by NYC teacher/writers/bloggers Gary Rubinstein (see his blog) and Arthur Goldstein and joined by leading parent activist Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters. After the panel speaks we will try to come up with strategies for fight back.

Julie Cavanagh will moderate. Independent filmmaker and reporter Jaisal Noor and I will be taping (I will also be doing interviews for our new film on high stakes testing. See my interview with Diane Ravitch.)

This is not just a sit, listen and ask a question event but has a working component to develop strategies to create the kind of rational policy we are not seeing out of the UFT and NYSUT.

NEW SPEAKER ADDED: Khalilah Bran, Teacher, Bushwick Community High School, a school threatened with closure: Bushwick Community High School’s supporters protested its planned turnaround. (GothamSchools, NY1).

More on BCHS:

This Is Arguably the Most Disgusting Failure of Metric-Driven ...

mikethemadbiologist.com/.../this-is-arguably-the-most-disgusting-fail...

Apr 4, 2012 – Michael Winerip has a great article about Bushwick Community High School, a transfer school–essentially the last stop for failing students.

Teacher Evaluation Nightmare !
          a forum on testing, teacher evaluations and our schools

Tuesday, April 17 at 5:30 PM

Murry Bergtraum High School Auditorium

411 Pearl Street, Manhattan

(Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Station 4,5,6 -Fulton Street Station 2,3 - Chambers Street Station J)

Come to a Meeting to Discuss: Why are the new teacher evaluations bad for teachers, students, and families?

How can we organize to change them?

Speakers: Carol Burris: L.I. Principal, one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by       student test scores, which has been signed by nearly 1,400 New York principals. Leonie Haimson: parent activist and  Exec. Director of Class Size Matters   Gary Rubinstein: Math teacher at Stuyvesant High School and critical analyst of the Teacher Data Reports Arthur Goldstein: E.S.L. teacher and  chapter leader at Francis Lewis High School in Queens

Come hear speakers  explain how the new evaluations will work and the implications for students, teachers, families, and education.  Join the discussion of how we can organize to change the final outcome.

Co-sponsored by: Grassroots Education Movement, Class Size Matters, and Parents Across America 

Blog  :   http://gemnyc.org/  or email:   gemnyc@gmail.com 

For more information about  the negative effects of high stakes tests or opting your child out of high stakes testing, please visit: http://changethestakes.org 

State Ed Dept Should Be Indicted With Believe's Unsteady Eddie

If a charter school leader were an ax murderer, the State Ed Dept would reauthorize with a slap on the wrist..... channeling my inner Bloomberg (comments on 3020a hearing officers).

What is wrong with this timeline?

• 2004: Mr. Calderon-Melendez founded Williamsburg Charter High School and became the school's CEO.  

• 2005:Mr. Calderon-Melendez failed to file taxes despite earning up to $500,000 a year in salary and consultant fees. After receiving a subpoena, he "produced false New York tax returns" for years 2005 through 2008.

• 2009-10 school year. A state audit found more than $80,000 in overpayments to the network and hundreds of thousands of dollars in mishandled expenses.

• 2010: The state approved Southside and Northside to join the newly created Believe High Schools Network, which Mr. Calderon-Melendez also headed. ---- Wall St. Journal

The state APPROVED TWO MORE SCHOOLS JUST 2 YEARS AGO?

I just read the Wall St. Journal article on the indictment of Eddie Calderon-Melendez, who as Susan Ohanian put it:

This is the thug who sent me threatening e-mails after I asked this question. He was notorious for mistreating teachers .

Here's the New York Times opening paragraph:

When state investigators demanded last year to see personal tax returns filed by Eddie Calderon-Melendez, the founder and chief executive of a troubled network of charter high schools in Brooklyn, he produced them. One problem, according to the investigators, was that those state tax returns were falsified and had never been filed.

And here's the kicker: Almost all of the money to operate the three schools came from public financing.

So let me get this straight since I'm on my holding the press accountable kick. The WSJ -- and the NY Times and Gotham and the NY Post -- all write stories about Eddie but NOT ONE OF THEM THINKS TO RAISE THE ISSUE OF WHY THE STATE ALLOWED HIM TO OPEN 2 MORE SCHOOLS 2 YEARS AGO?

Read the WSJ Article in full.

And check out a load of comments (where we have fun with our fave ed deformer Ken Hirsh) at Gotham Schools. Investigation into charter school CEO ends with an indictment.

Here is an email from a teacher at Believe after I broke the $100 a head story that Jenny Medina at the NY Times picked up on (the photo was sent to me anon from someone in the school.)

I am a current teacher at a Believe school

Dear Ms. Ohanian,

Thank you for posting the story "Students at $100 a Head?" from the New York Times blog. I saw your note that the CEO of the school wrote threatening emails after you posted the story.

I am a current teacher at a Believe school, and a commenter on Ms. Medina's blog. I implore you to publish Melendez's comments, or to comment on Ms. Medina's blog. It may seem small or irrelevant to spend more time thinking about this single charter school, but I assure you that it matters to me, my fellow teachers, and most of all, to our students, that Melendez's misdeeds do not continue to go unnoticed.

Sincerely,

Louise (not my real name)

See all comments posted at the CityRoom blog

One of the funny comments at the NY Times Cityroom Blog

What can I say about Williamsburg Charter High School that hasn’t already been said about Iraq?

It has been named the “Believe” Network. Who came up with this name? Belief in what? By whom? At best it is an arbitrary title rooted in the presumption that the students are inherently unable to perform. As a result, success is dependent on faith. This is yet another example of framing the problem as a deficiency in these poor black and brown kids and not the irresponsible adults entrusted with their development (achievement gap, anyone? How about addressing the administration gap?).

The school mascot is the Wolverines. Why? No one knows. No one cares. There aren’t even any wolverines in Brooklyn. The closest wolverine is in Canada. How about a relevant mascot? Let’s go Williamsburg Animal Shaped Rubberbands!

Ultimate charity fund-raising event: A roast of Eddie Calderon-Melendez. Charge $50 a plate and invite current and former employees (mostly former). We’ll make enough to cure cancer.

Williamsburg Charter High School has been unfairly compared to the mob in these comments. The mob has consistent leadership.

Believe Network Definitions:

Irony: The network offices have glass walls yet are the least transparent part of the organization.

Sadism: the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on other people’s children (e.g. mismanaging a charter school network).

Masochism: the tendency to derive pleasure from one’s own pain or humiliation (e.g. sending your children to your own mismanaged charter school network).

And how can I leave you without a pic of State Bd of Regent Head Merryl Tisch, my favorite candidate for being indicted one day.

Fred Smith Requests Your Help

For those of you who are not aware, Fred Smith has been working with us for years to expose the underbelly of high stakes testing.

Hi, Norm:

I put together a teacher survey about the ELA and Math testing program and advertised it in NY's union papers. One ad came out on April 5th in the UFT paper. It will appear again in both the NYSUT and UFT papers on the 19th. The classified ad was placed in the MISCELLANEOUS category.

Can you share this with your readers?

Fred Smith

As a retired NYC BOE test researcher, I stand ready to receive responses from the field, analyze and report on them. I welcome your feedback and support. I'd like to see the survey get into wide circulation by making teachers aware of it and inviting their participation.

The New York State ELA and Math tests are being given over the next two weeks. Your feedback about the testing program is important. Here is the link to a survey, intended for teachers in grades 3 to 8, asking how you see the program. (For your information, the survey is also being advertised in the UFT and NYSUT newspapers.) It should take 5 minutes to complete--but a little more time if you want to provide comments. Please invite your colleagues to respond as well. Thank you.

Please take a look at the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/TeachersSay

Thank you.

Also from Fred to the Change the Stakes Listserve - see blog here: http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/

Folks, I'm calling on the teachers in this group to do me a favor.

On Tuesday, when the ELA is given (Book 1), please note the total number of items there are in the test booklet and how many reading passages there are. There is nothing wrong in verifying this information.

I'd like that basic information for each grade level (from grade 3 to grade 8).  I think our group has that range covered.

Note: Book 1 is the only part of the ELA that will contain embedded field test items. The facts I'm requesting will help me figure out how many of the multiple-choice items that appear on the test will actually count in the scoring.

Thank you.

A Nine Year Old Unleashes His Imagination

Check out this wonderful little film -- Caine's Arcade. Of course it is summer vacation in his dad's auto shop, not school where "real" learning takes place. But it could be if educators had the imagination Caine has. I always have believed kids can do amazing things when their imaginations are unleashed. Early in my career I actually tried to set up my classroom in a way to unleash their imaginations but a combination of factors -- including my lack of skills in how to do this the right way -- led me to abandon the idea. But imagine a classroom full of cardboard and tools to cut them ---oops, we'd all be arrested on weapons charges. And besides, there's a high stakes test to take so who has time for this?




Thanks to Alexandra Miletta for the link.

I had the opportunity last week to discuss my failed attempt with one of my heroes, Debbie Meier. Here is the short interview I did with her where she shares her views on how kids learn. (The discussion on open classroom we had was unfortunately not taped.) And look for the wonderful interview I did one on one with Diane Ravitch a few days later which I will post later. Imagine -- Meier and Ravitch. What a treat.