Walcott at District 14 CEC Town Hall - At Times I laughed Out Loud

There is actually some pretty funny stuff in this if you dig down into the weeds as Walcott talks stats to explain the fall in grad rates. But a must see is the part when a PTA president asks why they have to turn parents away when they register for pre-k because it must be done on computers and why the DOE can't provide a computer in school for parents to register their kids. Walcott and Jesse talk dizzy talk about all the tech stuff they have while ignoring an elemental issue -- let the parents fill out some paperwork and the school enter the data. He really is Slick Denny. Give me Joel Klein or Cathie Black.

At one point CSA Dist 14 head Brian De Vale hugged Walcott while pointing to me and saying, "If he can hug Klein I can hug you."

I know slogging through an hour of video can be a chore -- just FF through Walcott's grad crap etc. If I have time later I'll create a separate video just for the pre-k hilarity.

https://vimeo.com/68765728

Oh, No, Thompson

Another UFT/AFT-devised disaster in the making.....the UFT leadership instead went with the candidate who said Bloomberg did the right thing by screwing teachers out of the 8% pattern. ... You can be sure if Thompson is elected, he will turn his back on teachers and pursue the ed deform policies his co-chair, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and his DFER/charter buddies want him to pursue.... Perdido Street School

We predicted this on May 18:

 3-card monte scam

UFT Tilts to Thompson: Tisch, D'Amato, New Action Overjoyed, de Blasio branded as"Left" While SEIU Endorses him

Before the DA yesterday there were actually some people who had doubts about the Thompson endorsement as UFT insiders tried to fool people into thinking there was actually a democratic process by leaking, "This is not a done deal, de Blasio is still in the running." I told everyone I was putting $2 million down on a bet if they want to match -- I had it in cash.

Here are some reports from RBE at Perdido:

Daily News: Weingarten Behind The Thompson/UFT Endorsement

From the Daily News politics blog:

Sources in the labor movement told the Daily News that former UFT President Randi Weingarten, now head of the UFT’s national parent, the American Federation of Teachers, was a deciding factor in the union’s selection.

Weingarten had personally endorsed Thompson and pressed Mulgrew, her hand-picked successor at the UFT, to support Thompson as well, the sources said.

Not a surprise. Weingarten still runs this union.

Remember when the Unity slugs were leaving comments during the election that Randi was gone and Mulgrew was in charge? I once wrote that Mulgrew was ironing Randi's clothes. Nothing has changed. More from RBE:

Mulgrew's Explanation On The Thompson Endorsement Is Just Lame

Here it is - the rationale for the UFT's endorsement of Bill Thompson for mayor:

And from James and Ellen at ICE: DA REPORT: THOMPSON CORONATION

Thompson was endorsed by the Delegates and then he appeared out of nowhere and addressed the crowd.  (It is amazing how Thompson knew how this vote was going to go and a bunch of UFT for Thompson posters also magically appeared. I also got my first robo-call from Mulgrew a few minutes later in support of Thompson.  This endorsement was a big secret?  Yeah right. Bloggers all called it right last month.)

No longer being allowed into delegate assemblies even when there is room I was on the 2nd floor watching on tv and tweeting.

I retweeted Charter school center slug's pro-Thompson tweet

Michael Regnier ‏@MichaelRegnier 12h

. @BillThompsonNYC "spoke out in support of expanding our city’s many extraordinary charter schools."

YES. Bill, Meryl and Alphonse can give Eva her 40 schools pound of flesh.

Here are some of my tweets which express the sense of things as they developed:

‏@NormScott1 12h

@uft will endorse Thompson based on research: as per ny times art today, high end toilet paper users will decide this election

@uft thompson endorsement but many tchrs will vote Liu first and DeBlasio 2nd with boo to D'amato-Tisch tag team

New @uft button: 12-31-17 for end of Thompson reign as mayor.

Retiree @uft Tom murphy calls question. Suppression of debate won't help get unity for thompson

@uft allows only 1 speaker opposed to speak agst thompson endorsement yet expects unanimous support

@uft hands over uft to anti-union D'Amato and Tisch who gave us bad eval plan. Orwellian. A delegate says:  this is like the world wrestling federation 

@thompson shows up. Surprise surprise. Uft leadership supression of discussion will lead to division.

@uft gives Thompson speaking time while shutting up members

This after my retiring UFT official pal Michael Mendel made a plea for unity no matter where you stand. How do you get unity when you at the very least don't give people a chance to make the case against Thompson? Peter Lamphere's point of order was turned away by Mulgrew. That is why Bloomberg's prediction about UFT support is a kiss of death. If you can't run a democratic union most of your members don't give a shit. I wonder of the UFT can get out the same percentage of people to vote for Thompson as they got to vote in the UFT elections? Can the retiree vote in Florida count? You see, it's elementary. Run an undemocratic union and you dissipate your ability to get people to do what you want. Compare that to Chicago where over 90% of the teachers voted to strike and 60% (I think) voted in their elections.

RBE made the same point:

Given the abysmal turnout in the UFT elections, given that the UFT power base (the retirees) mostly resides in Florida and can't vote in a NYC election, and given that many teachers in the UFT couldn't care a whit who Mikey Mulgrew wants them to vote for in September, I don't think this endorsement helps Thompson all that much outside of the extra cash the UFT brings. 

Then they started passing out Thompson posters.

1. Norm Scott ‏@NormScott1 12h

   @gothamschools #uftvotes they must have super fast printers

   Then I noticed jumping into the fray, Moaning Mona Davids, who supported the anti-union film Won't Back Down, has so much astroturf on her you need a sandblaster to get it off.
   
   Arthur Goldstein ‏@TeacherArthurG 14h
   

   So proud @UFT endorses @BillThompsonNYC, who opposes teacher raises. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/afford-4-raise-teachers-mayoral-candidate-thompson-article-1.383354 …

   
   

   NYC Parents Union ‏@NYCParentsUnion

   @TeacherArthurG @UFT @BillThompsonNYC Don't worry, I'm sure he's reversed stance on that. Don't worry he'll take care of you all first :)

   
   NYC Parents Union ‏@NYCParentsUnion 13h
   

   @TeacherArthurG @UFT @BillThompsonNYC If he wins, teachers will be all set. He'd owe his mayoralty to teachers, you all will get all u want

   
   

   Yes, that same Mona who for a time got some bucks and support from the UFT but like every relationship she touches, turns to shit, is complaining about the UFT. 

   
   So I responded:

   
   
2. Norm Scott ‏@NormScott1 12h

   @NYCParentsUnion @TeacherArthurG @UFT @BillThompsonNYC But we won't get what u got for supporting film Won't Back Down. Good taste in movies

    

Video: Great NYC Bloggers Honored at Class Size Matters Skinny Awards

For too many years Americans have had no choice but to suffer with ineffective reporters accountable to nobody .... blogs are the charter schools of the education reporting - minus of course the cheating and embezzlement .... 

Gary Rubinstein at Skinny Awards dinner, June 18, 2013

The huge turnout at last night's 5th annual Skinny Awards dinner for Leonie Haimson's Class Size Matters is an indication of how important the work Leonie does has become. Parent and teacher activists from New York City and beyond cheered the efforts of Leonie and her two blogger honorees, Francis Lewis HS chapter leader Arthur Goldstein (NYC Educator) - who inspired my blogging efforts - and Stuyvesant HS teacher Gary Rubinstein (Gary Rubinstein's Blog), a more recent convert to educational activism through blogging.

I got to sit with the fabulous ladies (and Fred Smith) of Change the Stakes. This is one crew I want to parteeee with and being District 6 (Washington Hts) based they invited me to join them in post CEC6 celebratory events where I am sure I will have trouble finding the A train for the 2 day trip back to Rockaway. (NEXT CTS MEETING: JUNE 28 - CUNY). Robert Jackon, running for  Manhattan borough president (I would vote for him if I lived there) showed up later after I had put the camera away -- the CTS D. 6 crew are BIG fans of his so he was right in his element.

Below is the entire half hour plus of comments from Diane Ravitch and Patrick Sullivan along with Leonie's introduction of the honorees and an explanation of why she named the awards the "skinny" awards.

I extracted a 2 minute segment of Gary's speech in a separate must watch video of his satire on the state of education reporting -- he better bring a food taster to the next Gotham Schools party.


Gary Rubinstein Satirizes Education Reporting at Skinny Awards 2013 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

And here is the full monte - a fun half hour of viewing -- excuse the waiters getting in the way and some of my usual shaky video -- thanks to Prudence Hill for forcing me to use her tripod.





AFTERBURN:
I made sure to chat with Leonie's husband, Michael Oppenheimer, a famous environmental scientist who I invited out to Rockaway before it disappears under the sea --- he is not optimistic for the long-term prospects for my ability to avoid having a salt-water swimming pool in my house.

Jeff Kaufman: Does Danielson Measure A Teacher's Effectiveness if Duct-taped to a Chair?

Perhaps under the new system a teacher who learns not to sit in his chair to be duct taped might score some effective points....

The framework concludes that teachers who use respectful talk, read body language and maintain fairness will demonstrate effective teaching in this component. Clearly a classroom that has respectful students who are treated fairly will undoubtedly have a classroom that is conducive to learning and the teacher has a part in inculcating this environment. But to rate the teacher and thereby making her responsible for these outcomes is absurd. There are so many factors that go into student behavior including school culture, student backgrounds and administrative support that to leave a teacher “out there” under this component shows just how insane this framework is for evaluative purposes.... Jeff Kaufman

 
Jeff continues his invaluable series at the ICE blog. Part 1 is here:Danielson: What We Lost – The Lesson Plan
------

Danielson: What We Lost – Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

Danielson’s Framework for Effective Teaching has been widely criticized as an evaluative tool by many respected educators including, ironically enough, Charlotte Danielson, herself. Without going too much into the history of the Framework it’s important to note that the four domains of effective teaching are, allegedly, the full description of what makes a teacher effective. According to Danielson’s books the Framework describes aspects of teaching that are essential to effectiveness. Others have tried to create general descriptive systems to analyze professions but few, if any professions actually use these descriptions to evaluate performance. One of the reasons is that there are many ways to perform effectively professional. In fact one might say that the very nature of professionalism is to be able to adjust one’s strategies and tactics in different ways under different situations.

But, of course, John King has, with DOE and UFT approval, made this framework 60% of our evaluations. While the general notion of using such a framework in this way undermines our Contract it will become clearer as we go through the framework.

First up, component 2a. Danielson’s Framework is divided into 4 domains and 22 components. Domain 2 and 3, the “on stage” domains represent ¾ of our 60% or 45% of our total grade. This is due to the observable nature of these domains. Domain 1 and 4, dealing with planning and professional responsibilities, deal with components that are “off stage” and not directly observable and must be inferred to be measured (more about this in another post).

Getting back to 2a a teacher will, starting next year, be rated on the type of environment that he or she creates in the classroom through teacher and student interactions. The framework concludes that teachers who use respectful talk, read body language and maintain fairness will demonstrate effective teaching in this component. Clearly a classroom that has respectful students who are treated fairly will undoubtedly have a classroom that is conducive to learning and the teacher has a part in inculcating this environment. But to rate the teacher and thereby making her responsible for these outcomes is absurd. There are so many factors that go into student behavior including school culture, student backgrounds and administrative support that to leave a teacher “out there” under this component shows just how insane this framework is for evaluative purposes.

When I was first assigned to a yearlong suspension center for students in the Bronx who were found to have committed some pretty heinous infractions I was assigned as one of four teachers in the site. The students rotated from subject to subject in each of 4 rooms. My room and the science room were separated by a wall with windows so the science teacher and I could see each other’s classes. Half way through my class one of my students yelled out, “Hey look, they’re tying up Mr. M.” Sure enough the science teacher was being duct taped to his chair. After school safety released him all I could think about was that they were coming into my room next.

Would my “rapport” with these students permit me to actually teach? Would the lack of any administrative intervention contribute to my ability to maintain respect in my class?

While it is very unclear just how an evaluator would actually evaluate on this component it is pretty clear that being evaluated on this component undermines the spirit if not the letter of our contract. Does this mean that teachers working in what the DOE euphemistically calls “hard to staff” schools can never be effective?

Perhaps under the new system a teacher who learns not to sit in his chair to be duct taped might score some effective points.

Burris, Kaufman, Eterno etc. Shake the Tree on John King/Mulgrew Pro-Eval

Where is the UFT on this?  It looks like they are too busy praising Dr. King's new evaluation system to have noticed any flaws.  UFT President Michael Mulgrew said: "The commissioner's plan is professional and fair and is designed to help teachers improve their skills throughout their careers."  ... James Eterno, ICE blog, NEW TEACHER RATING MATH: EFFECTIVE ON TESTING + EFFECTIVE ON OBSERVATIONS = INEFFECTIVE OVERALL

Even an experienced UFT leadership basher like me is astounded at the continued perfidy of the leadership which has reached beyond Vichy comparisons with their cheer leading for the John King tenure ending plan.

While the ink is drying on John King’s decision and our Union touts how great Danielson is as an evaluative tool it is becoming clearer just how much our current contract was changed without a single vote from one of our members... Under 8E of our contract a lesson plan is for the use of the teacher. Who knows what we gave up to get this provision in our contract but it was important enough to stop principals from routinely collecting lesson plans or forcing teachers to spend punishment time creating documents. An extraordinary example of the abuse was when a bilingual Chinese teacher who wrote her lesson plans in Chinese was given a letter to her file because the principal could not read the plan and would not allow her to translate it... Jeff Kaufman, ICE blog, Danielson: What We Lost – The Lesson Plan

Jeff identifies just one change in the contract. There are more but since I lost 30 years of contracts in the Sandy storm, I'll leave it to you guys to check.

Where oh where is the UFT leadership on this? Are we going to allow working teachers to be rated "ineffective," and face dismissal charges, likely as not with the burden of proof on the teacher, in abject violation of New York State Law? I keep reading about how fair this plan is, and while I've never found it remotely so, it's time for our leadership to stand up and say the law applies to all of us... NYC Educator, Reformy John Doesn't Need Any Stinking Laws--NYC Teacher Ratings Violate Statute

Outside the pro ed deform State Ed Department and its cheerleaders inside the UFT, reactions have been flying around so fast it is impossible to keep up. I am trying to collate some of the weekend stuff.

One of the great selling points of the education law that mandated junk science, for the UFT, was that we would get to negotiate precisely how the junk science would be used to fire us. So they wouldn't just be firing us, we'd be firing ourselves. This is what comes of having that much-coveted "seat at the table." .... NYC Educator, Reformy John Doesn't Need Any Stinking Laws--NYC Teacher Ratings Violate Statute

 I just hope we don't see a food fight break out between UFT people and NYC Educator who is being honored at Leonie Haimson Skinny Awards dinner tomorrow night.

At the ICE blog there are some strong pieces by the dynamic duo of Kaufman and Eterno.

Here is James' entire piece:

NEW TEACHER RATING MATH: EFFECTIVE ON TESTING + EFFECTIVE ON OBSERVATIONS = INEFFECTIVE OVERALL

Long Island Principal Carol Burris has examined Commissioner John King's ruling on NYC teacher evaluations and found it does not follow the law.
According to the analysis Burris did, a teacher can be rated effective on the two testing components, effective on the observations (other measures) and still receive an overall ineffective rating. 9 + 9 + 45 = 63!  9, 9 and 45 are all effective scores but a teacher needs 65 overall points to receive a grade of developing and avoid an annual ineffective (equal to unsatisfactory) rating.
Next year teachers will be rated highly effective, effective, developing or ineffective instead of the current satisfactory or unsatisfactory.  Two annual ineffective ratings in a row and there is a presumption of incompetence which will mean teachers will then be guilty until proven innocent when the DOE goes for termination.
Everyone needs to read the June 15 piece on Diane Ravitch's fantastic blog as this is unbelievable.
Where is the UFT on this?  It looks like they are too busy praising Dr. King's new evaluation system to have noticed any flaws.  UFT President Michael Mulgrew said: "The commissioner's plan is professional and fair and is designed to help teachers improve their skills throughout their careers."

I'll admit that my aging brain can't absorb any of this stuff. I can say one thing -- I would be looking for another profession.

Another link to Ravitch's piece:
Carol Burris Reviews John King’s Evaluation Plan and Finds It Wanting --  the test score component and the local growth component are rigged.

One comment: King raised the bar for the city on BOTH of the test score measures.  He made it harder to get out of effective on both the growth measure and the local. Both. 

And we hear that Charlotte Danielson supporters are whining about having her ideas misrepresented: Who Distorted Charlotte Danielson’s Message?

MOREista Pat Dobosz said: Then Danielson needs to speak up but she has compromised herself by taking big bucks to keep her mouth shut as did Lucy Calkins.

Blogger NYCEYE has a bunch of posts:

At last! A devastating critique of the Danielson Framework observations in the high-profile Huffington Post.

Huff Post piece delves into Charlotte Danielson secretiveness, profiteering, alleged expertise

http://nyceye.blogspot.com/2013/06/huff-post-piece-delves-into-charlotte.html

Note how the Buffalo Teachers Union is putting up resistance:

The Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) stood up to an ill-conceived APPR; when will the UFT launch its APPR offensive?

Buff. Teachers Fed. Motion Slams APPR Toxic Stew of SLOs, LMAs, Overwork

http://nyceye.blogspot.com/2013/05/buff-teachers-fed-motion-slams-appr.html

Diana Senechal has a piece about principal training bootcamp:

One Tuesday morning in June, a cohort of one hundred novice principals was escorted into a classroom, ordered to fill out a checklist, and then herded into the Low-Inference Room, where they were assigned seats by number and told to fasten their seat belts. “These seats come with seat belts because systemic change is quite a ride,” said a booming voice through the loudspeakers. “You probably don’t want to change, and the teachers are even more resistant than you. So be prepared for some discomfort.”
Bewildered, the principals looked up, down, and around them. Their escort, a consultant named Gil Hines, walked slowly around the room, inspecting the seat belts.
“Which component in the Danielson rubric are we evaluating today?” the voice fairly screamed. “Number 24, provide the answer.”
“Number 24, that’s you, Nina Perotta,” said Hines. “Everyone check your seat numbers, because there won’t be any excuses next time.”
“Which component are we evaluating? It’s on the tip of my brain, it’s something about assessment…”
“Unprepared!” bellowed the voice. “Number 24 receives zero and a warning in the file. Number 96, which component are we evaluating today?”

http://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/the-low-inference-room/


And at The Chalkface:

Creating Artificial Student Failure in New York @nysed @nysut

JUNE 15, 2013 BY KRIS NIELSEN 10 COMMENTS

New York Teacher, Jennifer Fatone, posted some pretty shocking information on the UOO Facebook site recently, along with her comments and a letter to Steven Katz, the Director of New York State Assessments.  This is blatant.  This is wrong.  If there was any doubt that New York has an agenda to show failure in the public schools, the truth is starting to smack us in the face.  If you are in a different state, pay attention.  If this hasn’t already started in your neck of the woods, it probably will soon.

 And this from Florida

New Florida law: Teachers can’t be evaluated on students they don’t have

www.washingtonpost.com

Why was such a law necessary? Here's why.

Do you have a headache yet? I do. I'm going out to watch my grass grow.

WAGPOPS: Walcott at District 14 Town Hall Monday June 17, 6PM, Rally June 21

Cathie Black once came and got an interesting reception. I will be there to tape the festivities.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools (WAGPOPS)

Upset about the cuts to our district school? 

COME ON MONDAY, JUNE 17TH, to our TOWN HALL!
Let your voices be heard!

The District 14 Community Education Council
is hosting a Town Hall with Chancellor Dennis Walcott
■
June 17, 2013
6:00 PM-7PM
P.S. 250 George H. Lindsay
108 Montrose Ave, Auditorium
Brooklyn, NY 11206


First they came for PS132, but my child didn't attend PS132, so I didn't speak up....

PS132, MS50, and High School for Architecture and Design all received MAJOR budget cuts that will balloon their class size beyond 32 kids in a class.

SPEAK UP!  FIGHT BACK!  OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE UNDER ATTACK!!

JOIN THE RALLY ON FRIDAY, June 21st after 3pm!!

MARCH AFTER SCHOOL to PS132! (Conselyea and Metropolitan)

Bring your friends and family!  Wear your school tshirts!  Bring signs, bells, noisemakers, sidewalk chalk, drums, and MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!!

PLEASE SHARE THIS EMAIL WITH YOUR SCHOOLS, FRIENDS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS!!!

INVITE YOUR TEACHERS, YOUR STUDENTS, YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES!!

We are ONE district!  These kids are OUR kids!

Enough is enough!  We won't go down without a fight!

https://www.facebook.com/events/164220720424149/

Acievement First Concentration Camp Policies Supported by Gates Foundation

Actually, I would describe Achievement First more as a southern plantation circa 1850. But no one should be surprised that the Gates Foundation is based on a southern plantation mentality. I love it that they are so willing to connect themselves to Achievement First which exposes what Gates is all about. Really think about the AF name. "Achievement" before even the welfare of the child. But "achievement' really means achieving wealth for the gang running the operation.

In the final stages of making our film response to Gates supported "Waiting for Superman' we had the chance to interview former Achievement First parents. Leonie and I expected to do a quick 15 minute interview but instead were riveted for almost 2 hours of horror stories. A few days later I interviewed our pal Khem Irby (who has left us to cause trouble for ed deformers down in North Carolina). We only used a few minutes in the film but you can see all the interviews below. The video we shot was used by activist groups opposing AF in Rhode Island to defeat some of their plans to take over a swath of schools in Providence. (I'm posting links at the bottom of this post -- really watch some of these interviews and get your rage up.)

Pat Dobosz, a Brooklyn pre-k teacher in Williamsburg writes:

Here is an article about this despicable place. We had an AF charter at my school for about four years.

State education board to review Achievement First's discipline policies | The CT Mirror

This article by Sarah Darer really gets into the weeds of the Gates/AF/TFA connection. Oh, and TFA also has that southern pre-Civil War mentality too.
 

A Window Into Gates Foundation Dystopia 

http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/a_window_into_the_bill_and_melinda_gates_foundation_dystopia/#.UbwIGekKDW4.facebook

by Sarah Darer Littman | Jun 13, 2013

Sarah Darer Littman

In 1948, sociologist Robert K.Merton coined the phrase “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.” “The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the original false conception come ‘true.’ The specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning,” Merton wrote.

A database engineer friend helped me realize this phrase described the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in education reform during a discussion of the information I’d received under a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the foundation’s $5 million grant to the city of Hartford last December.
Here’s how it works: Mr. and Mrs. Gates have a dangerous combination of billions of dollars and strong ideas about how to reform public schools, despite having no background in education and sending their own children to private school. Their foundation commissions research to prove their ideas are correct. Based on research the Gates Foundation pays for, it makes grants to implement their ideas. In the grant documentation, the Foundation specifies: “The Compact City Partner . . . agree(s) to participate in research and information gathering efforts with the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington, which is currently engaged with the foundation to support the project.”
What the Gates Foundation means by “engaged with” is “funded by.” The CRPE also receives funds from the usual pro-charter school names, i.e. The Broad Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Interestingly, it also receives funds from the U.S. Department of Education.
Lo and behold, CPRE produces “research” that supports the claims and beliefs of the Foundation. A prime example: the PR piece put out by Achieve Hartford in April: entitled, “Improving Student Outcomes and Opportunities in Hartford Public Schools.”
The “research” came with a warning: “This piece, however, is limited in that it cannot directly attribute any of the changes to any particular reform initiative. A more-detailed longitudinal analysis of progress made before and after the district initiated its reforms, and controlling for important factors, would be needed to more precisely and confidently attribute the changes to specific initiatives. Moreover, this piece has not yet undergone a thorough peer review.”

Yet armed with this non-peer reviewed data to back up their initial faulty assumptions, the Gates Foundation and its partners continue the reign of error. 

Witness how Hartford Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto used the “facts” in this non-peer reviewed research report to call for another Achievement First charter school in Hartford. 

Perhaps that’s because the Gates grant calls for “AF, HPS and JA to work together” to advocate for “equitable state funding” and “access to facilities” for public charter schools. In fact, the grant proposal even mentions “the district’s close relationship with state educational efforts.” That wouldn’t have anything to do with Achievement First’s relationship with Stefan Pryor, state Commissioner of Education and co-founder of the Amistad Academy, would it? It couldn’t possibly.

Another component of the grant is for the expansion of Achievement First’s Residency Program, with the aim of allowing for “the direct and explicit transfer of best practices” from the “high performing” charter to the “traditional district context.”
But since the grant was awarded, we’ve learned a bit more about Achievement First’s high performing methods and best practices.  Thanks to the New Haven Independent, we know that Amistad’s claim of 100 percent college acceptance actually means a 43 percent attrition rate from the students who started in 9th grade four years earlier.

We’ve also learned that Achievement First is indisputably ranked first in Connecticut by a huge margin in the suspension students of kindergarten age.

Amy Burns, a licensed professional counselor specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children, adolescents, and families was skeptical of the Achievement First approach.

“As a general rule, we never put a child in time-out longer than about 1 minute per year of age, so these 90-minute or more time outs for kids would not be an effective punishment, especially with younger children. Developmentally speaking, if a kindergartner is put in this ‘break room’ all day, it is unlikely that they will remember what they did to get put in time out by the end of the punishment. It would be much more effective to use 5 minutes of isolation, as the child will not be reinforcing the undesired behavior,” Burns said. “What works even better than punishing inappropriate behaviors is rewarding positive behaviors. Using something like a token economy punctuated by appropriate use of time out will produce much better results than sending these kids away for the day.”

But even more disturbing to this mom of a young adult who went through school with an IEP was the news of how Achievement First mistreated students with special needs.

Earlier this week a new federal agreement was announced in settlement of a civil rights complaint filed by Greater Hartford Legal Aid Inc. on behalf of students with disabilities at Achievement First Hartford Academy Middle School. The complaint alleged that students with disabilities were spending too many hours out of the classroom for disciplinary reasons because of behaviors that were related to their disability.
In one particularly shocking story, “Johanna Rodriguez, whose eighth-grade son was included in the civil rights complaint, said her son was suspended and at home for most of last year, while this year she said he was suspended in school most of the time in a room set aside for students who are removed from class because of a behavior issue. For lesser offenses, he was given ‘re-orientation’ where he could remain in class, but had to wear a white shirt and other students were not allowed to talk to him.”

Charters like Achievement First call themselves “public schools,” yet they appear to be operating outside the statutes — like the state Department of Education’s Educator’s Code of Professional Responsibility, which states that an educator shall: Section 1 (K) Apply discipline promptly, impartially, appropriately and with compassion, and furthermore, lists under unprofessional conduct that an educator shall not Section (f) (D) Emotionally abuse students.”

Perhaps this is a consequence of Achievement First’s “close alliance” with Teach for America, whose “corps members and alumni play an integral role at Achievement First.” Whereas, district teachers must be certified, TFA corps members are considered too “elite for such niceties. They undergo a mere five weeks of training at TFA’s Summer Institute. Clearly, dealing with special education issues and the complexities of complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) is not adequately addressed during that training.  

As school counselor Christina Ketchem pointed out: “Most of the time, special needs kids struggle to fit in anyway, so excluding them or singling them out publicly will only exacerbate any existing issues.” Burns called the white shirt shaming “wildly inappropriate” and wrote that “most of these children who have mental illness already feel isolated and a target of their peers; this is a modernization of the ‘dunce cap’ of education of old, and should be stopped immediately.”  

Alfie Kohn, a leading author and lecturer on education, is even more blunt.
“Anyone who punishes children by suspending them repeatedly, confining them, or stigmatizing and publicly humiliating them is either deeply ignorant about how to help kids or is more concerned with the adults’ convenience than with doing what’s in the best interest of the students. Or I suppose there’s a third possibility, which is that the school deliberately mistreats challenging kids in the hope that they’ll give up and withdraw, thereby allowing the school to weed out students with special needs so Achievement First can boast about its results. If the Gates Foundation is funding schools that engage in practices like this, that’s a strong argument for us to resist its involvement in education.”

A spokesperson for Hartford Public Schools responded to questions about the suspension rates Friday: “Hartford Public Schools doesn’t accept high suspension rates among elementary school students and has been working with Achievement First to assertively address the problem.” The Gates Foundation opted not to comment for this op-ed.

At next Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting in Hartford, there will be a second reading of a plan to create another Achievement First school in the city for 2014-15 — part of the Gates Foundation plan. Given what we have learned about Achievement First’s methods and “success,” is this really the most effective way to spend our education tax dollars, when teachers in the district schools are paying for their own photocopy paper and don’t have enough books?

Sarah Darer Littman is an award-winning columnist and novelist of books for teens. Long before the financial meltdown, she worked as a securities analyst and earned her MBA in Finance from the Stern School at NYU. 

Here are the videos embedded with 3 former Achievement First parents. You might want to watch them directly at Vimeo to get better results by clicking on the links in the titles.



Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out: Why they removed their children Part 1 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.



Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out: Why they removed their children Part 2 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.


Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out: Why they removed their children Part 3 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.


Charter School Parent Part 4 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

Testing reform in the news: June 6-12, 2013

From Fair Test:

Many major stories about assessment reform progress this week -- Texas significantly reduces standardized exam mandates; a rally in Albany opposes testing overkill, and major national groups call for a moratorium on Common Core tests.

All our weekly newsblasts are posted on the web at http://www.fairtest.org/news/other - this one will be up shortly.

Texas Governor Signs Bill Eliminating Two-Thirds of Required High-Stakes Exams

http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2013/06/perry-signs-bill-to-reduce-high-stakes-testing/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/10/texas-governor-signs-legislation-to-reduce-standardized-testing/
Rebellion Against a Culture of Testing Bubbles Over
http://www.summitdaily.com/news/6810995-113/texas-state-testing-bubbles

Thousands Protest Standardized Exam Overkill in State Capitol Demonstration
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130608/NEWS01/306080043
Why we Rallied Against High-States Testing -- OpEd by a former school
superintendent
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/ricken-too-much-emphasis-on-school-standardized-tests-1.5424228
"Stop the Madness Song" Highlights Anti-Testing Rally
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Campus-Notebook-Testing-protest-meant-to-strike-4584931.php

North Carolina Governor: Public School Students Take Too Many Tests
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/05/2941170/gov-mccrory-public-school-students.html

Oklahoma Lifts Testing Requirement for Learning Disabled Students
http://www.news9.com/story/22553805/new-legislation-changes-testing-requirements-for-special-needs-students

MSNBC High-Stakes Testing Protest Overview
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755822/ns/msnbc-the_ed_show/vp/52151738/#52151738

Major Ed Groups Support Moratorium on Common Core High-Stakes Tests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/06/common-core-supporters-back-moratorium-on-new-tests-high-stakes/
Unwrapping the Flawed Common Core Tests
http://andreagabor.com/2013/06/03/unwrapping-new-york-states-new-common-core-tests/
Common Core Collides with "Education Spring"
http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/?p=716&preview=true
See FairTest Common Core fact sheet "More Tests, But Not Much Better"
http://www.fairtest.org/common-core-assessments-more-tests-not-much-better

Parents Bill Pearson for School Time Wasted on Field Tests
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rEIh17ceiWc/UbJVly6ntpI/AAAAAAAAMvI/JtgJVFbOOZ8/s1600/Invoice+to+Pearson.jpg

Teachers Open Letter to Pearson: Send Profits Back to the Classroom http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/06/05/33tanenbaum.h32.html

Pearson Field Tests Earn an "F"
 http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/An-exam-that-gets-an-F-from-critics-4581122.php

Great Neck School Board Adopts Resolution Blasting Over-Testing
http://www.theislandnow.com/great_neck/article_26cc3ec6-ceb4-11e2-af0a-001a4bcf887a.html
Read the Great Neck Resolution
http://www.greatneck.k12.ny.us/gnps/pages/TestingResolution2013.pdf
Sign the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing
http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/

Third Graders Slam School Time Wasted on Testing in Letters to New York
Governor
http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/rockland-kids-slam-state-exams-write-to-cuomo-we-re-only-in-third-grade-for-heaven-sakes-1.5415097?qr=1

Indiana Computerized Exam Should Fail Independent Test
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-istep-failure-shouldn-t-pass-outside-test/article_428d4d4f-1b90-5912-8add-c001b5f1fc81.html

Local School Board Opposes Rhode Island State Grad Test Plan
http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x793338210/Tiverton-School-Committee-blasts-NECAP-requirement-in-meeting-with-state-officials#axzz2W0b62ss0

Jeb Bush's "A to F" School Grading Scam Hurts High-Poverty Districts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/07/superintendent-virginias-new-a-f-school-grading-system-will-hurt-high-poverty-districts/

Play the Value-Added Evaluation Game or Help Your Students?
http://edge.ascd.org/_Play-the-Evaluation-Game-or-Help-Your-Students-You-Must-Choose/blog/6532486/127586.html

More Ed. Leaders Should Fight Damaging School "Reforms"
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2013/06/why_arent_more_school_leaders_fighting_against_ed_reform.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

Asking the Right Questions to Close Achievement Gaps
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/210647341.html?page=1&c=y

An Alternative Vision of Real School Reform
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/civic_mission/2013/06/extraordinary_people.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW
Final Installment of Excellent Video Series "A Year at Mission Hill" --
The Impact of Testing Mandates
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VduHn6GmVt4&feature=youtube

Sign a New Declaration to Overhaul Test-Driven Schooling
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2013/06/in_counter_to_joyless_schools_%20coalition_demands_supports_based_reform.html

Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
ph- (239) 395-6773 fax- (239) 395-6779
cell- (239) 699-0468
web- http://www.fairtest.org/

Zombies in Central Park Plus Some Carpentry

The Zombies, our favorite group -- we went to London twice to see them, plus numerous viewings here in NYC  -- are doing a 6PM free -- yes free -- concert in Central Park today and we are heading in for a (not-free) 4PM session with lead singer Collin Blunstone (who looks at us as stalkers) and Ron Argent.

A fact you need to know from Wikki: Their 1968 album, Odessey and Oracle, comprising twelve songs by the group's principal songwriters, Argent and Chris White, is ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

She's Not There is one of my fave songs which haunted me in 1964 when I was in love and she wasn't there.



Norm the carpenter

I've been working on building a base for a rubber maid shed I bought and it's taken some time -- I work a half hour and rest for 2 hours -- and oh that mud.

But here is something more fun with people who actually know what they are doing.

I am heading off with my screw gun and hammer to the Rockaway Theatre Company's Sandy-damaged theater in Fort Tilden to help put the plywood down on the stage which we worked on last Saturday. I spent part of last Saturday crawling under the stage at the Fort Tilden theater putting screws into the concrete floor. I won’t go into the ugly details other than to say I can now get work as a contortionist. I am going back to help the always amazing Tony Homsey and his crew put down the plywood stage floor (volunteers are welcome), so the theater is ready for the gala July 19th reopening with “Rockaway Café: The Comeback.” There will be 10 benefit performances over three weekends to raise funds for repairing the theater. When the RTC is back, Rockaway is back.

Here is my report in The Wave this week.


Rockaway Theatre Company: The Comeback
By Norm Scott
http://www.rockawave.com/news/2013-06-14/Columnists/Dispatches.html

I was at a town hall meeting at PS 114 Friday June 7th at which we were broken up into groups to summon the ghost of Rockaway Future. Someone came up with, “A world class theater that would put on plays that would attract people from all over the city.” “We already have the Rockaway Theatre Company, a world class theater that puts on Broadway quality shows,” I chimed in.

The next morning I joined a group of volunteers under the direction of chief carpenter, set builder, tech advisor and do everything and anything guy, Tony Homsey, to help rebuild the guts of the Sandy-ravaged stage in preparation for an upcoming inspection by the Parks Department at Gateway National Park. If it passes, Tony will lead a volunteer crew all day Saturday, June 15th, to put down the plywood to cover the stage (come on down and bring a tape measure and hammer). There is a rush to get the stage ready in preparation for the July 19 opening of “Rockaway Café, The Comeback “which will focus on storm-related music in Act 1. Act 2 will focus on the light at the end of the tunnel as the RTC storms back from the abyss of Sandy, “the first performance in our new updated theater,” said Susan Jasper, one of RTC’s mainstays.

OK, at the risk of being branded an RTC Kool-Aid drinker, I believe shows at the RTC are often at a highly professional level. As one of the RTC videographers I get to see every show multiple times and am thrilled at every single performance. The final show of last season was postponed and forced to be moved to a church in Howard Beach last March in much modified form but was still a wowser. Many Howard Beachers were seeing the RTC in action for the first time and were blown away by the talent.

There will be ten benefit performances over three weekends beginning July 19th (Friday, Saturday nights at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.). Proceeds will be used to cover the considerable costs of rebuilding the severely damaged theater. Auctions and raffles will be held and any individuals and merchants willing to donate items can contact Susan Jasper at rockawaytheatre@verizon.net.

Paul Krugman Inadvertantly Lays Waste to Obama Ed Policy

Education, then, is no longer the answer to rising inequality, if it ever was (which I doubt). .. Paul Krugman, June 14, NY Times

Until recently, the conventional wisdom about the effects of technology on workers was, in a way, comforting. Clearly, many workers weren’t sharing fully — or, in many cases, at all — in the benefits of rising productivity; instead, the bulk of the gains were going to a minority of the work force. But this, the story went, was because modern technology was raising the demand for highly educated workers while reducing the demand for less educated workers. And the solution was more education..... today highly educated workers are as likely as less educated workers to find themselves displaced and devalued, and pushing for more education may create as many problems as it solves.  

... Paul Krugman, NY Times, Sympathy for the Luddites

One of the tenets of ed deform is to blame poverty on poor schooling with the focus on the teacher as the major culprit. (Yes, we, not the bankers, caused the depression.) That has been the essence of Obama policy. Krugman in Friday's column takes on this issue but without making a direct connection to Obama's (Bloomberg, etc) failed ed policy.

Here is the entire column, worth reading.

June 13, 2013

Sympathy for the Luddites

By PAUL KRUGMAN

In 1786, the cloth workers of Leeds, a wool-industry center in northern England, issued a protest against the growing use of “scribbling” machines, which were taking over a task formerly performed by skilled labor. “How are those men, thus thrown out of employ to provide for their families?” asked the petitioners. “And what are they to put their children apprentice to?” 

Those weren’t foolish questions. Mechanization eventually — that is, after a couple of generations — led to a broad rise in British living standards. But it’s far from clear whether typical workers reaped any benefits during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution; many workers were clearly hurt. And often the workers hurt most were those who had, with effort, acquired valuable skills — only to find those skills suddenly devalued. 

So are we living in another such era? And, if we are, what are we going to do about it? 

Until recently, the conventional wisdom about the effects of technology on workers was, in a way, comforting. Clearly, many workers weren’t sharing fully — or, in many cases, at all — in the benefits of rising productivity; instead, the bulk of the gains were going to a minority of the work force. But this, the story went, was because modern technology was raising the demand for highly educated workers while reducing the demand for less educated workers. And the solution was more education. 

Now, there were always problems with this story. Notably, while it could account for a rising gap in wages between those with college degrees and those without, it couldn’t explain why a small group — the famous “one percent” — was experiencing much bigger gains than highly educated workers in general. Still, there may have been something to this story a decade ago. 

Today, however, a much darker picture of the effects of technology on labor is emerging. In this picture, highly educated workers are as likely as less educated workers to find themselves displaced and devalued, and pushing for more education may create as many problems as it solves.

I’ve noted before that the nature of rising inequality in America changed around 2000. Until then, it was all about worker versus worker; the distribution of income between labor and capital — between wages and profits, if you like — had been stable for decades. Since then, however, labor’s share of the pie has fallen sharply. As it turns out, this is not a uniquely American phenomenon. A new report from the International Labor Organization points out that the same thing has been happening in many other countries, which is what you’d expect to see if global technological trends were turning against workers. 

And some of those turns may well be sudden. The McKinsey Global Institute recently released a report on a dozen major new technologies that it considers likely to be “disruptive,” upsetting existing market and social arrangements. Even a quick scan of the report’s list suggests that some of the victims of disruption will be workers who are currently considered highly skilled, and who invested a lot of time and money in acquiring those skills. For example, the report suggests that we’re going to be seeing a lot of “automation of knowledge work,” with software doing things that used to require college graduates. Advanced robotics could further diminish employment in manufacturing, but it could also replace some medical professionals. 

So should workers simply be prepared to acquire new skills? The woolworkers of 18th-century Leeds addressed this issue back in 1786: “Who will maintain our families, whilst we undertake the arduous task” of learning a new trade? Also, they asked, what will happen if the new trade, in turn, gets devalued by further technological advance? 

And the modern counterparts of those woolworkers might well ask further, what will happen to us if, like so many students, we go deep into debt to acquire the skills we’re told we need, only to learn that the economy no longer wants those skills? 

Education, then, is no longer the answer to rising inequality, if it ever was (which I doubt). 

So what is the answer? If the picture I’ve drawn is at all right, the only way we could have anything resembling a middle-class society — a society in which ordinary citizens have a reasonable assurance of maintaining a decent life as long as they work hard and play by the rules — would be by having a strong social safety net, one that guarantees not just health care but a minimum income, too. And with an ever-rising share of income going to capital rather than labor, that safety net would have to be paid for to an important extent via taxes on profits and/or investment income. 

I can already hear conservatives shouting about the evils of “redistribution.” But what, exactly, would they propose instead?

Leonie Haimson Skinny Awards This Tuesday, June 19, Honors Arthur Goldstein and Gary Rubinstein

Money raised goes to the great work Leonie has been doing.

See why NYC Educator is going. My Secret Identity

Contact Class Size Matters for event informationhttp://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=6292

Fifth Annual "Skinny" award dinner

Leonie Haimson and Diane Ravitch Patrick Sullivan Monica Major and Emily Horowitz invite you to the Fifth annual Skinny Awards When: Tuesday, June 18 at 6:00 PM  Where: Fagiolini on 40th 120 E. 40 St.  (betw. Lexington and 3rd Ave.) New York, NY 10016 A fundraiser for Class Size Matters  Please join us where we will honor two exceptional teacher bloggers:  Arthur Goldstein Author of the NYC Educator blog and ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens  Gary Rubinstein Blogger at Teach for Us and math teacher at Stuyvesant HS in lower Manhattan A rare opportunity to enjoy a four course dinner with wine and celebrate two people who give us the real "skinny" on NYC schools Tickets:  $250 - Defender of Public Education $150 - Patron $75 – Supporter Or send a check to: Class Size Matters, 124 Waverly Pl.  NY NY 10011; your contribution is tax-deductible.