Congestion Pricing, Charter Schools and Merit Pay: Can Marketplace Solutions Make the World a Better Place?

… a relatively new invidious myth -

that U.S. public education is so ineffective

that it must be transformed by market solution.

Norm Fruchter

Urban Schools, Public Will

 

From congestion pricing, to charter schools and on to merit pay, the solution to the ills of society, whether global warming or schools seems to be the marketplace. Mayor Bloomberg wants to “tax” drivers eight dollars for each trip into Manhattan. For the owners of the seemingly endless number of million dollar plus coops and condos – no problem. For the poor slobs living in Queens and Brooklyn: fork up the eight bucks!!

On the national scene the funding tzars – Broad and Gates – want to make education the frontispiece of the 08 election, with merit pay for teachers at the top of the agenda.

On the local level schools will be measured against each other – to use the old college term, “on a curve,” with the lowest performers receiving an F and the top performers an A – based on “average pupil growth,” a complex concept  that to this point is ill-defined.

The market forces folk want to cast aside the problem of educating poor children of color. Create structures that remove all impediments to the ebb and flow of the market (unions, parents and politicians), and if kids still don’t prosper it must be their fault, after all, the marketplace is never wrong.

Before we start down a foggy path can we find exemplars: examples of these theories, and investigate the appropriateness of adopting in NYC, or, elsewhere.

The merit pay system  in Denver is not a pay-for-performance plan: it is a pay for achieving some self directed teachers goals, not a bad idea. It’s describes itself as a teacher compensation plan and was negotiated with the local teacher union. A decade ago a merit pay system emerged, in of all places, New York City. Breakthrough for Learning was a complex, carefully constructed plan and stumbled over it’s own complexity and was abandoned. Perhaps surprisingly one of the national teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers has a detailed and well thought position on merit pay plans.

Those pesky parents, teachers, advocates and elected officials have derailed the headlong dash for market solutions in New York City, and, started, albeit a baby step, towards collaboration with the those very same folk that the city was jousting a week ago.

Creating high achieving schools for inner city children is hard work:

* school leaders who are great teachers with proven leadership skills.

* well educated, caring, well compensated teachers in school cultures that foster collaboration.

* appropriate curricula with normative and summative assessments that are accepted by the stakeholders.

* an active and well informed parent body – a “bottom-up” accountability system.

* a supportive school community

* a district leadership that supports teaching and learning

* a political atmosphere that funds and supports schools

It’s seems to be a lot easier to sit in some think tank and philosophize from afar. Getting in there and getting your hands dirty seems like too much work.

Will the latest reorganization in the Apple change schools? Create those high achieving classrooms that we seek?

At Monday’s rollout of the new organization hundreds of principals, or Region/Tweed apparachniks, it was hard to tell, watched a glossy video re: the “next new thing,” and, wandered about as the school support organizations looked for customers.

On Wednesday the Department held the first of a series of Boro Meetings at Tweed, three principals showed up…

Mike’s Road To The White House: Is It Time To Jettison Joel?

In the spring of 1972 John Lindsay, the Mayor of New York City was the golden boy, a liberal Republican with wide national appeal. He had kept the city “quiet” in an era of racial unrest and had taken on the powerful Al Shanker lead teacher’s union.

As he campaigned for the Republican designation in Miami a plane chugged across the beach trailing a banner: “Lindsay Must Go,” the retired parents of New York City teachers vigorously opposed John Lindsay. “Lindsay Must Go” lapel buttons were proudly displayed and the golden boy went down in flames. Al Shanker and those pesky teachers sank Lindsay’s race for the White House.

Years later Lindsay was the only person to refuse to participate in an oral history project recounting the origin and growth of the New York City teacher’s union.

As farfetched as it may seem Mike Bloomberg has his eyes on the White House and is a student of history. While he has carefully courted Randi Weingarten, Al Shanker reincarnate, his appointee Joel Klein has continually confronted Weingarten  and her members.

In the battle for hearts and minds of New Yorkers Klein finds himself running a distant second. Opposition to Klein  has united unions, teachers, parents and a host of community and advocacy organizations.

In the “good guy”/”bad guy” charade Bloomberg has negotiated two contracts that have driven teacher salaries over $100,000 while Klein seemed determined to force a teacher’s strike.

The latest dustup: Weighted School Funding, is a topic worthy of discussion. Rather than meet with the teacher’s union and their allies Klein simply confronted the public school community. His plan announced by ukase was fatally flawed.

This has not been a good school year for Joel. Bloomberg pulled the rug out from under him and negotiated an early contract with the teacher’s union: with no givebacks and a six digit salary maximum. In Albany Klein not only alienated the very legislators who will have to continue mayoral control but he saw all his initiatives die.

When you toss a stone in to a pond of feces you never know who’ll get splashed. As Mike nimbly navigates his path to a national platform Joel keeps tossing stones into that pond.

Can Klein survive? Can he keep hammering Weingarten, the teacher’s union, elected officials, parents: the public school community? Can Klein continue to force an endless array of confusing initiatives, alienating the very folk who consume his product? Can Mike court the public while Joel confronts them?

How many times will Mike have to bail out Joel?

Fears of ”Mike Must Go” buttons are giving Bloomberg nightmares.

If Mike hopes to have a chance of raising his right hand on January 20th, 2009 it might be time to move Joel on to his next job.

Arbeit Macht Frei: Teaching in the World of the Accountability Police

The core of the Klein/Bloomberg world of education is accountability.

Develop a transparent formula  that produces a specific metric – a numerical grade for each and every school based on “average pupil growth.” The results of the accountability metric, placed on a bell curve, produces a numerical score and a letter grade. Five percent of schools will receives an A or an F, ten percent a B or a D and the remainder a C.

Each of the 1400 plus schools will in effect be ranked from number 1 to number 1450.

Consequences: bonuses to some and dismissal for others.

 ARIS  will enable the Department of Education to track individual pupil achievement by teacher. The goal of the DOE: either in the next set of contract negotiations or through the use of private grant money is to create a merit pay system for teachers.

The accountability system is not linked to teaching and learning support.

All principals (principals can consult with the school community, or not, the decision is solely that of the principal) must chose a support organization, either one of four theme-based organizations headed by a current regional superintendent, one of the yet to be announced partnership organizations or empowerment, which basically means laissez-faire: support only if the school choses to ask for it.

On the accountability side new, yet to be selected accountability superintendents will function as the accountability police, monitoring the School Progress Report metric system, and, ultimately deciding upon the future of principals, and, perhaps their staffs.

Will the threat of dismissal or the promise of a bonus make principals work harder or smarter?

Will the goal of a merit bonus make teachers work harder?

Will the “carrot” and the “stick” produce higher achieving schools?

I’ve never met a principal or a teacher who didn’t want to succeed … who didn’t try to succeed. Success is determined by innate abilities, effective coaching/mentoring and a climate of collaboration.

Merit pay programs  are not new, and the history of prior programs is not encouraging.

The current plutocracy ignores history, after all, they are convinced that they are right.

In spite of an avalanche of opposition, criticism and protest Tweed and Gracie Mansion shrug off the “slings and arrows” and push on: after all, they possess the miter.

Successful schools are characterized by collaboration among stakeholders: chancellors, superintendents, teachers, parents and the community, working together: assessing data, data driving resources, midcourse corrections and yes, ultimately being held accountable.

The current administration has no patience and cannot dirty their hands dealing with “ordinary folk,” parents and teachers, they are the new age tyrants playing with the schools until they move on to their next game.

Don Imus, Anna Nicole’s Baby and Mike Vie for the Hearts and Minds of New Yorkers

For weeks the Working Families Party, the Teacher’s Union , public school advocates, parents and a range of community organizations have been flaying the Department over the Third Wave  of reform. Every single school will have to chose a “support organization,” either an uber-superintendent with a theme, “empowerment” or a “partnership support organization,” who will “support,” but not evaluate schools.

In addition the Department is recreating Community and High School Superintendents who will become the rating officers for principals and the “enforcers” of the new School Report Card metric.

There is a growing coalition of teachers, parents, community organizations and elected officials who are crying out, “Whoa …”, let’s slow down and discuss how these changes are going to be better for parents and kids than the last set of changes.

The Mayor, scrambling to respond, rounded up 100 folks to support the Mayor’s “Children First” initiative,  the latest wave.

“Mike’s 100,” is somewhat embarrassing … it includes only one public school parent, two ministers who are also supporting the developer who has been twice rejected in his plans to seize Starrett City, recipients of Mike’s largesse and charter school board members. According to the NYSun  the NAACP refused to sign the letter and challenged the Mayor’s plans.

Of course this major pushback by Mike was relegated to the back of paper by the Imus dustup and “who’s my daddy” fuss.

Mike and Joel do have a significant accomplishment: they have coalesced a range of folks who have spent decades bickering among themselves.

Albany passed a budget and turned away all the City demands, the City Council passed a whistle blowers bill  that the Mayor abhors, scores of advocacy, parent and community organizations that have fought among themselves are now targeting Mike and Joel.

Although Mayoral control has two years until it sunsets the discussion of a “new” school governance structure is afoot. The Teacher’s Union has formed a Task Force to begin framing the future.

The Carthaginian plan: destroy everything that preceded it is beginning to unfurl.

This Brave New World of Educational Reform is based on the writings and advocacy of Sir Michael Barber, Tony Blair’s guru. If Joel and Mike had read an Ed Sector interview with Barber they might have read Barber doubts. Americans weren’t going to roll over the way the Brits did: a well organized Teacher’s Union, active parents, elected officials tied closely to their electorate have engaged in another American Revolution, rejecting the ill-advised plans of their British cousins.

It didn’t work in 1776 nor will it in 2007 …

Unfortunately this is not an exercise in the application of political theory – it is an experiment by the rich on the children of the poor.

It is disgraceful.

Lessons from our Founding Fathers: Vigilance Against Tyranny is the Bedrock of Civil Society

Throughout the nation School Boards hire a superintendent and set policy for schools. The School Boards are usually elected in nonpartisan elections. In New York City the central School Board, prior to Bloomberg, was appointed for a specific term of office by the five Borough Presidents and the Mayor.

The Board members were usually high profile business, academic and community activists. While selected by elected officials they were independent and their deliberations were public.

In the early days elected local Community Schools Boards selected superintendents and principals. The system was rife with corruption and protected by legislators who created and benefited from the system. Finally, in the mid nineties the teacher’s union and the Board of Education Inspector General supported legislation that stripped the local Boards of all hiring authority. The local Superintendents selected, with input from parents and teachers, all supervisory staff. The local Superintendents were selected by the Chancellor, who, in turn, was selected by the appointed Central Board.

The system worked well. The Chancellor’s District, a collection of the lowest achieving schools, was removed from the local Districts and managed directly by the Chancellor. External reviews gave high praise to the initiative.

Mayor Bloomberg ran on a platform of removing  control of the school system from an independent Board to the direct control of the Mayor – moving the school system fully into the arena of politics.

The factions that influenced decisions by the former Board of Education included elected officials, unions, parents, advocacy groups and the public at large. The rich mosaic that we call the public will influenced the process in a public forum, however, the final decisions rested with the Board members.

The current initiative is solely run by the Mayor.

There is no public forum, there is no exchange of ideas, there is no role for parents, teachers, their union, or, the public at large. All decisions are made by the Mayor and his appointed Chancellor.

The Mayor chose the political arena. It is ironic that he cries foul when folks with other points of view use the tools of politics to influence policy.

Whether it is Charter School legislation in Albany or “whistleblower” legislation before the City Council the stakeholders: unions, parents, advocates and the public have the right, perhaps the obligation, to engage in the public political process.

The NYSun  rails against a bill before the City Council that would protect whistleblowers in the Department of Education from retribution.

It is the Mayor who has selected the forum.

As James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 10

  Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may by intrigue, by corruption or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests of the people.

The current experiment in Mayoral control sunsets on 6/30/09: Bloomberg/Klein are frantically attempting to dismantle every vestige of the past. Closely following the model established Sir Michael Barber,  Tony Blair’s former Minister of Education, Klein is importing British reforms to New York City.

Sadly Bloomberg/Klein have ignored the public and the public school stakeholders. They have alienated the very consitutency that they are pledged to serve. It is highly unlikely that the “reforms” will survive.

The public school community is beginning to discuss what education should look like after the “sunset.”

To once again quote Madison

In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other, in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects … Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it is obtained, or until liberty is lost in the pursuit.

A Battle for the Soul of Education: Dr Pangloss and the Gorgons versus Parents, Teachers and the Kids

It is ironic that a few days before the historic CFE budget  was passed the teacher union president was reelected with about 90% of the vote. In spite of Klein’s laudatory comments about the budget, he fought it every step of the way. The CFE folk, the union and a host of education advocacy groups fought for firm wording in the budget. Klein wanted “soft” language so that he could drive funds to his latest delusional fantasies.

The final budget language  is a clear victory for the smaller class size advocates, and the kids. If disputes arise the final and binding decision will be made by the NYS Commissioner of Education.

Klein wanted 250 additional charter schools and got fifty, and the union now has the right to organize charter schools with more than 250 students.

The budget fight is far from over.

In a few days the new reorganization , the educational souk will be announced with the blare of klaxons.

Navigating the souk, created by the gorgons at Tweed, will be a Herculean task. Each and every school will have to chose their School Support Organization. The uber superintendents are racing around the city promising multiple organisms and indulgences, whatever is your “thing.”

All the SSOs are support organizations, they do not rate or evaluate, only support.

The DOE is silently creating Community and High School Superintendents with rating and accountability authority - basically the accountability police.

Glossy brochures, threats that “we still rate you up to June 30th,” desperate pleas from LISs who may be unemployed if they can’t recruit schools: the casbah has come to the DOE.

Next week the yet to be announced Partnership Support Organizations (PSO) will join rush.

All this costs money, lots and lots of money. The DOE’s plan was to “skim” the new Albany dollars for their latest reorganization, and to quietly cuts dollars to schools.

A union leader reelected with an astounding mandate, a majority of the City Council, a broad spectrum of educational organizations, immigrant advocacy groups and parents are calling for the reorganization to be postponed.

The skirmishes will continue until mayoral control sunsets or a “new” organization is created.

In the meantime the Dr. Pangloss at Tweed declaims “all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds,” as yet another generation of kids are sacrificed at the alter of educational ideology.