Back to the Future: Everything Old Is New Again: The NEW Principal Selection Process

Is it true that a young Tweed MBA was perusing yellowed files in the bowels of Ed Central and came across a folder entitled, “Board of Examiners” … and shouted, “What a great idea … testing for competence before you hire someone.”

The announcement that Tweed would prescreen principal applicants  is sad.

A little history: A major reform movement of the late 19th century was civil service reform – taking jobs out of the hands of elected officials and establishing a system based upon competitive examinations and rank order exam generated Civil Service lists.(See Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars). Applicants had to pass a rigorous written examination, an interview and a teaching test.

In the early seventies the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund and a number of other civil rights organizations challenged the Principal’s Examination citing a Supreme Court decision (Griggs v. Duke Power Company) averring that if examinations had “disparate impact an ethnic minority” the employer must show that the examination or requirement was “reasonably related” to the job.

The Board of Education settled the suit and abolished supervisory examinations and replaced them with a  requirement of a brief interview. Selections  were made by school level committees, at least five candidates were recommended to the Superintendent and the final selection was made by the elected school boards. In the mid-nineties the law was  changed and all personnel decisions were removed from the school boards and placed with the Superintendent, who was now selected by the Chancellor.

Parents and teachers, working together had a significant voice in a process: to select the leader of their school.

Under Mayoral control principals are assigned by Tweed, either out of the Leadership Academy, New Leaders for New Schools, or, in some instances School Support Organizations. The decisions are rubber stamped by the Tweed Talent Office and the Superintendent under a Chancellor’s Regulation.

The Leadership Academy has been an unpublicized disaster – extremely costly with many graduates leading “failing” schools, either measured by the State Ed Dept or School Progress Reports. Motivation without the requisite skills is a formula for failure.

We know the qualities of an excellent school leader:

*  an exemplary classroom teacher

*  a body of knowledge: how schools function and how youngsters learn

*  leadership and team building skills

*  ability to read, write and speak well as a role model to staff and students

*  a person who exemplifies academic and intellectual growth

The “value-added” teacher evaluation movement is a charade – without effective school leadership, which means hiring the best teaching candidates, working with the teachers in a collaborative manner, making the “tough” decisions, when necessary, is the “formula” for creating good schools.

The “idea of the moment” public relations mill at Tweed just spins those “new ideas.”

Years ago the high school principal and/or the superintendent was usually the former football coach. Originally I sneered, I came to understand the complexity of coaching and leadership development.

Do you think Bill Belichick would make a better chancellor than Joel Klein?

Peeing into the Wind: Why is Klein Picking Losing Fights With the Teachers Union?

 Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
that grow so incredibly high

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds 

Why are Klein and his cronies peeing into the wind? Aside increasing cleaning bills, what does it achieve?

Late last school year the Department embarked upon a research project: to investigate whether pupil achievement data can be used to measure individual teacher performance. Basically, bringing the School Report Card concept down to the individual teacher level. The project was done quietly, with some consultation with the teacher union. Last week, Chris Cerf, the Deputy Chancellor, at a speech in Washington announced that the purpose of the “study” was to use the results for a merit pay scheme and/or for tenure decisions.

Researchers do develop measurements of teacher performance, but would never use them for “merit” pay or tenure denial decisions, the measurements are not precise.

The folks over at Edwize, Leo Casey and City Sue, skewered the concept, and, the blogosphere in general was skeptical.

A few days ago a not-for-profit announced an agreement with the Department to create a number of extended day Middle Schools, without any discussions/agreements with the union.

In both instances Union President Randi Weingarten was not amused.

Why is the Department seeking fights that it cannot win?

 Speculations: Bloomberg is building an education platform for his Presidential run and wants to distance himself from teacher unions. 

The two major teacher unions, the NEA and the AFT will endorse the Democratic nominee and the Republican nominee will seek out the Charter School/Voucher gang.  Mike wants to carve out a place in the middle. Sort of pro public school and pro Charter, tough on unions, and point to gains in test scores, whether real or perceived.

 Klein is working on his” legacy” for life after Tweed.

With a ticking clock and increasing “pushback” from the electeds and the wider community Klein is seeking to garnish his resume … “this is what I accomplished, and this is what I would have accomplished if my ‘enemies,’ (i.e., unions) hadn’t prevented it.” Old Chancellors never die, they just become university or foundation presidents, or, if Mike or the Repubs seize the Presidency, Secty of Education.

 With rumors of the teacher union leader Randy Weingarten leaving soon  the Department is becoming aggressive figuring the union might be weak.

Actually, from the union perspective, the best thing a new leader can ask for is a “winning” confrontation with management. By the time the Department completes the teacher performance metric, if it is completed at all, it will be spring, 09, on the edge of the end of the Klein regency. From the Klein side of the fence maybe they think a brand new union president will be conciliatory, or, maybe make some political misstep, and the “testing” has begun.

 

But, then again, maybe that smoky aroma in the bathrooms of Tweed isn’t burning leaves …

“You Gotta Keep the Devil Way Down in the Hole,” Fighting Poverty and Tweed

Joel Klein lives in a lovely apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Chris Cerf on a tree lined street in New Jersey … and our kids … too many live on the mean streets of the City: East New York, Rockaway, Flatbush, the Bronx, neighborhoods in which the historic dips in crime haven’t resonated. How many of our kids have a sibling, or a cousin, or some other family member who was shot, or shot someone in the last year? Do Cerf’s kids have to decide whether to walk blocks out if their way to avoid “Crips” turf?

Sunday nights we get a glimpse of life on the streets  if we watch “The Wire.”

Teachers fight the oppression of poverty and try, try really hard to provide our kids with the skills, cognitive and non-cognitive, that will enable them to escape, and scramble up the economic ladder.

For many teachers, about a third leave within three years and half within five years, the job is too difficult …

For the Department the only measure of “success” or “failure” are market forces and data, i.e., are the kids/schools improving. The mantra: grading schools, grading principals and grading teachers will create a market-driven competition and lead to more effective schools.

The School Report Cards will be followed by individual teacher “grades”, as described in a NYTimes article. Grades of “A” to “F” lead to principal removals and school closings, and the Department clearly intends to use individual teacher grades to deny or remove tenure.

Within a few days the State Education Department (SED) will identify new SURR schools. Who will be responsible for improving new SURR schools? The School Support Organizations provide “support” but do not rate or evaluate schools. The Superintendents rate but do not support schools, and Tweed, they aver that they do not run schools, principal do.

The market-driven approach has come under fire recently, both Sol Stern  and Chester Finn, originally strong supporters of market forces have had second thoughts and Leo Casey at Edwize skewers the Department plan.

If we drive “merit” dollars to teachers who the Department grades as “A”s and prune away teachers who are “F”s will we create a more effective school system? Will the unfettered marketplace drive away ineffective teachers and schools?

An example of the unfettered marketplace is baseball free agency … after six years any player can go anywhere and the decisions are data-driven (HRs, RBIs, ERAs, etc.) The Yankees are the richest team and have snatched up the “best” players … and haven’t won a Series since 2000.

426 days until Tweed sunsets … where is Hercules? Can he clean out the Augean Stables?

Deja Vu, Again! “Gates” Are Impenetrable Unless Accompanied By A “Real” Program

 

“Remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity.

 Be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power.

Never forget that you can still do your share to redeem the world

 in spite of all absurdities and frustrations and disappointments.”

 Abraham Heschel

I’m glad to see that the Mayor is reading the blogosphere …

The trompe d’oeil that is called Children’s First, the Klein try at comprehensive educational reform has been ignoring promotional standards in the 8th grade and pumping ill-prepared kids into high schools, and, lo and behold, they fail.

Deja vu, again, the Department reaches back to the days of former Chancellor Frank Macchiarola, and his 4th and 8th grade “Gates”. Rudy Crew flirted with the same concept, and, Mayor Mike had added it to his playbook. The initial press release is short on details, and does set up a number of public hearings, unfortunately the rubber stamp, the current reiteration of the Board of Education, is the final voter.

The slide show accompanying the press release has pretty colored graphs showing that Level 1 kids who go on to high school usually don’t graduate. wow! It would be interesting to track the Level 1 kids who do graduate and see what programs worked!!

One wonders whether the Mayor actually wants to address the problem of kids falling behind or is adding a plank to his presidential campaign platform.

Around about the 4th grade teachers begin to identify kids who are falling behind. Frequently their academic difficulties are accompanied by discipline issues and deteriorating attendance, With each grade the kid falls further behind, becomes more frustrated, acts out, and the road to dropping out is clear.

My first teaching job was at an inner city junior high school, I taught class 9-16, it was made up of 17 and 18 year old 9th graders … in those days we were “tough,” we held over kids and held over kids … until they dropped out … and found jobs … these jobs still exist … except they’re in China!

The Department did identify fifty low achieving Middle School and give them additional dollars … but … do they know how to use the dollars?

A timely just released report by Mass Insight points out that school districts have not been successful at turning around schools and makes a range of thoughtful suggestions:

Lew Smith, an associate professor of education at Fordham University in New York City who writes about school leadership and partners with schools that are redesigning, said the Mass Insight model deserves points for advocating “protected spaces,” free of bureaucratic constraints, and for defining turnaround expertise as a specialized discipline, distinct from general school improvement efforts.  But he said it doesn’t adequately address what must be done to lead a school’s staff to embrace change, and the role the principal must play.

“There is very little attention paid to how you move people from point A to point B,” Mr. Smith said. “Leaders have to understand human dynamics, why people don’t want to change, and take steps to widen that comfort zone. You’re going to need ongoing professional development for teachers and principals.”

Lois Adams-Rodgers, one of the deputy executive directors of the Washington-based Council of Chief State School Officers, which intends to distribute copies of the report to all its members, said the framework can help states reconceptualize their roles.

“You can’t create a blitzkrieg and send in a team for six months like, ‘By golly, they’ll tell those folks what to do.’ There is no sustainability there,” she said. “This [report] helps us think about transforming the system in ways that can be sustained. It’s a much different conversation, among more people. That’s good, because there truly is no silver bullet.”

Let’s say that again: there truly is no magic bullet!!!

Promotional Gates, or, moats, are a charade if they not accompanied by a real program … blaming the principal, or the teachers, or the Support Organization is the mantra from Tweed. They take no responsibility for the inchoate monstrosity that they created.

The emperor continues to have no clothes.

The Malignant Culture of Testing: Tests Should Be a Tool to Improve Instruction, Not A Hammer to Punish Children, Teachers and Schools.

Teachers and kids in elementary schools are breathing a sigh of relief … the ELA tests are over. This week Middle Schools undergo the ordeal and High School Regents Exams begin January 22nd. Andy Wolf, in the NY Sun is concerned about the lack of supervision by the Department and the possibility of cheating  and another Sun writer urges parents to take their kids out of school on testing days .

Testing is not new, New York State has required standardized tests for many decades. The New York Times  published the test results in ascending order: at the top of the list some school in Bayside and at the other end a school in the Bronx. One school located on a lovely tree lined street with private homes and the other in a crack ravaged neighborhood with burned out buildings.

Today, however, test scores are not a one day news phenomenon. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) can have dire consequences. If a school does not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) the school slips into the Schools In Need of Improvement (SINI) category and if scores continue to ebb the school faces possible closing.

In New York City, in addition to State sanctions the School Progress Report, although a growth model, is still primarily based on test scores. Letter grades of “D” or “F” can also lead to closings.

For kids the test results can lead to being “held over.” Again, nothing new, previous chancellors devised “Gates,” bars to moving ahead without improving test scores .

The bottom line: kids still move on to high school well below standards … lets look at two of the high schools slated for closing.

At Franklin K Lane High School 15.6% of students entered the 9th grade “at or above standard” in ELA, while at Canarsie High School 12.8% of entering 9th grade student were “at or above standard.”

In spite of the “back-slapping,” the self-congratulation, the data is distressing, huge numbers of kids are not meeting standards, and,  the Department moves kids into high school who have little or no chance of passing Regents exams.

The threat of school closings and/or the removal of principals drives educational policy at school levels. The Department provides schools with mountains of data, i. e., periodic interim assessments, which result in endless test prep in too many schools. Some schools integrate test prep in usual classroom instruction,  other schools simply “drill and kill.”

I am not against testing: parents and teachers must know how kids are doing and how they are doing. Tests not only “rate” kids they “rate” the effectiveness of the instruction.

The Department is NOT providing the tools: the teacher supports, the range of “instruments,” both physical (i. e., books, computers, maps etc.) and the intellectual supports (teacher centers, mentors, coaches, opportunities to meet with and exchange ideas with colleagues), that produce effective schools, yes, as measured by test scores.

The current melange of Support Organizations and independent, entrepreneur principals, measured solely by test scores, with a scimitar of school closings/principal removals does not serve our children.

Why Is Klein Undermining the Bloomberg Anti-Poverty Efforts? Corrupting Data To “Prove Your Point” Is Immoral.

 Black and white and brown and yellow,

End the rule of sword and gun!

For once you raise your voices

All peoples shall be one

Solidarity Song, Hanns Eisler

Every day some kid will wander into a high school guidance counselor’s office and say: “I know I don’t have many credits – but I really want to graduate – what can you do for me …?” The light bulb finally goes off!

Unfortunately the counselor is confronted with a dysfunctional school system.

There are a number of programs that target “overage, uncredited” students: the Department calls these programs Multiple Pathways.

Transfer Schools , formerly known as Alternative High Schools, are scattered throughout the City with entrance requirements that vary from school to school. The Department, in it’s wisdom decimated the Alternative High School Superintendency and hired an “outsider” who has struggled woefully.

With limited credits a kids will have to spend a couple of years at the transfer school, if he can get in, they all seem to have waiting lists.

Other possibilities are:

Young Adult Borough Centers  (YABC) have been around for a long time, they are similar to evening high schools, classes begin at 4 PM, kids attend either two or four days a week. The Centers have Community Based Organizations (CBO) attached, that do counseling and some have job placement programs. For the kid, once again, it’ll take a couple of years to earn a diploma and entry requirements are 17 years of age and at least 17 credits (44 credits in specific areas and five Regents are required for graduation).

GED Programs  are an answer for the kid who doesn’t want to spend a couple of more years in school. The Department restructured the programs over the summer, a total disaster. The new program is called GED Plus, however, every site seems to have a waiting list!!

There is no one place to call … a counselor may spend hours calling hither and yon … with no success!!

What is so sad is that the Bloomberg Administration has focused on poverty. In June, 2006 the Mayor’s Poverty Commission Report  was released. The Report recommended targeting the working poor, youth between the ages of 16 and 24 and pre-school age youngsters.

A few days ago the Mayor hosted a press conference that recounted 31 programs that emanated form the Poverty Commission Report. Unfortunately there is a total disconnect between the Poverty Commission pilot programs and the Department of Education.

Is the Department of Education part of the City of New York?

If the NYC education governance structure is mayoral control, why is the Department so dysfunctional?

The Department has fallen victim to the Pinocchio Effect … it is constitutionally incapable of telling the truth.

When asked why there wasn’t a simple method, a clearinghouse, a centralized system whereby a counselor can find a placement for a kid, the Department bureaucrat, off the record, responded:

If we make it too easy schools will dump “difficult,” under credited kids …

Isn’t the school system supposed to serve the needs of kids … not the statistics of schools and the system?

A Transfer School administrator on why each school carefully screened potential kids:

We’re also “measured” by our data … we only want “highly motivated” kids …

A new category: “highly motivated” over age, under credited, at risk kids…

After years of failure some kids “see the light,” they realize the importance of earning a high school diploma or a GED: we must be able to “seize the moment,” we must be able to immediately find a placement for that student. For the student this moment may very well decide his/her future: will they stumble through life, or, will that high school diploma or GED enable him to turn around his/her life?

The Department is so driven by “creating” positive data that they condemn a generation of kids to a live of poverty and despair.

Post Script: Season 4 of The Wire should be mandatory viewing for all Tweed personnel – from top to bottom.