Dueling Over Test Scores: How Do We Interpret/Analyze/Understand Test Scores? Is the Klein Way the “Right” Way? or, Is It Always the Classroom?

 

The State Ed Department released embargoed State ELA and Math scores to individual schools many weeks ago … and after a seemingly endless wait released the scores publicly.

 

Commissioner Mills and Chancellor Klein lauded the scores and everyone else was bemused.

 

How is it possible for so many school to have double digit gains?

 

Sol Stern, in the City Journal calls the results the Lake Wobegon Effect, where all students are above average, and points to some school districts where, in effect, every kid is “above average,” aka proficient.

 

Eduwonkette, the perceptive blogger at Education Week, crafts a careful analysis  and points out the dramatic drop in numbers of kids at Level 4, and Andy Wolf, at The New York Sun speculates on the reasons.

 

Over at Eduwonk Andy Rotterdam likes Eduwonkette’s analysis and chides Sol Stern, maybe, he asks, kids just did better? however, he agrees the lack of transparency makes it difficult to properly assess the meaning of the results.

 

Rumors flitted about that Commissioner Mills has been expected to leave his post, and changed his mind. And, it’s really difficult to fire a commissioner with spectacular increases in test scores.

 

For five years Klein has confused, massaged, manipulated, dissembled, obscured and obfuscated test scores to make his administration, his policies, appear “successful.”

 

Aside from his acolytes, the Mayor, the NY Daily News and the New York Post editorial boards, experts have looked askance at his interpretation of the results.

 

Last fall the Department paid for every high school 10th and 11th grader to take the PSAT exam. A few months later schools received the results, and, they were appalling. No press conference, no comment at all. Anecdotally Tweeders bumbled, ” … the kids knew the test wasn’t important, there was no test prep …”

 

How is it possible for NAEP scores to be “flat,” PSAT scores to be abysmal, SED ELA/Math scores to leap?

 

The simplest way to resolve the contradictions would be a longitudinal study … tracking kids cohort by cohort throughout the Klein years … any takers?

There are no magic bullets. No programs, no tricks. If test scores in a particular school increase year after year we should ask: What are they doing right? If they are not: Why not?

 

If we are serious about improving student achievement we have to concentrate on the only place in which achievement can be improved: the classroom. As Dylan Wiliam shows us

 

 Learning is driven by what teachers and pupils do in classrooms. Teachers have to manage complicated and demanding situations, channeling the personal, emotional, and social pressures of a group of 30 or more youngsters in order to help them learn immediately and become better learners in the future. Standards can be raised only if teachers can tackle this task more effectively. What is missing from the efforts alluded to above is any direct help with this task. This fact was recognized in the TIMSS video study: “A focus on standards and accountability that ignores the processes of teaching and learning in classrooms will not provide the direction that teachers need in their quest to improve.”1

 

The pastiche of Klein initiatives/programs/dreams/threats/progress reports and press releases all boils down to “empowering” principals, with a carrot and a stick, and hoping against hope that principals know what to do.

 

We will not make real progress until we realize that the only way to improve learning is to improve teaching, and, you can only do it the “hard way,” classroom by classroom.

Obama, Weingarten and Klein: The Battle for Public Education Moves to the National Stage

 

 

Across the city kids are walking across the stage, graduating from elementary, middle and high schools, and for the students and their families these are joyous memorable moments. The culmination of years of hard work, and, for the high schoolers a passage into adulthood. Unfortunately it is a bittersweet week for the kids who didn’t make it.

 

An HBO special, “Fast Times at Frederick Douglass High School” in Baltimore is a deeply depressing reminder of the Wire-like existence of too many kids. Sullen, dis-engaged kids, hard working dedicated teachers and school administrators who don’t see, or, ignore the crumbling school around them.

 

Mayor Bloomberg boasts about the sharp increases in this years test scores while critics are deeply suspicious of the dramatic increases across the state.

 

This is a school year that has exhausted everyone: teachers who pour their heart and soul into their kids, teacher unions, parent and advocacy groups that have been battling budget cuts for weeks and the kids, faced with “life or death” tests and the boredom of Regents review and test prep.

 

Legislators in Albany simply don’t trust Bloomberg and Klein and have steadfastly refused to ease the “Contract for Excellence” legislation that assures dollars will be driven to the neediest kids/schools. The City Council has been wrangling with the Mayor over the budget, with the hours ticking away.

 

An avalanche of “fixes” have floated out of Tweed, from free cell phones and minutes, weighted student funding schemes, to school/teacher bonuses and Inquiry Teams leading to the “odd couple” Klein/Sharpton Reform Agenda.

 

On the national scene school vouchers are alive and well and the punitive aspects of No Child Left Behind continues to drive instruction..

  

 What is so disturbing is that while Bloomberg/Klein hug and kiss our national education system is clearly in deep, deep trouble. A recent documentary, “Two Million Minutes,” compares students from the United States, China and India … and shows a nation whose education system is sturggling.

 

The school year ends in a few days but the battle will continue, interestingly on the national landscape. Randi Weingarten, the president of the NYC teacher union is a candidate for the presidency of the American Federation of Teachers and Klein is clearly taking his bundle of schemes on the national road.

 

The National Education Association Convention begins next week in Washington and the American Federation of Teachers Convention the following week in Chicago. An opportunity for Obama to address the millions of teachers and begin to lay out his education agenda, and, how will he address the issues that divide teachers and their supporters on one side and Klein and his posse on the other?

Broken: How Klein Is Selling a Failed Model Across the Nation

 Life on earth is tricky;

Wits are never quick enough.

Can’t ever be too picky

Fighting lies and bluff.

Kurt Weil, Threepenny Opera

Watching Klein run around the country flacking his “Education is a Civil Rights” agenda is a little like Lester Maddox praising his own civil rights record.

 

In his lust for power the Chancellor has shredded the rights of the poorest and the powerless.

 

After more than a decade of litigation the highest court in NYS affirmed the decision of Justice DeGrasse and directed the state to drive funds to the neediest. Governor Pataki dawdled until Spitzer and the legislature finally directed the dollars, except, Joel demurred. In spite of the decision of the highest court in the state, the governor and the legislature, Joel wanted to place the dollars wherever he wanted.

 

The Contract for Excellence legislation required that the dollars follow the intent of the law, and, Joel, acting like a spiteful child, slashed the budgets in a range of schools in a cynical attempt to pit middle class against poorer parents and their kids.

 

His self-touted restructuring of the district-based gifted programs in a Tweed -driven model, as predicted, is a catastrophe, achieving the exact opposite of it’s goal. No surprise.

 

Another restructuring, the GED programs, from Off Site Educational Services to GED Plus has resulted in thousands upon thousands of kids “disappearing.” While the teacher union has focused on a flawed staffing system that created hundreds of ATRs, the most vulnerable kids, overage, under credited, who have dropped out of school or who are on the verge of leaving, are cast aside as programs vanish.

 

As kids graduate this week, and Joel raves about highly questionable graduation rates, the fact of that the vast majority of these kids are not college ready. Local diplomas (five Regents exams: four with a passing grade of 55, only one, any one, requires a 65) is barely literacy. The College Readiness Metric, a diploma, grades and skill sets that will prepare a student for 4 year college readiness is the Advanced Regents diploma (eight Regents exams) with grades of 75 or higher). Well under 10% of NYC graduates meet that goal.

 

The NY Sun reports Klein’s “dream” agenda at a Jeb Bush sponsored symposium in Florida, and, Margaret Spellings, of NCLB fame, praises Joel efforts.

 

As Joel and his master, Mike, strike out across the nation, seeking support from governors, think tanks, foundations, free marketeers and the anti public school crowd they leave behind a shredded school system.

The Battle for Education: Obama, the “Bolder” versus the “Reformers,” What Will Be the Direction of Education Policy?

The democratic candidate quest ends with a whimper, Hillary concedes, and vigorously endorses Obama. We would hope that both camps can create a wave of democratic voters and victory in November.

 

 On the education front the battle for the heart and mind of Obama kicked off this week with two manifestos.  

 

The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education coalition, that includes Diane Ravich, Debbie Meier, Richard Rothstein, Peter Edelman, Rudy Crew and Pedro Noguera looks to education as well as broader social policy issues.

 

America has a decision to make. We can continue to pursue education strategies that focus on schools alone and on narrow, test-based accountability—and be content with the modest improvements long associated with this approach. Or we can ratchet up our ambitions and adopt a new and expanded strategy with the capacity to improve student achievement and adult outcomes more effectively and efficiently.

Weakening the link between social and economic disadvantage and low student achievement—leaving no child behind—is an urgent national priority. With our population aging and schools serving a growing number of disproportionately poor immigrant children, the future viability of our Social Security, health, and other social institutions will be affected by how well we educate young people of all backgrounds.

The following day the Education Equality Project, co-chaired by Joel Klein and Al Sharpton, that includes Cory Booker, Geoffrey Canada, Kati Haycock, Ernest Logan and Michelle Rhee, among others.

Despite the urgency of the need and the righteousness of the cause, public education today remains mired in a status quo that not only ill serves most poor children, but shows little prospect of meaningful improvement.

1. We must have an honest and forthright conversation about the root causes of this national failure. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. That is the trap we must avoid or risk losing another generation of our children.
2. The sad reality is that these systems are not broken. Rather, they are doing what we have designed them to do over time. The systems were not designed with the goal of student learning first and foremost, so they are ill-equipped to accomplish what is demanded of them today.
3. Changing the system so that it better meets the needs of students will require not only a shift in our collective thinking, but also a shift in power. As the civil rights movement itself makes clear, such transformations inevitably generate resistance and political conflict. We must no longer shirk from that struggle. The stakes are simply too high.

Obama’s education policy is pretty vanilla, and it is likely he will steer clear of moving toward either “camp.”

 

New York Times columnist David Brooks muses over the direction of Obama’s ed policy, and seems to lean toward the Klein coalition, calling itself the “Reform” coalition.

 

Can we create high achieving schools? Kati Haycock of the Education Trust, a signer of the Klein paper points to thousands of examples of effective schools in high poverty neighborhoods and highlights the qualities of those schools, and asks, why can’t we create more highly effective inner city schools?

 

Richard Rothstein, a signer of the Bolder Coalition paper, and the author of Class and Schools, indicates that unless the issues of poverty are addressed schools can only have narrow successes.

 

The agendas are not mutually exclusive, and, Arne Duncan, the school superintendent in Chicago signed both papers.

 

The Klein-Sharpton manifesto poses as a civil rights agenda and is attractive to those who see themselves as the decendents of the giants of the 60’s. They see “powerful forces,” aka teacher unions, as impediments, defending the “rights” of members over the needs of children, negotiating contracts that impede rather than support education.

 

Rothstein-Meier-Ravitch shun the accountability based No Child Left Behind approach and point to the lack of adequate healthcare, joblessness, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, and the host of pathologies associated with poverty.

 

New Yorkers who view Klein policies as an aberration are mistaken. For many around the country the “Reform” coalition resonates … and with philanthropist Mike in the background they will be a powerful force in the national debate.

 

The United Auto Workers (UAW) are a powerful union, once upon a time a million members. They were tough, they called strikes, they lobbied in Washington, and slowly but surely the unionized auto worker disappeared. The “classic” approach to trade unionsim failed.

 

Teachers face similar obstacles.

 

Attacks on tenure, seniority, pensions, and so-called “rigid” union rules are growing across the nation. How will the NEA and the AFT respond? Will the “classic” trade union approach fend off the critics?  Are teacher unions agile and nimble enough to both protect their members and improve student achievement, aka, close the achievement gap?

 

I hear teachers dismiss vouchers … “it’ll never happen …” A look across the pond to Sweden may change some minds.

 

BIG-STATE, social-democratic Sweden seems an odd place to look for a free-market revolution. Yet that is what is under way in the country’s schools. Reforms that came into force in 1994 allow pretty much anyone who satisfies basic standards to open a new school and take in children at the state’s expense. The local municipality must pay the school what it would have spent educating each child itself …  Children must be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis—there must be no religious requirements or entrance exams. Nothing extra can be charged for, but making a profit is fine.

 

What are the greater dangers, unrestricted school vouchers or the Klein Reform model? Or, are they Scylla and Charybdis?

And, by the way, where does Barack stand?

Will Falling Cranes Bring Down Mike? Is the Teflon Wearing Thin? How Do We Gauge Mayoral Responsibility?

The Bloomberg administration tenure parallels the explosion of a real estate/stock market driven economy. The roiling stock market, until recently, has thrown off billions in income and subsidiary benefits for the city.

 

Seemingly every corner of Manhattan sports a thirty-story condominium with multi-million dollar apartment price tags and those lovely real estate tax dollars.

 

An influx of hardworking immigrants from the far corners of the globe has added a new dimension to the city, and driven crime rates down to all time lows.

 

All in all a good time to be mayor.

 

As the city prospers the mayor claims credit and basks in the glory, and flirts with runs for president, governor, a third term for mayor, or, just influencing policy as a major philanthropist and tank tank funder.

 

His teflon coat has shielded him from a number of grievous decisions.

 

The billion dollar West Side Stadium project, housing a professional football team that would use the stadium eight times a year was supported by the developer and the construction trade unions, a colossally stupid idea that was torpedoed by Assembly Speaker Silver, who, rather than gaining adulation, was pilloried by the Bloomberg driven press.

 

A bigger disaster was Congestion Pricing, and ill-conceived plan supported by some “greens,” the NY Times and a City Council that was “bribed” by Bloomberg promises. It was abhorred by the masses in the outer boroughs and the businesses who would bear the brunt of the fees. Once again it was Silver who took the beating as Mike moved one.

 

The police misdeeds, culminating in the Sean Bell shootings had frighteningly little impact and Mike, the “hands on” Mayor once again escaped any lasting criticism.

 

The disaster of mayoral control in the schools is directed at the Chancellor, and Mike, the engineer of the plan, and the person at the pinnacle of the system is untouched.

 

The failing building cranes may finally focus the public on the Mayor.

 

Will Bloomberg evade the fallout from the falling cranes and the growing scandal within his administration?

 

There are hundreds of cranes hoisting building materials around the city. How many of the operators are not properly licensed? How deep does the scandal go? Does the scandal reach beyond just cranes? How about building violations? Do building plans conform with law and regulations?

 

Has the entire construction boom, so beneficial to the city fiscally, been given a “wink and a nod,” a pass on the rigid zoning and safety laws and regulations?

 

Mike is behind the podium at City Hall to announce those wonderful dropping crime stats, and lets his press acolytes pound his critics when something bad happens. As Mike tries to change the regs so that he can appoint a crony to head the building department I wonder whether the “crane” fallout will nip the teflon mayor?

 

He seems bored with running the Apple, and apparently rejects other elected office, I guess he’ll have to “settle” for philosopher king.

Endgame: Comity or Conflict? The Union Coalition Dukes It Out With Klein As the School Days Ebb.

Teachers live by their own calendar … September through June. The school year has an ebb and flow … the high expectations at the beginning of the school year: smiling faces, eager, worried new teachers, cynical old timers, that first staff meeting … until June: the results of the standardized tests, Regents, graduations, and, “free at last, free at last,” that last day …

 

This year the Teacher Union and the “Keep the Promises” coalition are fighting to restore budget cuts, and Randi Weingarten and Joel Klein are dueling over the “ATR Crisis,” in fact, comity has evolved into a rather nasty fight between the public school forces on one side and Klein, Tweed, some foundation types on the other.

 

Will the City Council restore some/all of the mayoral imposed budget cuts?

 

The Mayor/City Council pas de deux is an annual affair. The Mayor proposes a budget, this year with sharp, across the board cuts. The Council holds hearings, criticizes the cuts, and reaches a compromise with the Mayor. This year is more difficult.

 

Each council member has a couple of million of dollars in “soft money” to distribute to local organizations. Not surprisingly, some of the dollars go to organizations with close ties to the councilman, and, some of the dollars are hard to track. Did the dollars go to pay friends, relatives and supporters of the councilman, or, is this the Mayor’s effort to weaken the council?

 

Has Tweed/Klein “protected” schools from the cuts, or, have they pushed the cuts down to the schools? Has Tweed/Klein “tweaked” the formula to make cuts to the schools with the most vocal parents? Is the State funding formula responsible for driving funds to especially low poverty schools, or, is this a Klein ruse?

 

How will the cuts, if not reduced or rescinded impact schools? What programs will be cut/reduced? Will teachers be excessed? And, how will this impact the “ATR Crisis”?

 

Will the “ATR Crisis” force the Teacher Union to negotiate changes in their contract?

 

The Department has accelerated school closings. Prior chancellors began to close school about fifteen years ago, and, negotiated a process with the union. The replacement schools have to interview applicants from the closing, known as phase out schools, and, had to hire 50% of “qualified” applicants. Excess teacher in phase out schools would select five schools for “priority excess,” and, if a vacancy in license was identified that excess teacher was assigned to the vacancy.

 

The Klein administration implemented a major change. Teachers who were not hired by the interview process were treated as excess teachers. They would be placed in an Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) pool and assigned to schools and would serve as substitute teachers if a teacher was absent. If a teacher is not absent? No instructions … Some principals have assigned the ATR to regular teaching duties, in essence, having an “extra” teacher that they don’t pay for.

 

A not-for-profit, that is a vendor of the Department issued a report claiming that the ATR process was costing the Department $81 million dollars and supported the chancellor’s position: if an ATR could not find a position that they should be laid off.

 

The union responded vigorously with a “loud” back and forth, see UFT here and New Teacher Project here  and UFT Report here.

 

The contract does not end until November, 2009, and, it appears the next contract will be negotiated with the next mayor, and, one supposes, the next chancellor.

 

Wait a minute: does the Bloomberg want a third term? Is it possible to place a voter referendum on the November, 2008 ballot? Haven’t voters turned down removing term limits twice …

 

In three scant weeks teachers will be saying goodbye to their kids, telling them to read over the summer, stay out of trouble … and for two months … sleep a little later … speak with adults all day … explore the world beyond those four classroom walls …

 

The school wars will fade to back pages of the dailies as the players gird for the next round.

Whither Mayoral Control? Where Are the Adams, Hamiltons, Madisons? Can We Invent a School System That Works for Everyone?

 

 

Forty years ago, in May of 1968, the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Governing Board fired a group of white teachers. The Mayor was aloof and the Board of Education avoided any involvement. A two month strike resulted that only ended with the involvement of the NYS Commissioner of Education.

 

In the summer of 1975 the union was engaged in contract negotiations with the Board of Education when the City almost defaulted, it slashed the Board budget and the Chancellor, Irving Anker, a long time insider laid off over ten thousand teachers.

 

Today, a Mayor/Chancellor are, once again, trying to slash the Department of Ed budget.  The “Alphonse-Gaston” finger-pointing is no longer an issue. The “Keep the Promises” coalition is holding rallies and demonstrations on the steps of City Hall and at schools around the City.

 

These scenarios are particularly interesting as the legislature moves toward changes in the school governance law.

 

Many teachers cry for a return to non-mayoral control. They point to the current administration which is responsible to no one … to quote NYS Regent Meryl Tisch, they suffer from “arrogance.”

 

City Council President Christine Quinn wants a major role for the Council – no surprise. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is slowly moving toward a position, as are the Supervisors’ and Teachers’ Unions.

 

How do we create a school governance system in which the mayor is accountable to other elected officials and the public at large without creating a system that is either fractured or accountable to no one?

 

In Los Angeles the Board of Education is elected in districts by city voters, and, selects the superintendent. The mayor has no statutory role, although, he supports candidates in the election.

 

Due to Proposition 13 schools in California are funded at levels well below those in New York State.

 

Mayoral control in Boston was quite successful, a longtime mayor and a long time superintendent have had a  highly productive relationship.

 

To whom is a Central Board of Education responsible?

 

Should they be selected by the Mayor? the City Council? Who selects the Chancellor? the Mayor? the Central Board? Collaboratively?

 

Where are the Adams, Hamiltons and the Madisons? Are any of our current politicians imbued with  the spirit of the founding fathers?

 

Ultimately the NYS Legislature and the Governor will have to agree upon the legislation. As the legislature moves toward adjournment it is clear that the governance law will be on next years agenda.

 

As those of us in the City are consumed with the fight over the budget, and, in the wings, governance, another huge issue edges onto the stage.

 

A NYS Commission on Property Tax Relief  has just issued a report that recommends capping school taxes. The passage of the proposition in California has had dire consequences for schools across the State.

 

These are perilous times for public education.