Merryl Tisch, the State Education Dept and their epic fail when it comes to charter expansion

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Regents, has proclaimed in recent days that she believes in expansion of charter schools. On a Nov. 16 radio show, she said: “I personally am a great believer in charter schools ... I believe in opening them aggressively…I’d like to push more charter schools.”  She added that rather than support the Mayor’s preference for improving struggling schools rather than shutting them down, ”If we do not see movement on these schools, these lowest-performing schools, in terms of their ability to retool their workforce, by the spring, we will move to close them.”

The most recent Quinnipiac poll from November 19 revealed that 48 percent of NYC voters believe that the Mayor should freeze or reduce the number of charter schools in NYC, while only 43 percent think that the number should be increased  – despite millions spent by the deep-pocketed charter lobby on marketing and television ad campaigns. Fifty percent of voters believe charters should pay rent if housed in a public school vs. 41 percent who oppose this.  Sadly, both the authority to decide whether charter schools should expand and whether they should pay rent have been taken out of the Mayor’s hands, as the power to determine the number of charters rests with the Governor and the state Legislature. 

Moreover, the Governor already pushed through a new law last spring which obligated NYC to provide free space or pay their rent in private space for any new or expanding charter going forward – the only district in the state saddled with this burden, where we already suffer from the most overcrowded public schools and the highest real estate costs.  And now Cuomo, Tisch and their Wall St. buddies are working hard to raise the cap – especially in NYC, where we already have 197 charters, with 31 approved to open over the next two years, and 28 remaining under the cap. We are already paying $1.3 billion per year for these privately managed schools – and will likely be spending hundreds of millions of dollars more for their rent.  

On a subsequent radio show, Tisch said that the remaining open slots in the rest of the state should be shifted to NYC “where we are eager to have them.”  (See this radio interview, at about 32 minutes in. )  One wonders who is the “we” referred to here.  Is it the royal we, or does we mean the Wall St. pro-charter crowd with whom she socializes?  Clearly, it does not mean NYC voters or public school parents. 

 

Last spring, the hedge fund/charter lobby spent $5.95 million on ads to pressure the Mayor and the legislature to give free space to charters.  This fall, they spent another $4 million on TV ads to elect a Republican majority in the State Senate that would support raising the cap, without ever mentioning the word “charter schools” in their ads – because those words don’t go down so well in the swing districts of the candidates whose campaigns they were supporting. 

Today, there are only 51 charter schools in the rest of the state, and more than 100 slots remain under the cap outside NYC.  Suburban districts have mostly managed to resist the charter onslaught, but not here in NYC where the wealthy oligarchs have more influence with the Regents and the SUNY board than the hundreds of public school parents who appear at hearings in opposition. 

Last week, apparently as part of Tisch’s “aggressive” stance towards expanding charters, the Regents approved a Rochester charter school founded by 22 year old “Dr.” Ted Morris Jr., who lied about his resume, claiming he had degrees from a high school, college and even graduate schools that he had not attended and/or graduated from.  The State Education Department and the Regents did not do even the most minimal fact checking, as Morris’ resume in his charter application did not match his Linked-in profile, nor did it align with earlier charter applications he had submitted to NYSED, starting at the age of 18.  After his lies were discovered, “Dr.” Ted Morris resigned from the charter, but Tisch said that the school would be opened anyway, with a board recruited from Craig’s List. Subsequently, the approval was withdrawn, but only after bloggers and the media did the minimal research that NYSED had failed to fulfill in the first place.

At the same meeting, the Regents approved the Harlem charter application of Dr. Steve Perry, who runs a magnet school in Connecticut, even though his school enrolls far fewer poor students , those with disabilities, and English Language Learners than the other high schools in Hartford.  Perry is a controversial figure who has compared teachers to cockroaches and his bullying of parents led the Hartford Board of Education  president to call for an investigation against him. Now Jonathan Pelto has called for a new investigation – this time, into the fact that Perry admitted using Hartford district employees to prepare his charter application and to develop the educational programs to be implemented at his Harlem charter school.

Also at the same Regents meeting, NYSED released college-going statistics for districts and schools that were shown to be wildly inaccurate by Superintendents and principals throughout the state. 

A recent report, summarizing the audits of NY charter schools, concluded that millions of dollars have been wasted and/or improperly spent  by them, and there was “probable financial mismanagement in 95% of schools examined. “ Another just-released report from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers found that NY is the 18th lowest out of 21 states for strong charter accountability laws.

Four years after the previous NY charter law was amended, that barred any charter school from being re-authorized or allowed to expand or replicate that has not enrolled equal numbers of at-risk students as the public schools in their communities, the state has failed to release any data that would allow one to assess their student attrition rates.   We know from the data that does exist that the student cohorts at many NYC charter schools, including Success Academy, lose many students along the way.  According to  Peter Goodman,

In the spring of 2013 a number of regent members asked the commissioner for a report on attrition: were the charter schools dumping low achieving and discipline problems especially before the state tests – a year and half later – no report.

Clearly, NYSED and the Regents have failed to be responsible for the charters that they have already authorized, have proven themselves incapable of performing minimal due diligence in authorizing new charters, and are certainly unable to provide proper oversight for the additional numbers of charter schools that Tisch wants to so “aggressively” expand.   It is time that the State Education Department and Chancellor Tisch stop recklessly throwing away taxpayer money in their campaign to privatize our public schools.  One has to wonder where the accountability is for them.

NYS Assessment blues and statement from NYSAPE on latest exam fiasco & call for John King & Tisch to resign

Thanks to Howie Ratem for the below video and song; and NY State Allies for Public Education for their statement below on the latest fiasco from NY State Education Department: an unknown number of  3rd graders received Pearson math exams yesterday, with pages and questions missing -- calling into question the validity or the results.  NYSAPE is demanding that the Commissioner and Chancellor Tisch resign.

For more on parent distress at the Common Core testing regime, see Rebecca Mead in the New Yorker, and comedian Louis CK's recent tweets.  As mentioned below, more than 48% of the students at Worcester Central School District opted out of the math exams; 81% of the students at PS 146/The Brooklyn New School did so as well.  If you have figures for your school or district, please email them to info@classsizematters.org  thanks!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2014

More Information Contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) www.nysape.org

NYS 3rd Grade Test Invalid, Chancellor Merryl Tisch and

 Education Commissioner John King Must Resign

The leaders of the New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state, are calling for the NYS 3rd Grade math test to be deemed invalid, since many questions were missing today from one of the four forms. This week, once again, parents are reminded of the grossly inappropriate practice of subjecting 8 and 9 year olds to 6 to 12 hours of testing over the course of six days. In light of the high stakes attached to these tests for children, schools and teachers, an error of this magnitude calls NYSED’s leadership and relationship with Pearson into serious question. This is yet another major misstep by our Commissioner of Education and the Board of Regents who oversee NYSED.

Commissioner King and the Board of Regents have been criticized extensively for not listening to parents or educators on the need to revamp the Common Core standards, lessen the focus on testing, and to cease and desist from thrusting one-size-fits-all statewide curriculum on local schools. And despite repeated issues with its testing vendor, NYSED has failed to take meaningful action, ignoring criticism from all corners of the state.

After repeatedly witnessing NYSED and the Board of Regents leadership fail to act within their authority, New York State Allies for Public Education now calls for the termination of Commissioner John King and the resignation of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch. The concerns of parents and educators throughout New York State have been casually dismissed at the detriment of their children for far too long.

“This comedy of errors has gone on too long. From the overly long, obscure and confusing ELA exams, with commercial product placements, and now with missing questions from the math exam, it is clear that the educrats at NYSED who have flunked, not our children,” said Chris Cerrone, Springville parent, Western New York Educator and founding NYSAPE member.

“While NYSED is eager to impose high-stakes on our schools and our teachers, where’s the accountability for them?” asked Jeanette Deutermann, North Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out, “We need to stop the excessive testing and test prep, with defective modules and exams, and get back to educating our children once again.”

“Even as Louis CK has brought attention to the inherently flawed nature of the Common Core test prep materials this week, parents throughout the state are opting out their children in even larger numbers. In our school district, more than 48% refused to take the math tests. But it is unfair to all children and teachers to be assessed and compared with others through an invalid exam with missing questions. Enough is enough! John King and Merryl Tisch, resign!” said Stacey Serdy, Worcester Central School District parent and founder of Worcester Community for Education.

###

Sign our petition to Commissioner King and the Board of Regents on the need to protect student privacy!

UPDATE:  Parent leaders from throughout the state sent Commissioner King and the Board of Regents a letter April 29, 2014 with the same message;  the letter is posted here. 

Though NY State was finally forced to sever its contract with inBloom, and inBloom has announced it is closing its doors, there are still many threats to student privacy that the new state law did not address, as well as the huge number of vendors eager to get their hands on our children's  personal data.  The new law requires that the Commissioner appoint a privacy officer who will write a parent bill of rights.  We must ensure that this privacy officer creates a bill of rights that respects parents and provides them with the ability to protect their children's privacy and safety. Please read the petition to Commissioner King and the Regents posted below and sign it here.

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To Commissioner King and the Board of Regents:

For more than two years, since the state entered into a data-sharing agreement with inBloom, you have refused to notify the public, hold hearings, or even answer parents’ questions about your plans to disclose the personal information of their children to this corporation.  Your lack of respect for student privacy and parental concerns was also made clear by the fact New York was the last state among nine to sever its relationship to inBloom and the ONLY one in which a law had to be passed to do this.

Now that inBloom is closing its doors and the new state law contains a range of new privacy protections, including a privacy officer who will develop a parent bill of rights, we urge you to demonstrate a new transparency and accountability by taking the following steps:

1-    Minimize the state’s collection and sharing of personal student data and maximize the opportunities for parental notification and consent;

2-    Appoint an independent privacy advocate as your privacy officer, rather than someone from  inside the NYS Education Department or from the corporate world;

3-    Hold public hearings and elicit comments and suggestions from parents and other stakeholders as to the parent bill of rights and the regulations that will enact the new law, while also encouraging the public to submit their comments online and posting them;

4-    Appoint an advisory board of parents, advocates, educators, administrators and privacy experts to guide your work going forward and to provide independent oversight for the state’s P20 “cradle to the grave” student tracking system, that is designed to collect and link personal data on children from many state agencies;

5-  Immediately post any and all contracts in which the State is providing personal student data  to vendors and other third parties– including your agreement with the PARCC consortium that is developing the new tests that will replace the state exams.

These agreements should delineate exactly which data elements are being disclosed to third parties, what restrictions have been placed on their use,  whether the third parties are barred from redisclosing the data without parental consent, what security and encryption protections are being used, and when the data will be destroyed.

If you take the steps outlined above,  it will help demonstrate a new acknowledgement on your part that parents have a legitimate interest in the privacy and security of their children, which must be respected rather than ignored.

Sincerely yours,
Sign here

Regent Cashin proposes New York withdraw from inBloom

This happened  at the Board of Regents meeting this morning in Albany.

Unfortunately, Merryl Tisch changed the subject and ignored Cashin's proposal to be responsive to the pleas of parents, school board members, educators and elected officials to protect the privacy and safety of the state's children and pull out of inBloom Inc.

The most heartbreaking speech at last night's Common Core forum by Lorri Gumanow

There were lots of great speeches last night at the Manhattan Regents forum with Chancellor Tisch and Commissioner King at the Spruce St. School.  Wonderful and eloquent comments from teachers, principals, and parents, including Manhattan CEC leaders Shino Tanikawa, Noah Gotbaum, Tory Frye and Sonja Jones.  But here is a magnificent speech that made many members of the audience tear up.  Shared with Lorri Gumanow's permission.

Commissioner King, Chancellor Tisch, thank you for the opportunity to share with you tonight. My name is Lorri Gumanow, and my husband and I are the proud parents of a very talented 13-year old public school student who is an actor and puppeteer, and wants to work with the Jim Henson Company someday. I am a newly retired special educator. But tonight I am here to ask you to walk in my shoes as a parent.

Our son was born 3 months premature and has several neurological disabilities and an IEP. His disabilities are not the result of poverty, poor prenatal care or poor educational opportunities. He has always thrived in the public school environment. He has had wonderful teachers, wonderful inclusive public schools, and wonderful supports.

All of a sudden he is failing. He failed the math test last year with a score of 1. What happened? The roll out of the Common Core asks 8th graders to now magically perform as 10th graders, without any attention to the skills and knowledge they might have been required to learn and practice in those 2 missing years.

Your solution is that my son just needs to try harder. Increase the rigor! No excuses! And what do you really mean every time you say, "This work?" He does 4 hours of homework every night and still fails his classroom test! If you don't pass, you are a failure, and your teacher is a failure too. Fire that bad teacher! Close that failing school! Failure is not an option. Raise the bar. Unfortunately, when you throw some kids into the “deep end of the pool,” with a brick tied to their ankle - label the brick whatever difference you prefer - it is foolish to believe they are all going to be able to come back up for air. A lot of them are going down! I am tired of the jargon and the rhetoric. You are willing to write my son off as collateral damage. I care about my child! I care about all children! And so do his teachers! Education is not a competition – it is a human right and our responsibility!

My son now says he is stupid, he can’t take it anymore, my teacher will get fired if I fail, why can’t I be normal, he says he wants to kill himself, he has meltdowns regularly over homework – AND he has pulled the kitchen knife out of the drawer. He has always received outstanding medical care and mental health care! Now I have to give him, in addition to his daily medications, a sedative when he loses control – over homework and schoolwork????? I sedate my kid with strong drugs so he doesn’t hurt himself over an ELA quiz??? Something is very wrong with this picture. School should not be a life or death experience. School is not worth dying for!

And as a parent, would you want this medical history about your child on inBloom, for the world to see? (By the way, our son has given me permission to share this with you!) Are we overprotective parents, protecting him from rejection and failure? Absolutely not - he is an actor. He knows that when he experiences rejection after an audition, he picks himself up, works hard and tries again. But it's demeaning to try again when you know you don't have the skills. Experiencing failure is an important lesson in life. But being punished for something out of your control is abuse, and it is discriminatory.

My son is a proud member of the Drama Desk award-winning TADA! Resident youth theater ensemble, and just earned a leading role in their upcoming off-Broadway musical production. Talent exists in many forms, academic talent being just one form. The arts are what save my son’s life! He will reach his dream through hard work, perseverance, and dedication to his craft. Those are qualities that employers value! Your testing and sorting of children, and treating them as human capital will not bring our children down, because we won’t let you. We love and support our children, and embrace all of their special talents! We are active, concerned, informed and intelligent parents and we won’t let you hurt our children. Pull out of inBloom. Fire Pearson now! Drop the Common Core! All children, not just the children of Ivy-league educated and wealthy parents, are entitled to a good education in our democracy. Not just the kids in private schools and charter schools. ALL children!! I hope you were listening. Oh, and by the way. I graduated from an Ivy-league college too and I believe in our public schools! Thank you!

Common Core forums last night in the Bronx and Brooklyn: what a difference!

Me in the Bronx last night (credit: GothamSchools)

Last night in the Bronx, only about 50-75 people showed up at the Regents Forum at Evander Childs HS.  The borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr., who started off the evening, was clearly furious at the poor attendance and blamed it on the fact that NYSED officials had given only one week's notice.

It was a mixed crowd, but most of those who spoke in favor of the Common Core appeared to work at charter schools or were teachers affiliated with Educators for Excellence, an organization funded primarily by the Gates Foundation, that also funded the Common Core.  The director of E4E, Evan Stone, spoke, as well as two (!!) of their Bronx "outreach" directors, one of whom had been excessed [not laid off] when her school was closed last year.

Most of the speakers were against the Common Core and its associated testing regime.  These included Mark Naison, a professor at Fordham, who asked for the resignation of Regents head Merryl Tisch, and several parents who decried that their Kindergarten children were being subjected to inappropriate bubblesheets exams and worksheets labeled "test prep."  While Tisch said that the state did not support standardized testing for small children, the parents called her "disingenuous" and pointed out that these tests were on the NYSED's approved list of assessments. See this video of Monique Dols, a parent of a Kindergarten child at Dos Puentes, a bilingual school in Washington Heights.

Teachers lamented how the scripted and flawed Common Core curriculum hav taken all the joy out of teaching, and how students no longer had access to art, music and well-rounded education.  Parents reported that their children who once loved school now cry when doing homework, and are made to feel like they are failures.  The state had decided beforehand that 70% of the children would fail the tests, to what end? one asked.  Another parent said the quota for informational text was "diabolical" and pointed out that reading literature is what makes us "human."

Regent Betty Rosa, who was there along with Merryl Tisch and several NYSED Deputy Commissioners, said she voted against the teacher evaluation system linked to test scores, and that the Common Core focuses on evidence, but there is none for the Common Core itself.  She concluded that sadly, all the focus has been on the standards and the assessments, but everything needed between had been omitted: sufficient resources, small classes, quality curriculum, and teacher capacity.

I asked the following questions about student privacy: "We've learning that personally identifiable student data was uploaded to the inBloom cloud -- once last December to help with inBloom's "infrastructure development" and again in July for the data dashboard "roadshows."  Exactly what personal data was uploaded and couldn't dummy data be used, given how incredibly sensitive much of this information is, and could be seen by anyone attending the roadshows?"

"Also, thousands of parents signed petitions against the state sharing this data with inBloom; hundreds have written letters begging for their child to opt out and at least 40 superintendents have given back their Race to the Top funds in hope of protecting their students; but the state insists on sharing their data anyway.  Parents, school board members and Superintendents all agree that this plan is not only completely unnecessary but poses huge risks for children's privacy and safety.  Eight of the the nine original inBloom states have now pulled out .  Why is the New York State Education Department so much more resistant to listening to parents and educators and so much more careless with kids' privacy and lives?"

Regent Merryl Tisch handed over the mike to Ken Wagner of NYSED, who repeated the usual blather and didn't answer either of my questions.

credit: WNYC/InsideSchools

In Brooklyn, the scene was completely different. The speaking list was entirely dominated by charter school parents who had been bused in by Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst NY and Families for Excellent Public Schools, two pro-corporate reform organizations financed by the Walton Foundation and other pro-privatization groups.

Officials at Medgar Evers College had been told to reserve a room inside the building for these parents early. Though on its website, NYSED announced that the doors would only open at 6 PM, by 5:30 PM all the speaking slots were already taken.  StudentsFirst was founded to provide the shock troops for corporate reform, and with the help of either NYSED or DOE insiders, they performed their role admirably in Brooklyn last night. The only person who had a chance to speak against the Common Core until the very end of the night was Katie Lapham, a teacher who happened to arrive even earlier at 4:30 PM.  Her statement is here.  An account from a parent posted on Diane Ravitch's blog is here.

One more point: there is no objective evidence that higher standards alone will narrow the achievement gap or enable children to learn what they need to succeed, as Tom Loveless and other experts point out.  And there is even LESS evidence to show that the current crop of Common Core standards and their associated modules and exams are high quality -- and much that argues against this. As Rosalina Diaz, a professor at Medgar Evers said last night,  ""I think this is very sad...The Common Core is the furthest thing from solving inequality. This is the ultimate inequality because people can't speak their mind," referring to the overwhelming dominance of of pro-Common Core speakers.

In fact, by basing all decisions on test scores and  labeling struggling students as failures, it may serve to discourage them, widen the achievement gap and lead to more dropouts.  What actually works to improve student learning and narrow the opportunity gap is small classes, experienced and caring teachers, and a well-rounded education -- all of which is being driven out of schools and actively undermined by NYSED's  narrow and damaging policies.

King and Tisch finally coming to hear from NYC parents next week!

Commissioner King and Merryl Tisch, head of the board of Regents, are finally coming to hear from NYC parents on their controversial education agenda, after already appearing at 14 forums in the rest of the state.  

Unfortunately, they have given us only one week of warning and will hold only three forums over two nights: Tuesday Dec. 10 in The Bronx and Brooklyn; and Wednesday Dec. 11 in Manhattan.  Here and below are the locations and times.

PLEASE come and let your voice be heard at one of these forums, and let these all-powerful state officials know how you feel about the Common Core, testing and privacy, including their plan to share the personal information for all public school students in the state with inBloom Inc. -- the only state in the country that hasn't yet pulled out of this project.  

Here is a flyer you can post in your schools for Manhattan and Brooklyn; Bronx is coming soon.

Tuesday, December 10 in Brooklyn   

Medgar Evers College
1650 Bedford Avenue (map here)
6:30-8:30 PM

Tuesday, December 10 in The Bronx

Evander Childs Campus
800 East Gun Hill Road (map here)
6:00-8:00 PM

Wednesday, December 11 in Manhattan

Spruce Street School

12 Spruce Street (map here)

6:00-8:00 PM  (SEE NEW TIME)

NYC Parents star at Senator Flanagan's hearings on Common Core, testing and privacy

Wednesday's NY Senate hearings on the Common Core, testing and privacy were long but revealing.  After our press conference, the morning started off with Merryl Tisch, head of the Regents, saying that the tests had caused much upset and displacement but the state must move ahead with the program, no matter what.

Many of the Senators present were former teachers who decried the amount of standardized testing and test prep, the stressful effect on schoolchildren, and their total uselessness for the purposes of diagnostic assessment or teaching.  But Tisch said that it was important to carry on, given the low rates of college-readiness throughout the state (as though flawed, lengthy and stressful tests are necessary to prepare kids for college.)

Sen. Hoylman asked her why Commissioner King is holding 16 forums around the state, but none are scheduled so far in NYC, where one third of the entire state's public school students are enrolled.  She said they would be announcing some NYC forums soon -- either three or five, she was unclear.  She used as an excuse that the DOE had adopted their teacher evaluation system later than the rest of the state. (Why this is relevant?)  When asked about why the state's providing personal student information to inBloom, Tisch deferred to Ira Schwartz of SED, saying the issue was "too technical for me", although she has been supporting this unconscionable plan from the beginning.

Schwartz repeated the bland SED talking points that many districts already have contracts with vendors, and the state's sharing data with inBloom is not different from what they do currently.  Of course, superintendents and school boards throughout the state oppose inBloom and disagree vociferously.  He added that the new system will simply make it easier for personal student data to be used more efficiently, as though why should assuage the anyone's fears.  Senator Tkaczyk asked, what about parents with special needs children?  Schwartz: this is not a cause for concern.  Glad you've cleared that up, Ira!

Tisch claimed that many teachers think the Common Core curriculum modules provided by the state are helpful, though this seems to be contradicted by voluminous statements made by teachers at the forums around the state, where the poor quality of these scripted modules seem to be their  #1 complaint.  She said that she came from a family of immigrants, and she was sympathetic to the needs of English Language Learners.  She was "appalled" by the federal requirement that ELLs have to be tested with the same state exam after one year, and that NYSED would be asking for a waiver.  She decried the "inflammatory rhetoric" being used around the state, and then claimed that if we want New York state to remain civilization's "centric" we must proceed apace with the Common Core and the testing regime, or "families won't stay here." (Talk about overheated rhetoric.)

Senator Felder commented that he himself wasn't a good student when he was in school, and many other students who don't do well on tests excel in art, music or other areas. He wrapped up by saying that "Kids aren't robots" and that the state's emphasis on exams do little to help them. (much applause and no response from Tisch.)

Then came Michael Mulgrew of the UFT, who wholeheartedly supported the Common Core and its premise, that we need it because international comparisons show that our country is "falling behind other nations."  (A new study seems to dispute this.)  The roll out, though has been "terrible," because there's "no curriculum" (what about those modules that teachers are complaining about?)  Until there is a curriculum, we should have a moratorium on the high-stakes of tests, but not halt the tests themselves, and the tests should be made harder more gradually, as "there's a human cost to students and parents to suddenly impose a new baseline".  Senator Martins smartly pointed out that he wasn't sure about the validity of the cut scores, (along with many others) and "how does failing on exams help kids learn, anyway?  Mulgrew said he wasn't a psychometrician, and Martins should ask King about that.

Deputy Chancellor Suransky was up next, and made all sorts of debatable claims, like the new state tests were far better than the old ones (really?) and that the DOE just needed more "flexibility" from the Legislature in implementation, though he could give no specific examples.  He said that the DOE didn't want to have to give the much-criticized bubble tests to Kindergarteners in their Early Childhood Centers, but had been forced by SED because of their teacher evaluation system. His major thrust was that whatever problems existed with the Common Core would be solved by giving teachers more common planning time and professional development -- though this would likely cut into their time with students, and/or raise class sizes.  Already with DOE permission, schools have converted one day a week of their extra 37 minutes per day to  planning time, scoring tests or training, time that was originally designed to help struggling students with small group instruction; and many schools are also instituting half days to do more of the same.

While Suransky said much of the angst among teachers about the new evaluation system was misplaced, since only 1% of them across the state were rated ineffective, he neglected to mention that 6% of teachers in the tested grades and subjects were rated ineffective, putting the credibility of the entire system in doubt. While the next administration may want to make "adjustments," he didn't expect any major shifts since there is agreement between SED and the UFT that this important work.  (Parents don't seem to enter into the equation.)

Finally, he said that only 3% of students who fail 3rd grade exams pass their 8th grade exams, showing how early education is important, but to him and too many others, early childhood education seems to stop at preK.  With the highest class sizes in 14 years in grades K-3, the DOE has taken away one of the most effective ways to ensure children, especially poor children of color and English language learners, can have a decent chance to succeed.

Though neither Mulgrew nor Suransky mentioned class size, the next panel did and were passionate, articulate and pointed in their remarks. The panel of parents, Nancy Cauthen, Lisa Shaw and Karen Sprowal, were all terrific. Nancy focused on the Common Core, and how parent's concerns have been ignored.  She explained how she pulled her oldest son out of school to homeschool him because she was fed up with all the testing. Lisa and Karen focused on inBloom and spoke eloquently and convincingly about how the state's plan to share their children's most personal data with vendors and "profile" them could imperil their futures. Nancy's testimony starts at 2:36, Lisa and Karen at 2:52 in.  Be sure to check them out; they were the stars of the day (at least in my eyes.)

They both also spoke about how they would no longer sign Medicaid reimbursement forms because of the state's data-sharing plans -- which could cause the city to lose millions of dollars if other parents do the same.  After their testimony, Senator Martins, the prime sponsor of S. 5930, the bill to protect student privacy, thanked them because he knew that now he "will have five or six more co-sponsors on his bill."

Monte Neill of FairTest gave terrific testimony, about the rebellion against hi-stakes standardized testing that has erupted in NYC and across the country, and that no other nation gives so many exams; also Marco Battistella of Time Out from Testing. 

Then a trio of "specialists" appeared, first the VP of a for-profit company selling an online credit recovery program (really?), and two reps from StudentsFirst NY, Michelle Rhee's organization, selling the line that despite all the evidence, most teachers and parents really support all the testing and the Common Core. One of them actually claimed that in the past year, the organization had had face-to-face conversations with over 300,000 New Yorkers!  (Another ridiculous claim, like Rhee's statement that StudentsFirst has a million members -- mostly made up of people who signed their deceptive petitions by mistake.) Both StudentsFirst reps also claimed that the Common Core would somehow provide educational equity to all students.  Nuff said.  Ernie Logan, head of the NYC principals union spoke at 3:58 min in, explaining how missteps and miscommunications had angered parents and others.

My testimony is at 4:12 in, if you want to check it out here ( in written form) or orally below.  Zakiyah Ansari was great  at 4:22 in.

Many others spoke with great passion and insight, including Fred Smith from Change the Stakes, Rosalie Friend, and Dr. Ruth Silverberg.  Watch them all -- and especially the shocking testimony of John Owens, former teacher, about the systemic data manipulation and corruption behinds the scenes at one of the "model" new small schools, at 5:16 in.  All the written testimonies are available here.  The Senators seemed to be listening.  Let's hope they take it to heart.

NYSED and Merryl Tisch FOILed for their communications re inBloom Inc.

See the Freedom of Information request, just submitted by attorney Norman Siegel on behalf of PS 75 in Manhattan and Community Education Council District 14 in Brooklyn, asking for all the communications between NYSED officials and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and the Gates Foundation, inBloom Inc., Wireless Generation and News Corp, about their risky student data sharing scheme.

FOIL Request From STE LLP_6.17.13 by Molly

Video of Mayoral forum, moderated by Diane Ravitch; and will Bill Thompson ask Merryl Tisch to stop the sharing of students' personal data with inBloom?

Here is video from the May 2 mayoral forum in Brooklyn, moderated by Diane Ravitch and sponsored by .  Candidates included John Liu, Bill Thompson, Bill de Blasio, and Sal Albanese.

Bill Thompson, candidate for Mayor

Parent Voices

It was an encouraging evening.  All said no more graded school report cards; all said in (a rather vague way) they would work for smaller classes.

Asked about whether they would expand charters and/or stop providing free space, Thompson said he would support a moratorium on co-locations and would focus on the million students on public schools; Albanese said that charter schools are a distraction and a way to attack organized labor. De Blasio used the issue to point out Quinn was not present, attacked Eva Moskowitz, and said he would start protecting existing schools rather than force co-locations on them.  Liu said that the deck was stacked in favor of charters because of their school population of fewer at-risk kids, and their extra funding. 

Merryl Tisch, Regents Chancellor and Thompson's campaign chair

He said, what kind of message are we sending to the public school children in the co-located building", that they are second class citizens?  (Unfortunately, none of them said if they would start charging charters rent.)

Best part of forum is is at 59.30 minutes in, when Diane asks whether they would pull out of the state and city plan to share private student information with inBloom Inc.  The audience, claps, and all the candidates vociferously respond, "absolutely not!"  Each of them point out the huge risks and conflicts of interest involved, especially as inBloom's operating system is being built by Wireless, run by former Chancellor Joel Klein, and owned by Murdoch's NewsCorp -- with a terrible record on privacy.

Thompson agrees that this is outrageous: "We are NOT going to release personal student information."  He mentions that when he was head of the Board of Education, the Police Department wanted personal student data turned over and he refused. "Will we turn this information over to inBloom, NO WE ARE NOT," he says vehemently.

Yet Bill Thompson's campaign chair is Merryl Tisch, who is 100% behind the inBloom plan as Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. New York is now the ONLY participant in this scheme that is going ahead with sharing personalized student data from the entire state, now that Louisiana, Georgia, Delaware, and Kentucky have pulled out.   If Merryl Tisch said no to inBloom, she could stop it in a dead second.

On Tuesday, there is a protest at Teacher's College graduation against awarding Tisch a special honor. Here is a letter from Celia Oyler, a TC professor about this; and an article by Fred Smith, a TC alumnus explaining why.  Tisch has supported high stakes testing, the evaluation of teachers by means of test scores, school closings, the expansion of charters, and now, the sharing of personal student data with private corporations without parental consent -- all policies opposite to Thompson's public positions.

At the very least, Thompson should ask Tisch to stop the inBloom project now.

Thursday's arguments in our charter co-location lawsuit, & what Tisch and Klein said to Brill about this issue

Arguments in our  lawsuit vs. charter co-locations will be heard this Thursday, Sept. 15 at 10 AM ; 60 Court St,  2^nd floor, Judge Feinman’s courtroom. 

Please join us to show your support at our press conference beforehand and in the courtroom afterwards.

Where: the Plaza across from 60 Centre St., near City Hall, map here. 

When: Thursday, Sept. 15 at 9AM

What: Press conference before charter co-location court hearings

Class Size Matters, along with the Parents Union and several public school parents, sued DOE this summer to block their practice of providing free space and services to charter schools,  which we believe violates state law, and which has led to co-located charters receiving more per student public funds than regular public schools.  

The value of these services and space is estimated at more than $100 million annually, and the amount is growing every year.   

Moreover, the provision of free space has created a separate and unequal school system across the city, sparked divisive battles between parents and community members, and encouraged charter school expansion at the expense of our public schools.  For more on our lawsuit, see here.

In Steve Brill's new book, (see Diane Ravitch's brilliant review) Merryl Tisch, head of the NY Board of Regents, is quoted as arguing with Klein against co-locations, echoing a thought many of us have had:  "The charters are supported by billionaires.  Let them buy buildings."  But Klein remains adamant: 

"I got $250 million put into my capital budget in 2005-6 for the work necessary to do co-location," Klein recalls."But nobody noticed..."  Klein was facilitating the growth of these alternative schools at the expense of the schools he was in charge of.

In the book, Brill is admiring of Klein's strategy, while those of us who actually believe that it was his first responsibility to strengthen rather than undermine the public schools that he ran see this behavior as nothing short of horrifying. 

If we win this lawsuit, it will help put the brakes on those who are unfortunately still in charge, intent on damaging our public schools to benefit the billionaires, the privateers and their hedge-fund buddies.

Our side is represented by one public interest attorney, Arthur Schwartz of Advocates for Justice, while the other side is represented by the Corporation Counsel of NYC as well as an army of attorneys from three major private law firms, Kirkland and Ellis, Paul Weiss, Mayer Brown, representing charter schools, as  well as SNR Denton, representing the NYC Charter Center.

But we have right, as well as the law on our side.  Come join us and show you care.