Today's "Talk out of School" on the toxic levels of testing and lead in NYC schools

On today’s Talk Out of School on WBAI radio, we spoke with NYC Council Member and Chair of the Education Committee Mark Treyger, about yesterday's oversight hearing on “Breaking the test culture” in our NYC schools, the highlights of which I described on the blog. 

We discussed the success of the the 38 schools that belong to the NY Performance Standards Consortium, that use projects and performance-based assessments instead of  Regents exams that most NYC high school students are required to pass to graduate. The Council Member referred to these schools to as the “best kept secret in our education system”. Meanwhile, the overemphasis on standardized testing in our public schools encourages rote learning and memoritzation rather than develop deep knowledge and critical thinking. We also talked about DOE’s proposal to implement yet another set of standardized tests in our schools and create yet another data system called Edustat.  I followed up by asked him what the powers of the Council were to prevent the implementation of these likely damaging and/or wasteful programs might be given mayoral control.

Christopher Werth

In the second half of the show we were joined by Christoper Werth, senior editor at WNYC’s narrative unit, who explained thow his visit to his young daughter’s elementary classroom led to a groundbreaking investigation of lead contamination, followed by a new round of testing by DOE.  

We also discussed how the risks posed by lead in school water compare to lead in peeling paint and dust, and described how the model bill proposed by NRDC would mandate filtration systems on all drinking water outlets in schools and lower the action level requiring remediation. The possible correlation between the phasing out of lead paint and the national  drop in crime rates was another topic we touched on in our discussion. 

Click here to download or livestream the full episode. More information on these issues are linked to below.

• NYC Public School Parents on NYC Council hearings on Breaking the school testing culture.
• Christopher Werth's reporting on crumbling lead paint in schools
• NYC Public School Parents on high levels of lead in water still found in schools in third round of DOE testing.
• DOE inspection results for peeling lead paint in classrooms
• DOE inspection results for lead found in school water  
• NRDC FAQ for parents on lead in school water: what should you do?
• NRDC Model State Legislation: “Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act” Summary of Provisions

 

Talk of out School - join us next Wed. on WBAI at 10 AM with Wendy Lecker and Senator John Liu

Next week on Wednesday Sept 18 at 10 AM, I will have two guests, "Talk out of School": attorney Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center, who will bring us up to date on the class size lawsuit of on nine NYC parents vs the state and city of New York for their failure to lower class size.

My other guest will be  Senator John Liu, chair of the NYC Education Committee in the State Senate, who will tell us what new laws, funding levels and other developments we may expect in the coming legislative session that affect our public schools. I always find what goes on in Albany to be very mysterious - hopefully straight-talking Senator Liu, who was formerly a City Council member and NYC Comptroller, will help us undo some of that mystery.  Please listen in at 99.5 FM or at wbai.org and call in at 212-209-2877.

Also, if you haven't yet, please check out our first show from last Wednesday, co-hosted with Carol Burris.  We focused on the diversity and integration proposals of the School Diversity Advisory Group, with guests Shino Tanikawa of the SDAG, and Alex Rodriguez and Tiffani Torres of Teens Take Charge.  You can livestream or download the program here.

Shino and co-host Carol Burris at the WBAI studio - check out the words on the wall we aren't allowed to say on radio.