How the question left out of the DOE parent survey was the most interesting of all

More on the results of the parent survey and the question left out in Schoolbook and the NY Daily News. 

When the results of the DOE's Learning Environment Survey were released yesterday,  the administration took credit for high rates of parent satisfaction, though reporters pointed out the satisfaction rates were the same for the last three years and this year, only about half of all parents bothered to respond to the survey.
 
Yet what was most striking was the question that was left out.  This question had been asked of parents since the survey was first given:  Which of the following improvements would you MOST like your school to make?  Every year since 2007,  which was the first year the survey was given, smaller classes have been the top priority of parents by far, among ten choices.

The question was included in the survey because of the insistence of parent members of the focus groups organized by Jim Liebman, then head of the Accountability office, to give feedback on the survey's design back in 2006.    This year, the DOE revised the survey without holding any focus groups at all.

If you look at the 2014 data, smaller classes were even more clearly a top priority of NYC parents;  as it was either their #1 or #2 priority in all but two out of 32 districts:

In 2007, parents actually wanted separate questions on each of these issues, especially as regards class size and testing, but instead DOE decided to group them together in this way.  In any event, the results have been an important source of data that could have been used if the Chancellor or the Mayor actually wanted to be responsive to parent concerns.   Unfortunately, since 2007 class sizes have increased instead.

In 2007, Bloomberg tried to obscure the responses to this question during his press conference by grouping together many other options in a new category, called "more or better programs."  I and others, including Patrick Sullivan, called him out on this naked attempt to obscure that class size reduction had been first.  Here is the NY Times article from the time: 

Mr. Bloomberg lumped together several categories to note that for 45 percent of parents, “more or better programs,” not class size, was the top priority, despite a fierce lobbying campaign for smaller classes by some parents groups and the teachers’ union.
“When somebody stands up and says, ‘I speak for all parents and we want smaller class sizes,’ that’s just not true,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group at which the mayor was clearly taking aim, said the survey pointed to the opposite conclusion. “It’s a transparent attempt to minimize the importance of an issue that is staring everybody in the face as the top priority of parents.”

In 2012, the DOE stopped including the responses to this question in their citywide summaries, though the data was still easy to find in their reports.  Now for the DOE to stop asking this question at all, after eight years, especially for an administration that claims to care about parent input,,  is hugely disappointing.  Here are quotes from yesterday's DOE press release:

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña: "... I look forward to working with school communities as they use these results to identify areas of improvement, and develop the right supports and solutions to address them. The more we listen to the feedback of students, parents, and teachers, the better our schools are going to be."

But how can they listen to parent feedback if they refuse to ask them what changes need to be made?  And this quote:

“The retooled survey focuses on dimensions of the school community that past research has found to be critical for improving student outcomes. The goal of this work is to equip schools with actionable information they can use to support teachers and serve students more effectively….” said James Kemple, Executive Director, Research Alliance for New York City Schools at New York University.

I don’t know what is any more “actionable information” or research-based than class size reduction, one of the few reforms proven to help kids succeed, unless the administration is determined not to take action to lower class size, no matter what parents want or the evidence shows .   In fact, class size reduction is one of only a handful of reforms proven to work through rigorous evidence, according to the Institute of Education Sciences.

Of course, the DOE can keep on asking silly questions instead like the following ones, included in this year's parent survey, which are neither “actionable” nor ones that most parents would probably be able to answer:

Sadly, the omission  of the critical question of what changes parents would like to see in their children's schools is yet another sign that though the administration's rhetoric focuses on the importance of parents having "trust" in school leadership, it is difficult to trust their leadership  when they don't  even ask the right questions.

Welcome back, parents (and teachers), and please let us know what your child's class sizes are this year

Dear parents:

Welcome back to another school year; I hope you all had a great summer.  There is one big and potentially great addition to our schools this fall – expanded preK.  Unfortunately we expect the damaging trend in K-12 to likely continue:  larger classes, and even more school overcrowding.

Last week, the results of the DOE school surveys were released, and for the 8^th year in a row, smaller classes were the top priority of NYC public school parents.  Yet class sizes have risen for 8 years, and many principals and teachers have told us they were hit with unexpected budget cuts over the summer, forcing them to let go of teachers and increase class size yet again.

We are still looking into why these budget cuts occurred - but meanwhile, we have posted a 5 min. survey for parents and educators to take here.   All responses will remain anonymous unless you indicate otherwise; please parents, also forward this survey to your child’s teachers and principal. If you don’t know your children’s class sizes, please count the roster, or if they’re older, ask them to count heads themselves, and/or ask their teachers.  Most teachers will be happy to let you know.

About a week ago,  parents at PS 85 in Queens emailed the Chancellor and complained that the DOE was forcing their 2^nd grade class sizes to increase to 35-36 students per class.  They copied me and I posted the letter from the PTA co-chair on our blog.  The next day the Chancellor announced she had reversed the decision, and was authorizing the hiring of another teacher to reduce class sizes to 24.

Note:  You can achieve improvements if you can organize other parents in your school and especially if you have your principal on your side. If you too are experiencing such an egregious situation, with outrageous class size increases, especially if they clearly violate the union contract, let me know asap at leonie@classsizematters.org.  Here are the UFT class size limits.

Sadly, the union class size limits are far too large and have not been lowered in forty years, despite the wealth of research evidence since about the critical importance of small classes.  And we really need a citywide school improvement plan; NYC children will never receive their right to a quality education solely on the efforts of parents at individual schools.

Nevertheless, here is a Parent Toolkit we have put together that you can use to organize other parents on the issue of class size, or any other issue you think important.  It has some basic strategies you can use to push for positive change in your schools, and some parents have told me they found it very helpful.

The worst schools in NYC?

The only information out of the school progress reports that I would trust is the list of schools that got an “F” for environment, based predominantly on extremely low ratings from parents and teachers on the learning environment surveys, and in the case of middle and high schools, from students as well.

Here is a chart of the schools that received the lowest scores and an “F” for environment.

All of these schools should get intensive intervention from DOE, and probably a new principal, though it’s likely they won’t, because all DOE really cares about is test scores.

And since only 15% of the overall school grade comes from the environment score (10% from survey results, and 5% from attendance) most of these schools got progress report grades of B or C. (Here is more info on these surveys, including citywide results.)

There are schools on the list in Districts 3, 6-13, 16-19, 23-24, 28-29, 31, 75 and 85 (charters) The districts that had the most of these schools were D7, D29 and D31 (three in each), D12 (four), and D75 (five) .

Though I am aware of how survey results can be skewed because some principals put pressure on parents and teachers to give positive marks to the school or otherwise DOE will close the school down, these are schools in which these pressures didn’t work, and parents and teachers are extremely unhappy.

Some of the schools on this list are I know from other sources have had extremely problematic principals. For example, Muscota in Washington Heights, where parents and teachers were very active protesting the actions of their principal last year. (See here and here.)

And Ross Global Charter had the lowest environment score of all; see this account from Mariama Sanoh, a parent at the school.

The Muscota parents were very media savvy and managed to get rid of their principal, Tomasz Grabski, after lots of protests, but then DOE then put him in charge of M.S. 45/S.T.A.R.S. Prep Academy in D4 this year.

If anyone has anything good or bad to say about these schools or their principals, please leave a comment!

Class size top parent concerns for fourth year in a row

For the fourth year in a row, ever since the DOE parent survey has been given, smaller classes are the top priority of parents among the ten choices offered.

Despite this fact, class sizes increased this year at an unprecedented rate, and are expected to increase next year as well.

They are larger now in nearly every grade than before the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case was settled, in which the state’s highest court said the class sizes in our public schools were too large to provide children with their constitutional right to an adequate education.

Perhaps that’s why parent satisfaction with the chancellor was more than thirty points lower than their satisfaction with teachers.

Clearly the chancellor is not listening to what parents want, and they realize that.

Results of the independent parent survey

Class Size Matters released a report yesterday, exploring how New York City public school parents view conditions in their children’s schools and the system as a whole.

The official parent survey developed by the Department of Education had some glaring deficiencies. It omitted any questions involving the overall direction of our public schools and the key policies put in place by this administration, and relegated critical concerns of parents about class size, testing, and other issues into a catch-all question towards the end of the survey – in an apparent attempt to minimize their importance.

Class Size Matters decided to develop an independent, parent-driven survey with questions covering some of the key areas left out of the official DOE survey. Hart Associates used this survey to poll a representative cross section of 604 parents by telephone. More than 1,000 parents responded to the survey online. The latter group was unusually active, involved, and informed about conditions at their schools and system-wide, with half of them either active members or officers of PTA, School Leadership Teams or Community Education Councils.

Over 80% of both groups of parents said that overcrowding and class size had stayed the same or worsened over the last few years, and over 70% believed that class size reduction was the most important reform that should be taken to improve the public schools. On testing, over half opposed the DOE policy of holding back students primarily based on standardized exams, and felt that the emphasis on the results of such exams caused too much stress for their children. In the online survey, when asked about the new initiative that will pay students for high test scores, parents overwhelming opposed it.

A substantial majority of respondents believed that Mayoral control should be ended or amended by the State Legislature. Nearly 800 parents provided detailed comments on this issue, which clustered around several main themes: In the current system of governance, there was a lack of checks and balances, leading to almost dictatorial powers being exercised by the Mayor and Chancellor. The views of important stakeholders such as parents had been routinely ignored, and the school system had been run more like a business than an educational enterprise.

Other common criticisms revolved around what parents saw as the results of this unchecked, unaccountable power. The DOE had mismanaged finances and spent too much money on consultants and contractors, had embarked on too many confusing reorganizations, and had put in place the wrong educational policies. Finally, many parents expressed the view that schools and the educational system as a whole needed more separation from the political sphere and greater continuity than politics could provide.

When asked about the positive and negative aspects of their child’s school, more than one thousand parents responded in detail. Their comments on this question, as well as on Mayoral control, are a rich source of information about the views of New York public school parents, as well as some of our most engaged and active parent leaders.

For some comments from civic and parent leaders about the report, see the Class Size Matters website . See also articles in the NY Sun and Gotham Gazette about the results.

Patrick Sullivan vs. Jim Liebman on the results of the DOE parent survey

See Patrick Sullivan, Manhattan rep to the Panel for Educational Policy and co-blogger here, tangle with Jim Liebman of DOE at the September PEP meeting, as they spar over the findings of the official parent survey, especially as regards testing and class size.

See Liebman manage to present the results without ever allowing the words "class size" pass his lips -- despite the fact that smaller classes came out as the number one priority of NYC parents. See Patrick question the motivation behind the administration's attempt to obscure this finding, as well as effectively counter Liebman's attempt to spin the results as showing that most parents really want more test prep.

The cover-up on class size continues

In response to our letter to the Mayor, asking him to correct his misstatements about the results of the Department of Education parent survey, DOE officials and the Chancellor himself continue to deny that they have been disingenuously spinning the results. In the process, they are still trying to cover up the fact that the need for smaller classes was the top priority of parents who responded to the survey.

See this NY Sun article, Mayor Asked To Correct Class Size Statements, in which David Cantor, DOE spokesman said: "Class size is a major concern, but the fact is that more than 40% of parents say improving academics is the most important issue facing our schools."

Here, Cantor is lumping together four different responses -- more enrichment, more arts, more hands-on learning, and more challenging courses. Moreover, two of these are hardly "academic".

And Chancellor Klein on NY1 said: "The numbers are clear; the mayor's representation is accurate...We don't need people to politicize the debate when the facts are all known and all visible. We put them all out there." (Video clip here.)

Ironic that Klein claims that we have "politicized" the debate, when all we asked in our letter is that the Mayor should stop mischaracterizing the results of his own survey.

Indeed, it was Bloomberg himself who tried to politicize the findings, by falsely claiming that the responses showed that class size was not the top priority of parents and casting aspersions at groups like Class Size Matters, asserting at his press conference that that''When somebody stands up and says, 'I speak for all parents and we want smaller class sizes,' that's just not true.''

Letter to Mayor from UFT, CSM, Hispanic Federation, CDF and Robert Jackson

This letter was faxed to City Hall today:

Hon. Michael Bloomberg
Mayor, City of New York
City Hall
New York 10007

September 11, 2007

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

The newly released DOE parent survey clearly showed that smaller class sizes is the number one improvement that parents would most like in their schools. Nearly one of every four respondents, or 24%, named smaller classes as their top choice from a list of ten choices. Given this response, we have been surprised at your statements about the desire for class size reduction versus “more or better enrichment programs” which came in second, at 19%.

Twice in recent days, first at a September 6th press conference and then again on September 7th on your radio show, you said that parents by a "two to one margin" preferred “enriching programs” to smaller classes.

Understandably, enrichment is an important issue to parents – especially as many schools are lacking greatly in this area, due to the emphasis on preparing students for the state tests, with double periods of ELA and math. This is a trend that will probably worsen as school grades will depend 85% on test scores in these two subjects.

We wish to continue to work with you in a cooperative fashion to ensure that NYC children receive the quality education they deserve. To do that, it is important to acknowledge the actual desires of parents and state them accurately. In this spirit, we respectfully ask that you state clearly that smaller classes were the top priority of parents who responded to your survey.

Sincerely yours,

Randi Weingarten, President, United Federation of Teachers

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters

Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, President, Hispanic Federation

Robert Jackson, Chair, City Council Education Committee

The Rev. Emma Jordan-Simpson, Executive Director, Children's Defense Fund

Spin City: Bloomberg Disses NYC Public School Parents Yet Again

Last year, Mayor Bloomberg dismissed parents’ concerns over the cell phone ban by claiming that his office had only received about 500 calls on the issue and that they were probably the same person calling 500 times.

Just today, after saying he would ignore the City Council's override of his veto of their legislation on cell phones, he again trivialized our concerns by suggesting that parents only want to discuss with their kids whether to have fish or beef for dinner. Never has a NYC Mayor publicly treated his own constituents with such haughty condescension. It is the mark of a man who has never been a public school parent or educator and who obviously believes he is smarter than the rest of us. In his mind, there’s simply nothing to discuss.

Last week’s announcements from the DOE of their much-touted surveys provided the Mayor with an opportunity once again to spin the results, revealing the same dismissive attitude toward NYC public school parents. As the New York Times quoted the Mayor, “When somebody stands up and says, ‘I speak for all parents and we want smaller class sizes,’ that’s just not true.” Yet the Mayor conveniently ignored the fact that it was the number one choice of parents in his own survey! Given the administration's previous unwillingness to incorporate the changes requested by members of the focus groups created for the survey’s preparation, it's hardly surprising that the results are now being interpreted to show nothing but support for their favored policies.

Let’s take a closer look, leaving aside for the moment the statistical truism that any survey in which respondents self-select their participation (by mailing back their response in this instance) is not random and is automatically invalid as representative of the full population of (in this instance) public school parents.

• The press release from the Mayor’s office claimed that 45% of parents chose the non-existent category “More or Better Programs” as their highest improvement priority, compared to “just” 24% who cited “Smaller Class Size.” At the press conference, the Mayor himself said that parents preferred “more enrichment” two to one or smaller classes – a claim he repeated the next day on his radio show.

As pointed out in a previous entry, while the press release was highly misleading, the Mayor’s statement was flat out wrong. More enrichment came out second (at 19%) to smaller class size (at 24%).

• The Mayor’s continued insistence that parents do not consider class size as an important issue appears to be contradicted by his own survey’s results. A review of the results for all 194 schools in Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 (all that I have been able to analyze so far) showed that in a whopping 87 of them (45%) , parents identified smaller class size as their #1 most desired improvement. (See this excel file.) Smaller class size came out as the top preference for parents in each of these districts, although it tied for number one with enrichment in District 4. The percentages of schools where parents chose class size as their number one concern ranged from 55% of those in District 1, 50% in District 3, 42% in District 2, and 39% in District 4.

• The District 2 results were skewed somewhat since the list of schools in that district consists of many small alternative high schools with relatively low class sizes. Still, parents at most of the district’s large high schools, ranging from the highly selective Stuyvesant to lower-performing high schools like Washington Irving, Murray Bergtraum, and Norman Thomas, chose smaller classes as the improvement they would most like to see in their children’s schools.

Similarly, across all four districts, parents in 24 of 39 schools (61.5%) with enrollments of over 700 selected smaller class size as their highest priority improvement. In the 18 schools in those four districts with enrollments over 1,000, parents in 15 of them (83.3%) indicated smaller class size as their top choice. Despite the Mayor’s assertions to the contrary, there is clearly a sizable parent constituency that sees class size as the biggest problem in our schools that needs addressing.

• Mayor Bloomberg has publicly made the patently absurd claim that parents want more time spent on test preparation as compared to less time by a factor of 10 to 1, as if thousands of parents want less test preparation (or could conceive of “less preparation” as an “improvement”) in the era of high stakes testing he himself has promoted. First, this was not the stated preferences of parents overall. Rather, these numbers were taken out of context, representing the small percentage of parents who chose these two categories out of the same list of ten preferences offered in the survey, including smaller classes and many other compelling needs for our schools. That is, only 10% and 1% of the 26% parents who responded to the survey chose these answers– meaning 2.6% vs. .26% of parents overall.
  

Few high school parents would argue against more test preparation for State Regents exams which determine whether a student will graduate from high school. Indeed, given the fact that this administration has decided to base all promotion decisions on test scores, it is understandable that many parents would want their children as prepared as possible – in fear that they would be held back.

• In his public statements, the Mayor intentionally conflated a survey item labeled as “More Time for State Test Preparation” into massive parental approval (or lack of disapproval) for all testing. From the New York Times:

The mayor said the statistics discredited the idea that there was widespread discontent with testing and test preparation. “It’s a tiny, trivial number of people who scream the loudest who get the press, but it can send you totally in the wrong direction,” he said.

Nowhere were parents given the option of responding whether they believed that their children were being tested too much (not to mention all the new tests coming this year to be fed into ARIS) or that too much emphasis overall was being placed on tests. Preparation for State tests has zero relationship to the educationally stifling testing regime Chancellor Klein is planning to implement in NYC public schools, and this survey cannot in any way be construed to constitute parental support for it.

Back in the late 1990’s, ABC ran the Michael J. Fox comedy series “Spin City” about the NYC Mayor’s office. Who could have known that the show’s title would so perfectly prefigure this administration?

--- by Steve Koss