The latest Bloomberg idiocy about class size; why wasn't I surprised?

So Mayor Bloomberg stepped in it again, when at a speech at MIT this week,  he said that if he could redesign our  public school system, he would fire half the teachers, double the class size, and pay teachers more.  See the video below. 

(During this same speech, he also bragged about having "my own army... the seventh biggest largest in the world" in the form of the NY police department, but he obviously doesn't want  to fire any of them.)

Here in NYC, while expanding the bureaucracy, increasing spending on education by 50 percent and raising teacher salaries by 40 percent, Bloomberg has also managed to eliminate thousands of teaching positions.  Class sizes this year in the early grades are the largest they have been in eleven years. The result?  Student achievement has stagnated. 

I have become so used to the idiocy that passes as educational policy these days that when David Seifman of the NY Post told me about Bloomberg's remarks, before they were widely reported, I said I wasn't surprised. 

After all, Bill Gates, Arne Duncan and countless others on their payroll had made similar, if less extreme pronouncements over the last year -- that class size doesn't matter, that teacher "quality" is everything, and that public schools should increase class size and spend their budget other ways, including expanding online learning,  more charter schools,  more testing, merit pay, etc. -- none of which has any backing in the research, and all of which are already undermining the quality of our public schools.

Just yesterday, Marguerite Roza of the Gates Foundation gave a paper at an event co-sponsored by the Fordham Institute and the Center for American Progress, which proposed that districts should

"....raise class sizes in the older grades in exchange for substantial ($10,000) bonuses for the top 15 percent of teachers. Such an exchange, if made, would enable a district to shift funds in a way that emphasizes teacher quality over numbers of staff."

This proposal was originally put forward by Karen Hawley, head of a consulting group called Educational Research Strategies (ERS), whose funders include the Broad and Gates Foundations. Hawley's previous job was at Bain & Company , Mitt Romney's old consulting and private equity firm, known for increasing "efficiency" by taking over companies and firing thousands of their employees.

Of course, neither Roza nor Hawly mentioned the fact that study after study has shown that merit pay for teachers doesn't work to improve student achievement, including an analysis done by the corporate reformers favorite "genius" Roland Fryer.  The evidence on this is so overwhelming that even DOE has dropped its merit pay scheme after wasting $56 million on it.  This contrasts with numerous controlled studies showing that reducing class size has significant positive effects on student outcomes, even in the middle and upper grades. 

Despite this, Roza from Gates and Stephen Frank of ERS were invited to give a presentation before the NY State Regents and others this fall, at the behest of Education Commissioner King, about "rethinking education resource use for greater student achievement."  Bruce Baker of Rutgers has ridiculed Roza's presentation which hyped online learning; here is one of the bullet points in the ERS power point presentation:   

“Redefine individual attention as an outgrowth of effective assessment & differentiation and not as the result of smaller group and class sizes.”  

In other words, if you simply "redefine" testing as "individual attention", it will produce the same benefits as a smaller class size, without any of the support, connection, and/or actual learning that a real-life teacher can provide.  ERS  has even produced a card game called  “School Budget hold em’” which  instructs school district leaders they can “win” by increasing class size, and instead "invest" in merit pay and hiring more bureaucrats.  

All of this reflects the corporate mentality that has taken over our schools, and that ignores both the knowledge and preferences of stakeholders and the lessons of experience.  

For an administration that touts the importance of parent "choice", Bloomberg too seems eager to ignore the priorities of parents.  Each year, in the DOE's own surveys, NYC parents say that their top "choice" for their children's schools would be reducing class size, yet each year for the last four, class sizes have increased.  

In his MIT speech, the mayor also managed to insult the NYC teaching force by saying that they come "from the bottom 20 percent and not of the best schools."  (See Noah Gotbaum's response to this outrageous claim, which also has no backing in reality.)

A recent NY Times/CBS poll provides yet more evidence that Bloomberg is on the wrong track as far as most New Yorkers are concerned.  Parents said the best thing about their children's schools was their teachers; and the worst thing was their class sizes. Not surprisingly, the majority of New Yorkers as well as public parents also said they disapprove of the way Bloomberg is handling education, and are dissatisfied with the quality of the public schools.   

Bloomberg sent his own daughters to Spence, a private school where the average class size is 16-18; half the size of classes in many NYC schools.  Perhaps he should instruct the trustees of Spence and other NYC private schools that they should fire half their teachers to raise the quality of the education to the level that our public school students now receive.

In any event, Bloomberg's MIT speech has caused a firestorm of publicity not seen since Cathie Black's faux pas about the need for downtown public school parents to use birth control.  You can check out the WCBS video of his speech below.

Ellen McHugh: nothing dark but the intent of the DOE

Here is Ellen McHugh's account of the controversial Cobble Hill charter co-location hearing, more description and video of which is here.  Ellen is head of Parent to Parent - NYS, and a member of the Citywide Council for Special Education:

Another hearing another show. (with apologies to Cole Porter).

Outside it really was a dark and rainy night but the sharp lightning flash of argument chased the gloom from the corners of the auditorium at 293 in District 15.  Here, at the hearing on a co-location of a Success charter with three other schools, there was nothing dark but the intent of the DOE.  As the room was filling up it was obvious that one thing was missing: there were no tee-shirted, cap wearing, sign carrying devotees of Success Academy.  Having participated at many of these co-location hearings, the lack of devotees signaled only one thing: a change in strategy.  That, or the ridicule these tactics engendered had caused a shuffle in the war rooms at Success, Inc

Occupy Wall Street came with the people's mic. Students from the affected schools were clustered to right of the panel.  The charters folks were on the left, huddled and lacking in cohesion.  Parents and community members were rapidly filling seats throughout the auditorium. Elected officials or their representatives were here.  On the right near students and administrators were staff members from the schools. DOE staffers trotted back and forth whispering to various DOE representatives, carrying water for the thirsty. B.I.T.s (Bureaucrats in Training*) clattered up and down the aisle.(*my thanks to Mark K for that turn of phrase)

Two armed police officers were in the back and a clique of school safety officers watched the crowd.  This was District 15, home of brownstone Brooklyn and gentrification.  Were they expecting a riot? 

Right on time, at 6:20, Jim Devor, the Chair of CEC 15, began the meeting.  He introduced the members of the panel, about 14 people from the SLT teams, CCSE, CCHS, SUNY and the DOE, as well as the Brooklyn High School Superintendent.  The SUNY representative made a statement. The DOE Deputy
Chancellor Marc Sternberg read the proposal to the audience and a CCSE member [Ellen herself] made a short statement of concerns: the educational impact statement or EIS made no reference to actual education programs or the sharing of best practices between and among schools, lack of appropriate space for specialized services for students with IEPs, an artificial growth limit for all of the schools and programs currently in the building.

Then the questioning, by the Chair of the D 15 CEC, began.  If the purpose of charter schools is to offer choice to parents of students in failing schools, why was the DOE proposing this co-location in an area with high performing schools?  Originally the charter application submitted was approved for D 13 or D 14.  Why the sudden move to D 15?  Why had there been no preliminary discussion with the D 15 CEC or the Community Planning Board, as required by the law?  Why had CUNY ignored its own guidelines of
community involvement?  Why was it appropriate to plan for a school building utilization of 108%?  

Another CEC member asked why, when Sunset Park had many underperforming schools, it was considered appropriate to site the charter in this neighborhood?  Students who have high needs and who were at risk were being ignored by a charter school founder who professed to provide choice for those very parents and students.  It was a very tough half hour of questioning, with only a cursory attempt to provide answers.

But, in the audience there was a little bit of theater.  The Chancellor had come in.  He was sitting in the corner, in the last row of seats, away from the action and slouched down  to avoid recognition.  And, quietly slipping
into a seat on the opposite side of the auditorium, but with enough hustle and bustle to attract attention, was Eva Moskowitz.

As we approached the public comments part of the evening, elected officials were permitted to speak first.  Among the officials to speak, all in opposition to the proposal were Assemblyman Jim Brennan. Assemblywman Joan Millman , Oscar Jones representing State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, City
Councilman Brad Lander,  Councilman Steve Levin, and District leader Joanne Simon. 

Assemblywoman Millman offered an alternative proposal: establish a much needed early childhood program at the site.  The Assemblywoman also noted that, of the 90 or so calls her office had received about the co-location, not one call had been in support of the plan.  Assemblymember Brennan referred to the plan as an attempt to "sever, fragment and divide the community".

While the Deputy Chancellor attempted to justify the plan chants of "Shame, shame, shame" erupted.  He had tried to defend the proposed utilization rate of 108% percent, explain the lack of community involvement, and let it be known that Success could expand to 8th grade. 

Proponents of the charter assured the audience that they were members of the community, some for as long as five years, and had a right to demand excellence and choice.  One or two mentioned the high cost of private school as a reason for their support of charters.  Some of their comments caused hoots of derision from  the audience.  A few times the Chair had to call for quiet and a quality audience.  At one point an irate individual was removed from the building by the security for swearing at speakers.

Students talked about the issues of crowding and asked why the charter school, with only kindergarten and first grade students, would have 10 hours a week of gym time at the cost of  limiting access to the gym for the other three schools.  A community member commented on the lack of electives and wondered if the "efficient" use of the school building would damage the well regarded culinary program. 

Speakers described the history of high staff turnover at charters and the counseling out of students with IEPs or who are English Language Learners. Questions were asked of the SUNY representative.  Why weren't the charter schools paying a fair rent for the facilities they occupied? In all of the 32 speakers I heard only handful supported the co-location. 

In the mean time, as speaker after speaker took the microphone, we noticed that Walcott and Moskowitz had disappeared.  Interesting that they didn't stay to the end, but I guess when you are plotting it's better not to be
blatant.

Noah Gotbaum on the Mayor's defamation of our teachers

The Mayor's statement that teachers represent the "bottom 20%" of our society  is so outrageous, so disdainful and so demonizing of teachers and the teaching profession as to merit a defamation suit.  And the policies which have been generated by these beliefs so destructive and demoralizing to those teachers, to our children, to our schools and to our communities as to merit a recall. 

To our friends at the AFT/UFT, NEA/NYSUT are you on the phone with your lawyers, and if not why not? 

To our friends in the press: will you be asking the mayor whether he stands by these lies about 80,000 NYC public servants, the overwhelming majority of whom hold Masters degrees, are incredibly hard working and intelligent, and supremely dedicated to our children in the face of class size increases, constant budget cuts, annual reorganizations, increasing child poverty, and a testing/accountability regime that lacks any credibility?  Will you also be asking him, as well as public school parents, whether he and we would and should prefer class sizes for our kids of between 50 and 70+ (with "better teachers")?  

And while you are at it please also ask Howard Wolfson, Dennis Walcott, Arne Duncan, Merryl Tisch, John King,  Christine Quinn, as well as the editorial boards of our local and national press if they agree with the Mayor's statements?  If not, will they disassociate themselves?

They are all happy to prattle the call for teacher accountability.  Where is the grading system and Progress Report for those whom - despite nine years of complete and total control of all facets of the education system and a 50% budget increase - haven’t generated a single meaningful improvement in student performance, college/career readiness, honest graduation rates, parent satisfaction, or real and lifelong learning?

To allow the Mayor, his staff or indeed any elected or appointed official to get away with statements like this is unconscionable.  To allow someone with such disdain for our parents, our teachers, our communities, and our public schools, to continue to supervise and to steward the education of our 1.1 million school children, is criminal.

- noah e gotbaum, Community Education Council D3

Brooklyn parents, teachers & community members speak out: we don't want your charter school!

Thanks to Darren Marelli, here are highlights from the hearing that occurred on Tuesday about the controversial proposal to co-locate another branch of the Success Academy charter chain in Cobble Hill, District 15, in Brooklyn. 

Passionate and articulate parents, teachers, elected officials, students and community members spoke out against this damaging, deceptive and most probably illegal proposal, and pointed out how the co-location will likely wreck the schools that now inhabit the building, one of which is in transformation, by overcrowding them, forcing them to increase class size and lose valuable programs.  Does the DOE care?  You be the judge.

Fred Smith on David Abrams' resignation: No Mas!

Fred Smith is a former senior analyst for the NYC Board of Education and an expert on testing. Here he comments on the sudden resignation of David Abrams, who led the NY State Education Dept. testing office into one preposterous blunder after another over many years, the most serious of which was  test score inflation -- but my favorite was the ridiculous 4th grade reading test of 2006 which featured Brownie the Cow.  (You have to see this to believe it; here is the story and questions archived.) This article in the Daily News was probably the final straw: about a prematurely released state plan to lengthen 3^rd grade standardized exams to four hours.  

Susan Crawford asks whether the SED might actually hire a trained psychometrician in Abrams’ place. "Does there exist a "lever of change" we can push somewhere to insist that SED put someone in charge of testing who has the appropriate credentials?" 

Fred responds: 

I'm reminded of a statement by Abba Eban: Men behave wisely once they have exhausted all the other alternatives.

 Surely wisdom has not guided the NYS Testing Program.  Maybe there's a slight opening for it now.

The spirit of OWS comes to mind as a force for change: With the ridiculous longer testing that was about to be sprung on everyone; followed by Abrams' (who must know where the bodies are buried) resignation; and the rebellion of principals against teacher evaluations--perhaps, the moment is ripe for principals, teachers and parents to unify in a massive OPT OUT of the testing.  No Mas! 

There's no need to rush ahead on the next runaway test train--to perpetuate obsession with high scores, misuse of the data to justify dubious decisions and consequent cheating, institutional lying about the results, destruction of the curriculum, mad giveaway money to publishers and other attendant evils.

Another ridiculous report from the corporate reformers on HS "choice"

Grover Whitehurst, former official in the US Dept. of Education under George W. Bush, has written a report for Brookings Institute, giving NYC the highest marks for school "choice" (see NYT here; report here).

It is true that NYC has hundreds of new high schools, with a catalog so thick it resembles the phone book.

Yet this report ignores that there is nothing more despised by NYC parents than the demanding and complicated HS "choice" process, as reported on in many places, including here.

See also the chart at right from the excellent New Schools study, The New Marketplace, which shows how ridiculously complex the process is.

It also doesn't mention how  many of the new schools  have no record of success and indeed several have already landed on the failing list.

The Brookings report also fails to mention the fact that over 8,000 NYC students were rejected from all of their top 12 high school choices last year.

Finally, it ignores the reality that once a student is accepted to a high school, DOE has made it almost impossible to transfer out, no matter how unhappy the student and inappropriate the placement turns out to be, as reported on here. 

Some system of choice!  DOE would do better to focus on improving and supporting the high schools we have, so that every 8th grader can be guaranteed a seat in a good high school, rather than continuing to spin off new high schools each year with little or no attempt at quality control, no place to put them, and no guarantee that NYC students will end up in a school that offers them a decent education.

video: Leonie Haimson, Aaron Pallas and Danielle Lee on mayoral control

On Nov. 17, I appeared on the BronxNet TV show Perspectives, which asked the question, "Are We Experiencing an Education Crisis?"  The show was hosted by Darren Jaime, and the other panelists included  Aaron Pallas of Columbia University; Sophia James, consultant, and Dr. Danielle Lee, head of the Harlem Education Activities Fund (HEAF).

The entire show is well worth watching.  Here is an excerpt focused on who is ultimately responsible for the failure of NYC public schools:

Film Screening and panel discussion on charter schools on Thursday!

Come see the movie everyone's talking about;  learn the truth about charter schools and what our children really need to succeed!

What: Screening of the film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

When: Thursday Dec. 1 at 6 PM

Where: PS 250, 108 Montrose Ave.

Panel discussion following the film with Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters;
Lydia Bellahcene and Karen Sprowal, former charter school parents; and Julie Cavanagh & Brian Jones, teacher/activists and stars of the film.

Co-sponsored by Class Size Matters and CEC 14;  
For more information call the District office at 718-302-7624

The New Teacher Project's weird & crazy teacher survey

The New Teacher Project, an organization which Michelle Rhee once ran, is closely aligned with DOE, and which strongly advocates against seniority protections and for merit pay and evaluations linked to test scores, posted a  survey for NYC teachers.  This survey, which originally had a deadline of Friday,  December 3, seems to have been taken down early, perhaps because publicity leaked out about it on our NYC Ed list serv.

The survey contained many strange, three level choices that are difficult to rationalize or interpret, but appear to be designed to get results that favor its policy agenda and against other reforms like class size reduction.  Here’s a typical question:

Which would you prefer: A school with…

Average school leadership or Poor school leadership Primarily economically disadvantaged students and low levels of academic growth or achievement Few economically disadvantaged students and low levels of growth or academic achievement No clear path for leadership opportunities Clear path to taking on school leadership roles while continuing to teach in the classroom (e.g., becoming grade level / department chair, mentoring / coaching new teachers, serving in specialist role)

 Why should these various options be considered tradeoffs?   Good question. 

There are other similar questions that ask  respondents to choose  similarly strange, three level options:

Which would you prefer: A school with…

Clear path to becoming an administrative leader (e.g., principal, assistant principal) at the school or within the district or No clear path for leadership opportunities 13 students in your class 26 students in your class $3,800 base salary increase to all teachers $7,600 base salary increase to all teachers

Perhaps the trade-off between between becoming an administrative leader or not is meant to distract the respondent from focusing on the clearer choice between much smaller classes and a medium vs. small salary increase?

Some of the questions are so confusing that I’m not sure how anyone might answer them or why they would be asked at all:

A school with...

Clear path to taking on school leadership roles while continuing to teach in the classroom (e.g., becoming grade level / department chair, mentoring / coaching new teachers, serving in specialist role) or Clear path to becoming an administrative leader (e.g., principal, assistant principal) at the school or within the district Few economically disadvantaged students and low levels of growth or academic achievement Primarily economically disadvantaged students and high levels of academic growth or achievement 26 students in your class 20 students in your class

In any event, if you are a teacher, what do you think of the survey?  Did you make any better sense of it than I could?

(PS if anyone would like to see a full copy, pl. email me at leonie@classsizematters.org )

A message from Parents to Improve School Transportation: Relax about bus strike but not about safety

PIST was an invited guest at the monthly membership meeting of school bus drivers’, escorts’, and mechanics’ Local 1181 ATU on November 22. This was clearly NOT a meeting to hold a strike vote.   The president went over the union’s position on Employee Protection Provisions but no date was set for a strike vote, let alone a strike.

PIST described how parents were made to worry all weekend by media reports--traceable to Mayor Bloomberg—that a school bus strike could or would happen on the 21^st.  On Monday, some students came home with forms requested updated emergency contacts specifically in case of a sudden strike.  President Michael Cordiello replied that never in the history of the local would they strike in the middle of the day and leave children stranded. 

Leaders of PIST and of the Community Education Council 31 in Staten Island are some of the parents who agree that job security for trained, experienced bus workers leads to a standard of quality and stability for our children.  Other special education parent groups are more focused on fighting service cuts disguised as ‘mandate relief’—for which PIST thanks and admires them—or are understandably upset by the prospect of disabled children missing school in the event of any strike. 

Even if one believes the unions are motivated only by self-preservation, aren’t their working conditions still our children’s travel and safety conditions? 

In that auditorium on Tuesday night, the nods and looks of concern on a rainbow of faces created a sense that these workers have much more empathy for school bus families than we ever get from the agencies in charge of pupil transportation.

Meanwhile, a school bus combusted in midtown Tuesday, shortly after breaking down and being evacuated. Thankfully, no one was hurt.  We have to wonder why a bus in such bad shape was on the road in the first place.  If Bloomberg can find $1.3 million to throw at the MTA to counter an undeclared yellow bus strike (NY Times 11/19/11), where is the investment into bus repairs/maintenance?  Where is the leadership to make sure bus evacuation drills occur twice a year as promised by Chancellor’s Regulation A-801? 

Back at the 1181 meeting:  a driver raised that her company had shown a training film that instructed drivers to check their bus battery, etcetera—tasks that should be assigned to a trained bus mechanic instead.  Would an inexperienced, non-union driver feel empowered to question this big company?

PIST thinks parents should take this moment when school busing is in the news to expose the root problems; to seek relief for families coping with bad routes (such as distribution of those alleged already-paid-for Metrocards to people with OPT complaints); to seek the truth about the bus fire and inadequate inspections; to call Bloomberg out for the things that have gone on in OPT; and to not let ourselves be used against a group of people who provide a vital support service to our children’s civil right to an education.  

What do you think?  Tell us at pistnyc@gmail.com or on Facebook at PIST NYC or call 347-504-3310.

Deadline is tomorrow; please send an email about class size today!

Please send a message to the DOE  today; protesting the failure of the DOE to reduce class size and have allowed class sizes to increase to levels that  are damaging our children’s education and chance at success.    

The deadline for comment on the city’s defective Contracts for Excellence plan is tomorrow night, Wednesday, Nov. 23. 

Class sizes are now the largest they have been since eleven years in grades K-3, and are larger than they were when the state’s highest court said our children were denied their constitutional right to an adequate education in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, as a result of excessive class sizes.   In addition, we believe that there is $180 million missing from the city’s CFE plan, compared to the $531 million allocated by the state for this purpose.

We now have powerpoints showing  the rise in class size in your district’s schools, as well as other information  how the city has failed our children.  (If you don’t see your district, just email me at info@classsizematters.org and we will send it to you.) 

Already four different Community Education Councils have passed resolutions, protesting the sharp increase in class sizes and DOE’s violations of law: District 1 in Manhattan, Districts 20 and 21 in Brooklyn, and District 30 in Queens.  Some of these call for City Council hearings and others for State hearings on the matter.  If you would like a sample resolution for your CEC or PTA, let me know; the one just passed by CEC 21 is here; CEC 1 is here.  

Again, the deadline for comment is tomorrow night Wednesday, Nov. 23, and DOE is supposed to send all public comments to the State Education department along with its proposed C4E plan. It is important that the state Commissioner know how dissatisfied parents are with the Bloomberg administration’s dereliction of duty to our children.  

A sample email is below; feel free to change it in any way you would like. Do it for your child, and do it for all NYC public school children.

And then have a happy Thanksgiving. 

________________________

To: contractsforexcellence@schools.nyc.gov

 As a parent, I would like to protest that class sizes have now increased four years in a row, citywide and in my child’s school, despite the fact that the city was mandated to reduce class size in all grades starting in 2007.  This is the final year of the city’s five year class size reduction plan, and class sizes in the early grades are now the largest in eleven years.

DOE has failed to allocate a single penny specifically towards class size reduction and instead has cut repeatedly cut school budgets, even when they received millions more from the state in C4E funding and overall education aid.  The city’s refusal to reduce class size has severely damaged my child’s opportunity to learn.    

 [optional: My child is in  [ fill in name]  school, in district  [fill in number], with  a class size of x in [fill in] grade. ]

 The state should immediately force the city to revise its Contract for Excellence proposal, by allocating the $180 million missing from the plan that the state provided, and use it to hire more teachers.  The state should also implement a corrective action plan that would require the city exercise proper oversight and start reducing class size, instead of continuing to slash school budgets, eliminating thousands of teaching positions and wasting precious education dollars on failed programs that do not help our children learn, like more testing, technology, consultants and bureaucrats. 

Otherwise, the state as well as the city will have failed to do its duty by NYC’s children.

Yours sincerely,

Your name, child’s school and district

Email address