New York’s Commissioner of Education John King should resign.
The job of state commissioner is to support and strengthen education and educators, not to undermine them.
In his short tenure, King has used his position to wreak havoc on the state’s education system.
He has demoralized educators.
He has imposed an evaluation scheme that no one understands, but which he famously described as “building a plane in mid-air.” He doesn’t realize that no one wants to ride on a plane that is being built in mid-air—not students, not teachers, not principals, not parents, not superintendents.
More than one-third of the principals in the state bravely signed a letter warning King of the negative, punitive consequences of his ill-conceived evaluation plan. Typically, he didn’t listen.
But now he has gone too far.
He has hurt children.
In his zeal to inflict punishment on students across the state and prove what a tough guy he is, he imposed testing that was developmentally inappropriate, that did not provide enough time for many students to finish, and that had no curriculum to support it.
Many months ago, he predicted that proficiency rates would plummet across the state by at least 30%, and he engineered the result that he predicted. He made it happen by design.
Students and teachers across the state have been obsessed with testing and test prep in recent years. Now they learn that despite their best efforts, their test scores dropped precipitously.
The students and teachers didn’t fail.
John King failed.
King chose passing marks aligned to NAEP achievement levels, which was wrong. Students who are proficient on NAEP have demonstrated superior academic performance. NAEP proficient is not “grade level,” yet King is using it as a passing mark, dooming the majority of students to “fail” because of King’s inexperience and statistical ignorance.
If we are to judge teachers and principals by the rise or fall of student test scores, as King wishes, then so too should he be judged.
As the state’s highest education official, King is not above accountability. On his watch, he devised and caused a massive test score decline, causing unnecessary anguish and discouragement to students, parents, and teachers in every school in his care.
If he were a business CEO and his actions caused the stock price of his company to fall by 30% overnight, the shareholders would force him out at once.
By his actions, he abdicated his responsibilty to students and to the state’s education system.
He was hired to be the steward of the state’s children, not a mean-spirited boss of the state’s educators and students.
He should resign.
Contact the Néw York State Board of Regents if you agree. Will they have the courage and integrity to defend our state’s children?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Someone in NY should start a petition!
I was thinking the exact same thing!
There is one, Terry. Will try to find link or maybe someone will post it.
Who knew there were so many regents! Thank goodness for cut and paste! DONE!
When the professionals in education asked the NYSED to “reflect on their practice” we were ignored. Yet, we are evaluated on rubrics that require a demonstrated and documented ability to reflect on our practices and accurately identify areas in need of improvement. None of those qualities of reflection have been demonstrated by the NYSED leadership. Principals across the state pleaded with them to look at the numerous problems with their mandates and forced “reform”.
The most recent testing fiasco is only one problem that is being created at this time but no one is listening to educators. There are so many more! I hope that this focusing event will open a window for us all to see more clearly that schooling cannot be reduced to numbers or a score-based competition.
It is time for a complete rethinking of the linear and undemocratic plans being imposed by NYSED on NY schools. I expect that my leaders will have the real skills needed for the future which extend beyond “fact”-based knowledge and technology. Specifically, I am hoping for wisdom and vision.
Keep up the pressure. Vocal parents and taxpayers can make a huge difference.
Thank You! It is time. Let the word go out in petition form, emails, phone calls, letters….every voice in some form will swell and they need not be exclusively from NY State as we are all hurt by his actions. John King did not act alone and so there may be others who also must step down for abdication of integrity, courage and care.
Done 🙂
Who appoints the commissioner? Cuomo? The Regents? Who appoints them? Before I weigh in on whether or not he should resign, I want to know what the likelihood of getting someone worse in the job is going to be.
The commissioner is appointed by the Regents.
And I am not all that thrilled with Robert Bennett either. He and King can go together. He is on our local news regularly and I cannot believe some of the comments that come out of his mouth. Like minded members need not all be on the regents Board together if they think like him. Continue to buck the system-my children will again not be taking the exams this year. I see no purpose for them as they undermine the great things our actual TEACHERS can and would accomplish if they were not pressured by these ridiculous “tests”
I just emailed every regent. Hopefully, you will, too!
And can, and should, be removed by the Regents!
Protest by sending parent reports about the testing nonsense back to the New York State Education Department without opening – Return to Sender.
They are currently revising the HS English Regents (required for graduation). At a conference last May, he was proud of the fact that the new exam was being modeled after the AP exam in Composition. Really? The AP test as a graduation requirement???
When All the Kings Men had been called out, Nixon resigned 39 years ago this month. Diane is right to find King, the top henchman of Queen Tisch, a proper target for resignation. But I say off with her head.
Merryl Antoinette, Regent Supreme, has been calling the shots in Albany. Her arrogance is unbounded, taking state education from failure to failure. She has led in the imposition and dishonest defense of terrible policies. Yes, King must go, along with the Queen. Time for impeachment, athough I’m rooting for revolution.
Agreed!!!
Tried to post my opinion on the NY Board of Regents site. I keep getting the message “This page can’t be displayed”. Hmmmm……
Let’s add Shelly Silver’s contact too. Silver is closely allied with Merryl Tisch. Pressure from Silver and other assembly and state senate figures is needed to get rid of King.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Sheldon-Silver/contact/
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
http://www.nysenate.gov/senators
Diane, as usual, you wrote a razor sharp article and criticized the right person.
But you’re grossly incomplete in this instance. I know the thrust is obviously upon John King, but you ommitted one critical component.
Merryl Tisch.
Tisch and King are inextrinkably linked. They went to Columbia together and attended some of the same classes. There are no conincidences here. In some ways, Tisch is as destructive if not more dangerous than King because she now has silver spoons hanging out of her mouth, nostrils, and ears. As the daughter of a fairly prominent rabbi, I dont’ understand her sensibilities or how her radar for morality functions.
Can her father possibly be proud of her? Is this the Tikkun Olam as I know and practice? Ms. Tisch is foreign to me.
Tisch is Bloomberg’s plutonic mistress, and corporate America’s best friend. Her father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband own and operate Lowes Corporation, an investment banking firm. She lives literally in the building adjacent to Michael Bloomberg’s on East 79th Street in Manhattan. The two and their daughters have socialized on a regular basis for many, many years.
Some say she is the mastermind behind an opportunistic but soggy puppet John King. Others say they collude together. Still other critiques have portrayed John King to be the shot caller, with Tisch as more of a decorative fixture.
It matters not.
The titles of both seats in state government and their job descriptions warrant a full accountability. Merryl Tisch is not exempt.
I believe either the governor appoints the president of the Board of Regents, or voting New York State residents lobby their elected state officials to appoint the president and members of the Board of Regents. I admit I am ignorant about the mechanisms of how the Board and president are put into place.
If the governor does appoint the president, then we should include the iguana-faced Andrew Cuomo in this mix of targeted accountability. If the state assembly people do it, then we need to name names and hold them accountable.
BTW, there are, I believe, 17 members of the New York State Board of Regents, including the president. Only 5 of them had any backgrounds and experience in k-12 education, and out of that 5, only 4 actually ever taught. Out of that 4, only 3 had any extensive experience teaching, and out of that 3, only 1 or 2 were in a full classroom as generalists (as opposed to reading teacher, ESL, math remediation, speech, etc.).
But remember: These are the people driving education policy in New York State.
I think your next article should be about the devil-in-the-details credentialing of the Board of Regents, president Tisch included . . . .
Robert,
You have hit the nail on the head. I have been attempting to understand the Byzantine process whereby New York State Education officials, including the Regents and the New York State Education Commissioner, gain their positions for months. I believe that the Regents elect their Chancellor. So the Regents themselves elected Tisch. The Regents also appoint the New York State Education Commissioner. How do the Regents gain their positions? They are “elected” by the New York State Legislature. What does that mean? Elected? Certainly the constituents that each Regent supposedly represents do not elect them. Tisch represents Manhattan and Regent Roger Tilles represents Long Island, but I as a Long Island resident never had the opportunity to cast a vote for or against Roger Tilles as my “elected” representative on the Board of Regents. It’s all very murky and Tammany Hallish.
These many degrees of separation between the officials who design and implement education policy and those whom they affect make it exceedingly difficult to hold anyone accountable. State education officials have no motivation to listen to their constituents and we are practically powerless to effect change other than holding the New York State Legislature accountable. They, in turn, have many other interests to whom they are beholden, those concerned with education being only one.
I am not originally from New York so I assumed that my inability to comprehend New York State politics was due to ignorance on my part. As a non-New Yorker I am often mystified by the beliefs and actions of the natives including my husband and in-laws. When I asked my husband to explain the education official electoral process to me, he didn’t know either but he did tell me that one is more likely to be struck by lightning than to lose re-election to the New York State Legislature. This does not make me optimistic.
If anyone can clarify the process whereby the Regents are “elected” maybe we could both become enlightened. Tisch and Tilles are names that are associated with money and philanthropy. Is this a coincidence? It would certainly be interesting to know what part, if any, that played in their “election”.
Thank you, Diane! Last night I finally had the heart to review my school’s test scores, child by child. As I read their names and numbers, I saw their little faces on the days of the testing, so many in tears, and I cried. This is so wrong for children. I have an excellent school, smart, hard-working kids and outstanding teachers. My students were not 30% smarter a year ago, but John King has deliberately turned many of them into “failures.” In the year ahead, the students will not miraculously get 50% smarter or the teachers suddenly better, yet I already know that the scores will go up – so that John King can look like a hero on the backs of little children. Mean-spirited is too kind a word. Should John King resign? No. He should be removed.
The scores plummeted under his watch – he must be “ineffective,” so it’s time to fire his sorry behind.
FWIW, my email to Ms. Tisch
Regent Tisch,
You seem to be the one, of the many, regent that is the standard bearer for the policies being implemented in NY education these days. As such I implore you to rethink the current course of education policy that is simply dismantling what David Tyack called, “The One Best System”. The policies of Commissioner King are demoraIizing, demeaning and demonizing public institutions, students and teachers. The recent circus revolving around “test” scores is but the latest and most egregious example of misguided, ineffective and destructive policy. It is time to change course, before it is too late. As an educator in neighboring New Jersey, I fear we are on the same failing path. It is time for Mr. King to go and return sanity to public education in New York and across the country. I implore you, along with thousands of other concerned citizens to take the courageous first step in admitting the mistakes of so called “reform”, beginning with the resignation of
Mr. King. We are a growing many, you are few……Thank you.
There is a petition on http://www.change.org, under “New Yok State Board of Regents:Terminate the Employment of NYS Education Commissioner, John King.” The sponsoring ornization, The Coalitinfor Justice in Eucation,” believes it is especially important for New York residents to sign the petition. If Diane would add the petition to her blog and ask New Yorkers to sign, it would be a tremendous help. Currently there are approximately 840 signatures.
Dan Drmacich, Chairman
Coalition for Justice in Education
http://www.change.org/petitions/new-york-state-board-of-regents-terminate-the-employment-of-state-education-commissioner-john-king
Already a lot of signatures on it but it’d be cool to get 10 times as many as needed. 🙂
Will do, I have zero trust in and actual suspicion with where our NYS public education is headed. Are colleges really caring about all this %#!* ?? I doubt it!!!
Here’s the petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/new-york-state-board-of-regents-terminate-the-employment-of-state-education-commissioner-john-king
This is what happens when teachers are no longer allowed to have control of their classrooms. Teacher autonomy is the solution and it’s very affordable.
BRILLIANT! True!
Thank you, Readingexchange.
I nominate “…no one wants to ride on a plane that is being built in mid-air–” as the quote of the year!!
Dear Board of Regents,
Please understand the NY Com. of Ed. is LYING to you!!! Talk to your educators! Please, in the name of your highest power, listen to them, ask them how you can better the schools.They are in them, working witb our future!!! Do you really want to be the board that made us create more prisons/half way houses, homeless, murders, rather than successful, well balanced career oriented beautiful hunan beings. Teachers make the latter happen when they are supported! Be the change, Board, in God*s name, be the CHANGE!!!!!!!!
Reposted from another article:
I’m thinking of a much more befitting consequence for Dr. John King:
Step 1: Remove him from office and replace him with a career educator who has taught in the classroom for at least 20 years, has moved on up the ladder and who thinks outside the Rhee-styled reform box.
Step 2: Offer King back his position conditioned upon the following (see following steps).
Step 3. Mandate that King teach in a testing grade for two full years in a row in a high needs, low income, high density ELL public school, and place him IN THE CLASSROOM to teach and behaviorally manage.
Step 4: Limit King’s budget to that of an average public school in New York.
Step 5: Evaluate King and his students by comparing “baselines” under the very system he has designed and enforced.
Step 6: If King does not make the grade, place him on a TIP, per RttT’s APPR (teacher improvement plan).
Step 7: If King does not improve his scores, allow the LEA (local educational agency, aka “school district”) to decide whether or not he should continue his employment.
Step 8: If King’s scores make the grade exactly according to the APPR system approved in NY State, then allow him to continue teaching or resume his post as Commissioner of Education for New York State. Remember that at least 89% of his students will ahve to achieve passing grades on the standardized tests.
Step 9: If King’s scores do not make the grade, then do not allow him to resume his post as Commissioner, but decide if you want him to keep his teaching job. If no to the latter, send Dr. King off into joblessness, where I’m sure he’ll be snapped up by Students First or the Broad Foundation or a mob of very angry, frustrated citizenry who would love to have him in their presence for a chat.
Step 10: Gather all of King’s teacher/student data and publish them in as many mainstream and non-mainstream venues that exist.
Step 11: Let the general public decide upon the merits of Dr. John King . . .
Love it and post all his lessons live on the Teaching Channel with a twenty minute lunch and two bathroom breaks between 7:15 am and 3:30 pm.
Go get ‘im!
excellent article
NY parents should heed the advice and call the regents…maybe someone has their phone n umber to make
iteasier for parents to call
I completely agree. I also very seriously concerned about New York State’s recommended Common Core Curriculum, which is being given to teachers particularly in lower performing school districts. This so called “curriculum” flies in the face of everything we know about effective teaching. So far for the ELA the State has hired 3 separate vendors to write it Core Knowledge for K-2, Expeditionary Learning for 3-8 and Odell Education for a few units in grades 9-12. There is no consistency K-12. And seriously ignores or misrepresents the actual Common Core Standards. Teachers autonomy is being taken away which will lead to less effective teaching, not more. It is a travisty that noone is talking about.
I made my calls to the Board of Regents, emailed every one of them (second time in a month), called Shelly Silver and Senator Nelson, and I even “tweeted” John King and asked him to resign!
Any word on how effective our “firecracker” is?
Arnie Duncan can go with the to the Island of Misfit Education Deformers. They can take their tests with them as well.
Diane — I’m a high school teacher who graduated from Steinhardt in 2003. So now we have tough new standards. How will the State enforce them? Once the State starts passing out Common Core Regents exams, will the State require all of them to be passed for graduation, as it now does with regular Regents? And once the failure rate inevitably rises, will the State tell high schools to keep the kids back and not allow them to graduate or will it dumb-down the tests to get more kids to graduate? Do you have answers for these questions? Does anyone?
Richard, no one at SED or the Regents have thought through the consequences. What they are doing is reckless and irresponsible.
Richard Kavesh,
There is a keen difference between “tough new standards” and standards that profoundly reflect the cognitive research on developmental stages and zones of proximal development.
Recently, 10 year olds in NY State were asked to decipher the differences and nuances between “being alone” and “loneliness” on a reading test that was using a poem to test for CCSS skills.
This question typicifes the gestalt and Herculean nature of the standardized tests in math and reading, and none of the standards and testing design were given time to be learned or even exposed to.
You do pose excellent questions.
Keep in mind that standards and thresholds that are arbitrarily raised or raised out of politicization must come with appropriate conseqeunces. John King and Merryl Tisch are not exempt from such consequences, and they have behaved recklessly toward New York’s parents and taxpayers. Their precise laws and implementation of RttT have had none other but a deleterious effect upon children, familes, and true educators.
Standards and testing should be the products of careful, scholarly thought about children’s empowerment and the research that corroborates it.
John King and the Board of Regents have acutely and blatanly failed in this regard, and because the stakes are so high, it would be grossly harmful to children to leave Dr. King et al in office.
You should pose your questions to all your administrators and all elected officials at NYSED as well as the state assembly.
Your questions are legitimate.
Dr. King’s and President Tisch’s actions have not been . . .
Bravo, Robert Rendo and Diane Ravitch, Bravo!
King is only in place because he went to Columbia with Tisch. Tisch is a Regent only because she has known Silver since childhood. King lies to Tisch. Tisch lies to the Gates Foundation which funds her personal cadre of advisors (known as the Regents Research Fund Fellows). The Chancellor lies to the IRS through the filing of the IRS 990 form which claims the Regentscents Reseach Research Fund is a legitamte 501 C 3 that has existed since 1784 and the board of directors is the Board of Regents…something that is probably news to any Regent not named Tisch. The most recent 990 form claims that there are no fellows making over 150,000…yet the line right above this lie shows two with salaries over 150,000..guess the IRS doesn’t really look all that closely at some 501 C 3’s. If the 990 is really for the Regents anand not a separate entity, then the fund getting money from Tisch and Gates Foundation is not a legitimate 501 C 3 because the regents policy and make regulations….King needs to go and so does Tisch…one wonders if it will be vvoluntarily if the IRS ever takes a closer look at the 990 forms that have been filed.
Thomas,
Can you get any images of these forms with the real info filled out? This would be powerful if we could show the public the forms.
As with all not for profits the 990 forms are public documents and are available online from sittes like guidestar.org
here is a link to their 990 form: http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/141/141599643/141599643_201206_990.pdf
Can you please contact me?
Remember when it used to be “the good ole boys club?”
None of this information comes from any special knowledge or access to any information not on the web for all to see….990 irs forms for nonprofits publush on a number of sites, the 990 instructions are on the irs site as are copies of the tax code…information regarding Tisch and her realtionships have been widely reported on may sites and in all of the major NYC newspapers…Education Law (which also appears may have been violated) is posted on NYS govt sites and the regents agenda items (which appear to lack any items at any meeting relating to responsibility as the board of direcrors of RRF) is on the NYSED website
I teach courses that don’t culminate in a Regents exam. How can I teach to a test that will account for 20% of my evaluation at the end of the year when I haven’t even seen an example of the test? And what was King thinking when he assigned 5% of my grade to student evaluations? The man sure does like half-baked policies.
Yes, Richard,
You’re right.
The man is incompetent and followed politics far more than cognitive science and humanism.
He and Merryl Tisch must be replaced by professionals who understand with erudition the process of education.
I can not possibly express how encouraged and uplifted I am by your blog entry. Earlier this month at a public meeting to discuss John King’s edict concerning two Buffalo “failing” schools I called upon Commissioner King to resign or be replaced by May 20. I fully expected he (and Governor Cuomo) to ignore this call and they have not disappointed in this regard. Of particular concern to me is the fact that at no time has Commisar King deigned to descend from his personal Olympus and meet with the community to discuss his plans and edicts. We don’t matter – or so he and Albany’s education elites believe. Writing and petitioning the Board of Regents (unindicted co-conspirators) or the State Legislature) seem to me an exercise in futility. What, then, as members of the public do to change the reckless, clandestine and provocative actions of John King and the band of terrorists (SED) over which he and the Board of Regents preside? Plenty!
In my public screed I stated that should Dr. King nor resign or be replaced we need to hit both the Governor and the State Legislature where it will hurt them the most: in THEIR wallets. To do this we need merely to form a new third party devoted solely to education issues and primary the Governor and any and every member of the Legislature who agrees with the John Kings and Bob Bennets of this world without exception. Many of them have raised and are raising contributions for next year’s elections fully expecting not to have to spend the bulk of it because their seats are virtually guaranteed. I’ll leave it to your own rather vivid imaginations what then happens to this “surplus” of campaign money (hint: it doesn’t get returned to the contributors). But if they’re primaries they’re going to have to spend that money and more to fend off primary challenges. And we don’t necessarily have to “win” to be heard.
Therefore I propose the formation of a new political movement focused strictly on education issues, chief among which must be the complete and total reorganization of the SED to one which is responsive to communities, parents, educators and, most importantly the children. The sad fact is that the SED has been solely responsible for the decimation (as opposed to decline) of education in this state. There is nothing in their sad, sorry history to indicate they can do any better than they have in the last 40 years. The answer they offer for the complete and utter failure of their “solutions” has been to blame the local school districts, teachers, parents and communities. These hair-brained schemes were never designed to succeed but, rather, to insure the perpetuation of their own educational elite.
The Tea Party activists decided that they were tired of being ignored and lied to and sprung into action at a grass roots level. While I do not subscribe to their positions I do subscribe to their politics as an abject lesson in effectiveness from which those on the left and center can take heart. We have to be willing and able to make the Legislature understand that they created this problem of an out of control and unresponsive to the people and they need to correct it — like YESTERDAY! Instead of the Tea Party, lets call our movement The Mocha Party, in honor of the mocha many of us need to start our day and deal with the total silliness which comes out of Albany each and every day! The SED needs to be abolished and replaced.
I look forward to your responses. I will read each one. I will hear each of your voices. As John F. Kennedy stated in accepting the Democratic Presidential nomination over 50 years ago: Leadership, not salesmanship, is our need today; and the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously.
I thank each and every one of you who has read this comment for both your time and your considered attention and opinions.
Recently, the Commissioner of Education of New York, John King, continued through on a plan to close Pinnacle Charter School in Buffalo New York. This closing is based on assessment scores from 2008-9 and 2009-10 (which were poor). There was a lengthy court case to keep Pinnacle open.
During the time that elapsed during the legal proceedings, State Education named Pinnacle Charter School a “Highly Effective” School (in 2011-12) and “Effective” (in 2012-13).
After winning the court case (in the last 10 days), and despite the gains made by Pinnacle Staff and Families, King elected to IMMEDIATELY close the school…. because he CAN…and don’t YOU EVER forget that! It has thrown children, parents, staff and community members into disarray….with 120 hours left before the school year starts.
We all know, a TRULY powerful man minimizes when he flexes his muscle. One who is concerned over his PERCEIVED power is very dangerous.
Not only does this apply to Commissioner John King, but, it ALSO applies to Ken Slentz, Asst Commissioner of Education.
At a Parent Meeting, last night at Pinnacle Charter School and DESPITE the fact John King was in Buffalo, New York at the time, he did NOT show for the conference.
Instead, his “underlings” to a beating from the crowd…. as John King is a coward and not man enough to speak to his actions. Needless to say, he was likely scared.
MAN UP, Johnny!
Enough said above.
Children are being abused in our public schools with arbitrary and capricious standards devised by corporate America to further their “bottom line.” State leaders have sold their soul for 30 pieces of federal silver. District leaders have sold their soul for a portion of that ill-gotten silver. Almost can forgive district leaders as most districts are near bankruptcy, due in part to GEA assessments and State unfunded mandates.
Joe Bottini
retired teacher (35 years in classroom)
school board member
Well said, Joe!
I agree with you comments. Hiring and then directing psychomatricians to over sensitize a test to cause more failure to generate or validate a crisis and a political agenda is not just unethical, it is a form of abuse of power and authority. Especially given the collateral damage to students, teachers, parents, administrators, schools and communities. Such actions are unconscionable and professionally disgusting.
These actions deserve legislative investigation and oversight. But then, are they not also part of this problem?
So five speakers chosen by the PTA who happen to disagree with the way the common core is being impemented constitute co-opting a meeting. Sounds more like a bully was confronted and can’t take the heat. Just have to wonder how much heat he would take if the state comptroller ever took a real close look at the NTI conference expenditures that were made by order of the regents research fellows.