Superintendent Steve Cohen of the Shoreham-Wading River School district on Long Island in New York is an outspoken and clear-thinking critic of the state’s “reform” policies, all of which are derived from Race to the Top. Since the state won $700 million, the Regents have wreaked havoc in every district with their data-based and destructive policies.
This article appeared in the Riverhead News-Review:
Cohen: Regents Reform is wrongheaded
By Steven Cohen
In 2001, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind. At the time there was strong bipartisan support for the idea that no children in the U.S. should fail to receive a sound public education, especially the poor among them. Who wouldn’t support such a noble cause? Twelve years later, however, we contend with the effects of the implementation of this law, which are nothing short of lamentable. In New York, this national initiative is spearheaded by the Board of Regents, a non-elected body of 17 citizens who control all education policy in the state and oversee the State Education Department, whose leader is the commissioner of education, currently Dr. John King Jr.
In a March 2012 presentation to the New York State School Boards Association, Dr. King outlined the Regents Reform Agenda. According to Dr. King, who follows in a long line of school “reform” advocates, there is a general crisis in public education. Most high school graduates, Dr. King tells us, are not “college and career ready.” Children do not get the education they need to supply U.S. businesses with skilled workers, according to the Regents, because the state does not have high academic standards, and because our schools lack effective instruction and supervision. Looking to get $700 million from the federal government’s Race-to-the-Top initiative (a one-time payment of about 3% of total annual state spending on education, half of which was earmarked to create a data system), the Regents agreed to tie every local school district’s curriculum to national learning standards, known as Common Core Standards. The Regents also agreed to base the evaluation of teachers and principals on standardized tests in English and mathematics (grades 3-8) that all students are required to take, including students with special needs and those who do not speak or write English as their native language. This Reform Agenda diminishes subjects other than English and mathematics: history, science, art, music, occupational education, and athletics apparently are no longer essential parts of a high-quality education. The Common Core Standards themselves are based on a rigid view of childhood development, forcing all elementary children to learn at the same rate. And the Reform Agenda has squandered a staggering amount of instructional time and money to create a “data driven culture” rife with technical and equity problems.
But there is no “general” crisis. The Regents bases its Reform Agenda on an incorrect diagnosis. And this mistake leads to bad public policy. Contrary to what the Regents claim, there are many excellent public schools and public school districts in New York and the nation. Many of these districts graduate well over 90 percent of their students. Many high school seniors are accepted to, and flourish in, the nation’s best universities (Long Island, if considered as a separate state, would have the best public education system in the nation.) Most significant, if one considers family income, American students perform as well on standardized tests as students in any country in the world. The Regents Reform Agenda is wrongheaded because it does not focus first and foremost on providing poor children with the material and emotional support they need to focus on learning in school (22 percent of the children in the U.S. live in poverty, 45 percent in low-income families). To no one’s surprise, scores on the most recent state tests correlated highly with the incomes of the families of the children who took them. Unfortunately, the Regents Reform Agenda distracts teachers and principals in successful schools from doing what works, while poor students do not get the support they need to focus every day on “school” learning. (To be sure, poor children learn a great deal, but their real-life curriculum does not follow the Common Core.)
Beyond these concerns with the Regents Reform Agenda lies another, perhaps even more disturbing, story. Most of the Regents send their own children to private schools, so they, unlike the rest of us, have no personal stake in the roll-out of their ambitious, but untested, “reform” program. (In fact, the private schools to which they send their children do not embrace this Reform Agenda!) And although “reformers” do not like us to notice, many of them have personal ties to companies that profit from selling educational materials to public schools, creating an unwise conflict of interest. (There is an annual $500 billion market in public education in the U.S., generated from school taxes.)
“Reformers” also insist that superior alternatives to locally controlled public education exist — charter schools. However, they are reluctant to admit many troubling facts about these schools: charter schools are funded by public school taxes, but many of them also receive large donations from private foundations and from individuals who have interests in companies that receive public school taxes; many charters have produced test results that do not compare favorably with their public school counterparts; many charters appear to offer superior education because they do not accept students with disabilities, or students who speak languages other than English, or because they encourage students who do not conform to the charter’s rules and expectations to drop out of school. Too many charters divert resources from local public schools, whose revenues are now, more or less, fixed by the new tax levy limit law, while they receive generous donations from businesses and foundations that seek to privatize public education.
Perhaps the Regents should consider some new ideas to “leave no child behind:” first, insist that the governor and Legislature ensure that all children in the state live in safe neighborhoods, that their parents have good jobs, that they have prenatal care, early childhood education, and adequate medical and social services; second, put aside the expensive and faulty APPR initiative, and instead use audit teams of professional educators to issue written reports of all school districts every several years; third, extend the probationary period for teachers and principals from the current three years to six years, to provide an apprentice period as well as sufficient time to make informed decisions about the potential of young teachers and principals.
Bring all children, especially the poorest, to school every day, ready to learn. Evaluate and support teachers and principals in meaningful ways based on detailed analysis of each teacher’s and each principal’s strengths and weaknesses. Assess school districts in depth, from student work to teacher training to Board of Education leadership. If the Regents were to consider these changes, and reject superficial data and calls to privatize this essential public institution, all children might come to school eagerly, districts (and the teachers, principals, and yes, superintendents, who work in them) would be assessed realistically by legitimate and competent external authorities and be provided meaningful direction for improvement, and all new teachers and principals would have to meet a threshold of professional competence that is demanding and fair before they would receive tenure. The Regents Reform Agenda creates problems where none exist, and fails to meet genuine challenges.
It’s time the Regents considered other paths to defend this fundamental democratic institution.
Steven R. Cohen, Ph.D., is superintendent of schools for Shoreham-Wading River School District.
I nominate Dr. Cohen as NYSED Commissioner.
I second
Yes! Yes, yes, yes!
Thank you Dr. Cohen, you’ve said it all.
Have you considered a position on the Regents Board to exert some positive influence from within, preferably as a replacement for King?
Your message should be broadcast throughout the state. Hopefully, someone will listen.
Someone who makes sense!
DOUBLE YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! TRIPLE YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!!
But, FORGET NY!! We want Dr. Cohen as U. S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION!!!!
Move over, Arne!!! Your time is up!!!!
Thank you!! THANK YOU, Dr. Cohen, for your wisdom and courage!!!!
But can Dr. Cohen play basketball? That’s the pre-requisite.
I hope that public school superintendents across the country will become vocal and take action in following Dr. Cohen’s position. We are at a point where to be a silent superintendent or administrator in any public school district is to send a message of compliance with this misguided “reform” movement. It’s time for anybody who cares about equitable education for our kids to get vocal and to keep on until energy and $ is redirected back to our school children.
Dr. Cohen, An impassioned plea for helping all students learn.
But what do you mean when you say, “To be sure, poor children learn a great deal, but their real-life curriculum does not follow the Common Core.”
Nobody’s experience, specifically might follow the CCSS, but what these standards do so often, especially in math, is challenge teachers to help students solve what they call authentic, “real-life” problems.
It’s going to take outstanding educators to be able to challenge students to take a complex situation and analyze it to figure out what’s going on–not merely apply numbers to an algorithm. And an equally exemplary educator to challenge students to Apply what they’ve learned to their own “real-life curriculum.”
Isn’t this one of the higher level challenges within the CCSS?
And, by all means, do away with evaluating teachers using standardized assessments in LA and Math. Rather, let us challenge teachers to observe, monitor and analyze students’ progress with major intellectual processes in all disciplines: inquiry, problem posing/resolving, critical/creative/reflective thought, uses of technology, leadership and those attendant dispositions like collaboration, empathy, and curiosity.
It’s not enough to know and understand Newton’s Three Laws and the conflicts within any of Shakespeare’s tragedies. We ought to be able to observe students’ improving in their abilities to analyze, draw reasonable conclusions, construct hypotheses, test and evaluate same.
Education is more than what can be revealed in bubble tests. Education involves challenging each and every student to pose meaningful questions, to conduct purposeful investigations, draw reasonable conclusions (alone and with others) and learn from their reflections on these processes.
“Nobody’s experience, specifically might follow the CCSS, but what these standards do so often, especially in math, is challenge teachers to help students solve what they call authentic, “real-life” problems.”
You obviously have not seen the exams.
Ditto
I’m sure many superintendents feel the same way, however Cohen is a few of the admirable ones. It’s a sense of betrayal when superintendents are elected or appointed to conform to corporate reformers instead of using their administrative powers to serve their educational entitiy. Why at the top are they not more vocal to stand up for their administrators, teachers, and students, instead of caving in to demands of reformers? This also goes for district superintendents. It’s hard to listen their rhetoric past down from the top. I seldom ever hear comments from our state superintendent; seems like he doesn’t exist. Someone making that much money shouldn’t be able to hide when there is so much at stake. Sorry but the buck doesn’t stop at the classroom door.
Dr. Ravitch, I have read your book ‘Reign of Error”, the day it hit the bookstores. I had retired from teaching in March of 2013. I was a science teacher, certified in Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, and General Science. When I started teaching in 1985 in New York City, I had to learn about classroom management, for I went into the classroom with no educational background. I eventually go certified in Virginia and you are right, it takes a few years to hone management skills, you can’t do it in a year or two. In 1993 I went to work in a county in Virginia and for the first few years, all was fairly good. My best years there were 1995-97 where I was in charge of the school science fair and my own kids got into the state fair based on their science projects. They had to design their own experiments and type up their project and put it on display. They went from the science fairs in Longwood College to the state fairs where they had to compete with the governor’s schools and science prep schools. We did real science using the scientific method. This is when I really enjoyed teaching. This ended in 1998 when the first SOL tests were given. Science fairs were dropped and preparation for tests dominated. If you got slower classes, it was more difficult to get good scores, and these tests were difficult. a lot of the questions didn’t correspond to the level what was taught. If your scores were not what was considered good, you were not looked upon favorably, yet there wasn’t a solution given. I had a year where my scores were not good and I was taken out of core science classes and given active Physics. This was created for slow readers and the kids with classroom issues (also to keep the SOL scores up but keeping these kids out of core classes!). No one ever approached me about test scores. At first the classes were supposed to be no more than 15, because of the type of kids, but swelled to almost 30. When a fight broke out, which I broke up and reported, I was blamed although I had nothing to do with it. I got disgusted and applied for teaching in the Virginia Dept. of Correctional Education ( this county wanted me back after 2 yrs because my replacement was having problems). I got the job as a H.S. Chemistry teacher and the first few years was gravy. I got small classes and the cream of the crop. Some of these were the smartest I ever taught, brighter than the honor kids in the public school, but they all had issues (being in a correction facility). We still had SOL tests and most of mine did well. Eventually, because there were not many students at this level, so I got Earth Science, Algebra I, Algebra II and Biology. Again, the class sizes were relatively small and manageable and the scores were mostly good, although some of the kids were SPED. When the Republicans got in charge of the state, they started closing facilities, making classes 3 hrs because of a riot, and overcrowding classes. We got assigned “coaches” who were only interested in test scores and would come periodically to see if your SOL number was correct and you were with the stupid pacing guide. They never interacted with the kids nor cared about them. Again, the scores were acceptable, but early in 2013, they changed the nature of the tests, Pearson made them much more difficult, and the scores dropped. We were under pressure to teach on out feet for the whole 3 hrs., and give a lot of different activities, in which we didn’t have the equipment or conditions to do. Remember this was a maximum security facility and a lot of experiments you couldn’t do. Chemistry was dropped several years ago and I was only teaching Earth Science. We got another principal who didn’t understand teaching and was only interested in test scores. When she called me in (as she did others) about my scores dropping, and expected me to manage a class of female and male juvenile offenders-11-13 in a tiny classroom, and why I wasn’t on my feet teaching for the full 3 hrs, and wrote me up, I went down to the Virginia retirement System to see where I stood. When I saw the numbers, I wanted out ASAP! Your book just about sums up my entire 24 year teaching career! I comment you for your efforts. After I read your book, I gave it to another teacher still in the trenches whose school is being singled out for low math test scores. I told her to don’t give the book back to me when she finishes, but pass it on. Every teacher needs to know what is going on. It is worse than I thought. A lot of teachers are not aware of the forces out to destroy public education just for profit. The Virginia Dept. of Correctional Education is no more, the Dept. of juvenile Justice took it over. The result of another Republican cutback. The result-low test scores, huge classes, classroom management problems, and much added stress. I trust very few politicians, because all they are interested in is their pockets and winning elections. Few are for public education. I like what I am seeing in New York. I hope the new Democratic governor will change things. I like Obama, but not his education policy or Arne Duncan. Is Duncan running Obama on the education piece-it seems like it. Again I praise you for your efforts and I always read your emails.
Dinobob – what is tragic is that your story is not an unfortunate experience, but the norm. Teachers are being chastised and written up for situations beyond their control. You sound like an excellent teacher who was shot down in your prime, but no matter where you ran, the nonsense followed.
And the ending of your story is the ending to other excellent teachers’ stories. They’ve had enough, and as soon as they have the numbers for a live able pension or they hit social security age, they will be out the door. Within five years the Master Teachers will be gone. So sad.
Dinobob and Ellen…Both of you have hit the nail on the head…
Interesting reform proposals. They sound expensive. Where would the extra money come from (if they really do require extra money)? DO they imply additional expenditures, Dr. Cohen?
Maybe we should focus on the achievement gap of homeless students.
Diane, not sure where to put this, but did you see the column is US News and World Report extolling virtues of educator led school systems and a move away from schools as businesses and students as data points?
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2013/12/31/bill-de-blasio-appointing-carmen-farina-as-new-york-schools-chancellor-is-a-good-sign
So, Steven, have you ordered your district to not participate in this nonsense?
Will you back up parents and teachers who refuse to participate?
Will you support your students who do not participate in this testing nonsense?
Do you refuse to use a VAM/SGP evaluation on your staff?
More importantly, are you in service to the staff who are in service to the students and parents?
Do you know what that last question even entails?
Duane – Valid questions. It still doesn’t take away from the essence of the article.
Ellen,
See my reply to JonBoy.
Duane
Not sure that you know what it ‘even entails’, but Dr. Cohen’s piece BRILLIANTLY tells the story America’s parents need to hear.
JonBoy,
You are quite correct in stating that “not sure that you know what it ‘even entails’.”
I don’t. It is something I’ve been grinding through my gray matter and have not come up with a “complete” formulation. My object here is to get people thinking about the concept (and I’m not sure what a “catchy” name/term for it could be) and what “being in service” to someone without being grovelling/a lackey/insincere/sycophantic, etc. . . means but part of my thought is that it is quite the opposite of being a supposed “educational leader” who “administrates”.
Part of what I like about this forum is that it allows me to throw out concepts and have other people comment on, add to, expand the thought and help clarify my thinking in trying to effect what might be more empathetic, less unjust changes that will result in better teaching and learning practices.
Many minds can be greater than just one might form one basis of thought on the concept of “being in service”.
And no doubt that what Cohen says needs to be said, no shouted from the rooftops, especially by those supposedly “in charge”, especially since it hasn’t been being done by those “in charge” (except for a few, J. Kuhn, Carol Burris, and others) who all the time these educational malpractices were happening to others, they were GAGAers allowing and instituting the malpractices. Now, it’s “Oh, shit” they’re coming after me and mine, I’d better say something because my ass is grass no matter what”.
I say keep em coming newly enlightened, or is that now threatened, administrators but go the distance and actually back up your words with action by refusing to do these proven educational malpractices. Some of us have been fighting this nonsense for over a decade now, hardly anyone listened and many still aren’t listening, and many of us have paid the price exacted onto us by those “administrators” who are now being “threatened” themselves and finally speaking out.
The West Seneca Superintendent who spoke up is now being audited by the state….could Long Island be next! ( King a Cuomo are not vindictive at all…just “concerned about the children”).
I think we should gather behind Long Island in an effort to become a new state. We need some good examples close by for the poor people in New Jersey.
Thanks to Diane for sharing Dr. Cohen’s terrific article!
I say bring on the audit, and let parents see how these so called leaders behave! Retaliation, vindictiveness, and ‘gotcha!’ won’t win the Regents, or Arne, or any of their ilk much respect.
Peg – you know West Seneca is an excellent school district. Let them audit his schools, there is nothing to hide. He can hold his head up high for doing the right thing. In your face King!
Every superintendent should speak out. If the Board of Regents thinks NYS administrators can be intimidated, they should think again.
No, make sure the state actions are followed religiously. If they can invent something, they will.
Too old – you are right. If they can’t find something wrong they’ll nitpick until they find something to criticize. People in West Seneca are proud of their schools and rightly so. If I were the superintendent, I would hold my head high and brazen it out.
NY , and Long Island in particular, is home to many courageous educational leaders who are willing to speak truth to power.
In NJ we have thin skinned, vendictive bullies in the Governors Office and in the NJDOE who have turned educational leaders in NJ into compliant sheep.
Good for Long Island, more shame for New Jersey.
– the opposite of courage is not cowardice: it is compliance. J. Hightower
All of what he says and suggests makes sense and is doable. He needs to replace king.
Correct and Yesterday!!!!
I was inspired by this sentence in the editorial: “Bring all children, especially the poorest, to school every day, ready to learn.”
Shoreham-Wading River is 94% white. Only 1% of its student population qualifies for ELL services, and only 4% qualify for a free or reduced price lunch. It’s 2013-2014 budget comes out to about $26,000 in funding per student. This despite the district’s location in the New York City metropolitan area, and a district next door, Riverhead, that is majority minority and has about half of its kids living in poverty.
This side-by-side discrepancy didn’t occur organically. It’s the result of at least 50 years of redlining, steering, white flight, and subtle or overt racial discrimination (sundown towns, police intimidation, and the like). Sadly, some of these processes are ongoing, and while many people who live in such hypersegregated communities talk a lot about fixing the situation, they seemingly have no interest in reforming their zoning laws or doing anything to promote integration. And our Federal fair housing laws are so rarely enforced, they might as well not exist.
Will Shoreham-Wading River, with a superintendent who is so keenly attuned to the needs of high-risk kids but who has hardly any of those kids under his wing, take a big step here? How about offering a lottery for 50-100 K-12 “scholarships”, including transportation, for at-risk minority kids living in Riverhead? Riverhead spends about $3,000/year less per kid per year, despite a much higher proportion of at-risk kids–what about some inter-district financial assistance? Any other ideas?
Tim:
Your point is the most important in this entire debate. As Diane and countless others have pointed out for decades, poverty and residential segregation are the 800 lb gorillas in the public school room.
Where to begin? Certainly this is not the forum to do so. But I hope this debate convinces people that soon there may be no public education worth bothering about for anyone, if there is no vibrant egalitarian society to nourish it. Let’s hope this threat to the lives of the vast majority of Americans–of all races–helps them see beyond racism to the crushing inequality that flourishes because of it and that threatens their children’s future.
New York City has a new Mayor, but can Bill De Blasio undo the disasters Michael Bloomberg has created in New York, or will it be business as usual? There is no escaping the reality that De Blasio will have across-the-board challenges, but especially with Education issues.
Divides between Governor and Mayor:
What happens now with the relationship between Governor and Mayor? “Bloomberg owns Cuomo,” is the common perception. But by the nature of De Blasio’s campaign, he must be on opposite sides of the fence with the governor on education issues. How does our Mayor rid the system of the bogus, corrupt and ludicrous Teacher Evaluation system?
And what about the “supposed New Education Revenues” that will come from New York Casinos? That money will never get into a classroom. Like the “supposed revenue” from former OTB (Off Track Betting), and the Lottery, the cash flow winds up in the pockets of special interest groups, vendors and consultants. Casino income is merely their latest windfall along with any recent Federal funding. How will the new mayor ensure these and all future funds are not simply redirected away from “ACTUAL” teachers and students?
The Testing Fiasco, Charter Schools and Overcrowding:
Student testing is another debacle and money siphoning disgrace. Can the new mayor stand up to Common Core book publishers and Standardized Test providers? And the Charter Schools are right there in the mix for a free ride at taxpayer expense. As for the student overcrowding issue, Bloomberg says it is due to NYC Public School “popularity.” (Doesn’t anybody brief him before he opens his mouth?)
Disrespect and Abuse of Teachers:
Because of glaring inequities between teachers and other professions, teaching is no longer a career option. Teacher vilification, loss of benefits and tenure through a phony evaluation system heralds the end of the profession.
Normal contracts with even minimal pay raises cannot be negotiated because the DOE negates them in that they require more work hours and benefit deductions, a disgrace that employees in no other profession must undergo.
Two years ago, state and city employees almost across the board received standard retirement incentives, except for, as usual, teachers. Can Bill De Blasio correct these disparities?
New Yorkers watch and wait.
If the Cuomo really wants to get rid of higher paid teachers, an incentive will do the trick. There are many just hanging on by a thread waiting for 30 years or age 62. Make up the difference or waiver the penalty and voila – mass retirements.
And by vilifying teaching, I’m sure that young people will think twice before pursuing as a career. Or give up on it after a year or less of work. My niece didn’t even make it through student teaching – she realized she didn’t need the hassle and is going to graduate school to be a Nuitritionist. That leaves a real need for TFA teachers to fill in the gaps.
Mission Accomplished!