In Carmen Fariña’s short time on the job, she has ended promotion tied solely to test scores and eliminated school report cards based primarily on tests scores.
However, there are two critical areas in which state testing continues to deform and distort our children’s education.
Chancellor Fariña, we implore you to:
1. Direct all middle schools and high schools to eliminate the results of state standardized tests from their admissions criteria.
2. Fight at the state level to eliminate test scores as a measure of teacher effectiveness.
This petition was started by parents at PS 29 in Brooklyn, the very school were Carmen Fariña once taught. We join with public school parents and advocates across New York City and beyond to ask her to stand up and lead the transformation of the New York City public school system into a model of equity, fairness, and innovation.
As a legendary educator, Fariña knows that teachers are equipped with student work and assessments, which, in comparison to a flat test score, can provide far more accurate and comprehensive information with which to gauge students’ qualifications for school admissions. She also knows that volumes of evidence prove that using test scores is an ineffective way of measuring teachers’ competence.
Please add your name to the petition and share it.
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/chancellor-faria-lower.fb48?source=c.fb.ty&r_by=10785872
Thank you!
Michael Berman, Michelle Kupper, Jamie Mirabella, and Peter Rothberg
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“legendary educator”?, that would be one reason not to sign. Farina’s problems go much deeper than two issues. She was a typical Bloomberg hack with no sensitivity toward teachers. It has yet been produced how many years she had teaching children.
“1. Direct all middle schools and high schools to eliminate the results of state standardized tests from their admissions criteria.”
I had heard there are no more neighborhood high schools in NY, but I didn’t know that standardized tests were being used to determine admissions to high schools, or that they were used for admission to middle school. OMG! No wonder the schools are so segregated. What an elitist policy.
The New York City Specialized High Schools admission test score is the sole criteria used to determine admission to the specialized public high schools (Stuyvesant is the best known) in New York City. I wonder what admission criteria the petitioners have in mind to replace it.
This petition refers only to the use of math/ELA results on 4th/7th grade NYSED tests as a screen for admissions to middle and high schools, respectively. The SHSAT is a seperate test entirely, administered in the fall of 8th grade.
ALL of the competitive schools use a combination of test scores on standardized tests, report card grades, teacher comments, interviews, portfolios, auditions and/or their own tests. They are called “screened” schools. These screened schools are BOTH middle and high schools. One of the most competitive middle schools in district 15 recently removed the requirement of a high 3 or a 4 on standardized test to even apply to the school but still uses it along with grades, attendance, teacher comments and interview to admit students. We are talking about 10/11 year olds applying for middle school based on the work they did when they were 9/10! This is why parents are not willing to opt their kids out of the exams. The third grade exam as practice for the all important 4th grade exam.
At the high school level, the screened schools are separate from the “specialized” schools that require one test, Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) which kids can prep for, and for which entire test prep industry exists. The exception is LaGuardia HS for Performing Arts which uses auditions first, then sorts by grades and standardized test scores. For middle schoolers, 7th grade is hell.
And yes, this system most definitely contributes to the segregation of our schools here in NYC. I would think that TE would be more than familiar with these screened schools and the NYC system.
The answer, of course, is to replicate these schools so that all students benefit from what they have to offer – music, dance, drama, technology, advanced science and math class, and sports teams. This is where our focus should be – ensuring that ALL NYC children have these things.
Btw, the one thing that all of these screened and specialized schools do NOT have, is small class sizes. But that’s another post…
Tim,
Where does the petition say anything about which standardized exams that they do not wish to be used for admission? Neither Dr. Ravitch’s post or the link makes any mention of allowable standardized exams.
Michelle,
I was posting about the specialized high schools in New York, so it is not surprising that I did not include screened schools in New York or high schools in other states, for that matter.
TE, “state standardized tests” means the NYSED ELA and math tests. The SHSAT is administered by the NYC DOE, and its use as the screen for admissions to Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech would have to be changed by state law. I suppose this petition could be seen as asking to remove the SHSAT from the other five schools that use it.
Tim,
Thanks for the explanation. Is Stuyvesant the most segregated school in NYC? I saw that Stuyvesant admitted 8 African American student and 21 Hispanic students.
There are a number of schools in the Bronx that are 100% segregated, by the usual criteria, i.e. with no students who are not Black or Hispanic. Possibly in Brooklyn, too, although I’m not sure of that.
“And yes, this system most definitely contributes to the segregation of our schools here in NYC.”
Not nearly as much as real estate and hypersegregated zoned neighborhood schools do. The enrollment at all exam schools — K-5 or K-8 G&Ts, test-in middle schools, and specialized high schools — is considerably more diverse than PS 29, where 75% of the students are white and only 11% are FRPL-eligible.
Is there a petition to “Make PS 29 educate its fair share of at-risk kids”? I’ll sign that one!
TE, the black and Hispanic enrollment at Stuyvesant is embarrassingly low–3% total. And part of the problem at this point is that qualified black and Hispanic students are understandably hesitant to attend given how isolated they’ll be. The school is 72% Asian and 47% of the students are FRPL eligible.
However, if you take the overall enrollment at SHSAT schools, and elementary and middle-school city gifted and talented programs, they are much more racially and socioeconomically diverse than schools like PS 29.
Unlivable wages ensure sizeable populations of people of color segregated in ghettos. It’s virtually impossible to live on minimum wage anywhere else in big cities but the ghetto.
Cosmic,
Any relevant thoughts?
Live the Wage:
http://www.livethewage.com/
Cosmic,
Again, any thoughts that are actually relevant to this thread? Perhaps you could condem Stuyvasent High School for not comming anywhere near the racial makeup of NYC public. Do you give Stuyvesant a free pass?
What part of “What an elitist policy” is NOT a condemnation of admissions testing?
And what kind of economist has absolutely nothing to say about the gross economic injustices that condemn people to living in poverty and ghettos and attending segregated schools? YOU are irrelevant, “teachingeconomist” and I am not going to have this discussion one more fruitless time with you.
Cosmic,
Once again you might write a comment that has something to do with this thread.
Recognizing that segregation has arisen largely out of the preferences of white people with the complicity of all levels of government and businesses and is not the consequence of economics or markets is a critical first step toward a solution. There is ample research showing that even well-off blacks do not have access to the same type of housing as whites or Asians.
Nothing like a holier than though economist ignoring the economic conditions which keep the poor in poverty and segregated in ghettos and schools. Try taking the “Live the Wage” challenge proposed. Though, clearly, anyone who would see unlivable wages as irrelevant and unrelated to segregation is not going to be up for experiencing poverty in their own cushy middle class home. What a boat load of economics denial crap from two charter school lovers and zoned school haters.
Vicctorino,
Any thoughts that have any relevance to this thread? Perhaps you could condemn a high school that is over 72% asian in a city that is a little under 14% asian.
Hi, teaching economist, you have still not disclosed if you are making these outrageous, libertarian comments without remuneration or part of an organization for one year now.
I advise all bloggers to ignore him until he answers these questions.
Nampa,
It has been a long time since you were last out of the drawer.
I will give you the same response I have given you each time you (and your twin Nano) each time you have asked: my entire income comes from the good people of my state who pay me to teach economics.
In the words of Dr. Angela Dye, test scores are simply B level achievement. A level achievement assesses the whole chid. My upcoming book has more http://www.wholechildreform.com
Dear Chancellor Fariña,
1. Our neighborhood school benefits from zoned lines drawn carefully around some really pricey real estate, and as a result it is far less racially and economically diverse than even the city’s most exclusive and elite private schools. However, we don’t have access to a similarly restrictive and restricted zoned middle school and instead have to compete with kids from across District 15 for seats. Not fair. We want a system that can be gamed via privilege and insider status: let’s call it “holistic”. No test scores, please–instead look at this amazing documentary our child made about our trips to Africa and South America!
2. We’d like to get a jump start on propitiating and currying favor with the people who will have an enormous amount of influence under such a “holistic” system–the people who assign report card grades, write formal recommendations, and otherwise influence what will be a completely opaque “black box” process. We’d like to conspicuously go on the record as saying we do not feel it’s fair that teachers or administrators are judged in any way by state test score results.
Cynical? Not if you remember what it was like when access to many DOE selective programs was “holistic.”
PS 29 does not seem to be a very typical NYC public school, at least demographically:
65% White
16% Hispanic
11% Asian
7% African American
4% of students with limited English proficiency
19% eligible for free and reduced price lunch
As real estate prices in its zone soar ever higher, the school has gotten even less diverse in the two years since the last state report card: it’s now 73% white, 7% Asian, 4% black, and 13% Hispanic, with 3% ELL and only 11% of children eligible for free/reduced price lunch.
Sorry, forgot a link earlier: this is the 2013-2014 year-end register. The updated FRPL number is from the school’s profile on Inside Schools (I know this is taken from DOE sources).
http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/15/K029/AboutUs/Statistics/register.htm
Tim,
Nobody is claiming PS29 isn’t privileged or mostly white. Indeed, the segregation of our schools is wrong and should be changed. The testing policies that this petition seeks to change, exacerbate those inequalities. They harm education across the board, and in impoverished communities most of all. And the interest in meaningful and fair teacher evaluations, is not about “currying favor” as you suggest. I don’t see how you can care about quality education for kids, without being concerned about the profession of teachers.
Best,
Jamie Mirabella
Tim,
Nobody is claiming PS29 isn’t privileged or mostly white. Indeed, the segregation of our schools is wrong and should be changed. The testing policies that this petition seeks to change, exacerbate those inequalities. They harm education across the board, and in impoverished communities most of all. And the interest in meaningful and fair teacher evaluations, is not about “currying favor” as you suggest. I don’t see how you can care about quality education for kids, without being concerned about the profession of teachers.
Best,
Jamie Mirabella
The solution is to make every neighborhood school a “screened” school and create specialized schools to deal with kids who score in the bottom 10% of state standardized tests.
Flood the schools for low-performers with an array of services and interventions.
Here’s some other news from NYC.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/exclusive-group-families-file-lawsuit-challenging-teacher-tenure-article-1.1881368