The New York Times asked eight education experts to review and evaluate the video of a teacher at Success Academy charter school humiliating/chastising a first-grade child. All of them agreed that the teacher’s actions were inappropriate. The child had not misbehaved. She gave a wrong answer. The teacher ripped her paper and sent her away to sit in a “calming” corner. The child was not agitated and in need of calming; the teacher was.

Categories Accountability, Discipline, Harlem Success Academy

29 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

NYC public school parent says:

February 13, 2016 at 6:12 pm

One thing I have noticed when Eva Moskowitz claims these things are “anomalies”.

It is ALWAYS experienced and celebrated Success Academy teachers doing this. The principal who trained for years under the Harlem SA principal famous for not sending home renewal forms with the students was the one who supposedly “invented” the got to go list. The teacher who was an “exemplar” calmly punishes and humiliates a struggling 6 year old child and makes sure her classmates know how much her presence is ruining their education.

It’s shocking that anyone believes that these poor teachers independently decided to use these kind of repulsive teaching methods.

Eva Moskowitz is a bully. The teachers she loves the most are bullies. The other ones are so cowed they are afraid to speak up. And the children — as this video demonstrates — learn how to be bullies.

I used to have sympathy for parents who sent their kids to this charter school. But can you imagine having your 6 year old child watching another child who is struggling academically be belittled by their teacher? And think it is so okay that they rush to prove how deserving of praise they are? What were those other children thinking that they didn’t bat an eye when the teacher tore up this poor child’s paper and told her how she was ruining the education of her peers? I guess they had already internalized that the teacher was right.

Reply
- AlwaysLearning says:
  
  February 13, 2016 at 8:12 pm
  
  Humiliation has no place in the classroom. In our public school,we teach our students to show and practice empathy in the classroom. If a student is struggling with an answer they can call on their peers for help. Students learn to respect each other and to value the learning process instead of focusing on the correct answer. Students learn best in a supportive environment where peers learn with and from each other.
  
  Reply
- Donna says:
  
  February 13, 2016 at 8:58 pm
  
  What were the other kids, who are taught to behave and learn to behave without emotion, thinking? Think about the video showing the South Carolina school cop lifting and slamming a female high school student, while in her desk, to the floor, viciously pulling her out of the desk, and throwing her across the room. Those students, most of them, looked forward and away, as if this was normal. Normal.
  
  SA’s children are learning/being taught that what horrors and abnormalities exist and are policy at SA are normal. Unless they’ve gone to pre-k, or nursery school, or some other setting where there are plenty of kids in a nurturing/learning environment — they will be taught that they are lesser than, they are to be yelled at/humiliated, to walk in lines, in silence, in the assumed/preferred SA position of criminal. Put your hands behind your back, as if to be cuffed, shut up/keep your mouth closed, a bubble in your mouth, face forward, and walk that line. Never speak out, eyes on teacher. Wear your prison orange SA uniform. Those kids are, daily, bullied. They are, in effect, “kicked” every day, and they are used to the kicks feeling “normal.”
  
  Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 13, 2016 at 10:11 pm
  
  Donna, at that Success Academy school, there are a significant number of affluent students who live in what is a very expensive neighborhood now. Their parents — mostly mothers — watched that video and all they could talk about was how that same teacher treated their kids so kindly and went out of her way for them. They had absolutely no sympathy for this child — not an ounce of it. It’s as if they just didn’t think she mattered, as long as their children were being coddled and told how special they were.
  
  Listening to those parents defending this was shocking. If they represent the parents at Cobble Hill Success Academy, no wonder this kind of behavior is not just tolerated, but praised. You can treat the struggling kids anyway you want, as long as you keep your richest parents happy.
  
  Reply
- Donna says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 1:29 am
  
  I heard “defending” audio; did not see a video. To me, it sounded mightily scripted, and read, like an old timey radio broadcast. I don’t know–perhaps if a video went along with the audio I still would not believe my eyes. If indeed there are parents defending this teacher because she is kinder to their children, then shame on them. They should all be outraged. Are these affluent parents you speak of the kind who have nannies and don’t give a rat’s rear about their kids? Perhaps that is the disconnect. I don’t know.
  
  Reply
- clarity says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 1:43 am
  
  Were they really Snobble Hill SAC parents or were those the hired Voice Over Crisis Actors used to stave off criticisms of SACholm syndrome?
  
  Reply
Laura H. Chapman says:

February 13, 2016 at 6:56 pm

The child was not agitated and in need of calming; the teacher was.

Agree. I am certainly glad the NYT took the time to have some experts look at the video. I suspect that EVA has the arrogance to go after them for reputation damage.

Reply
Susan Lee Schwartz says:

February 13, 2016 at 7:37 pm

I want to cry for all of YOU, out there, who cringed when you saw that example of the antithesis of learning… not merely BAD TEACHER, but crushing blows to LEARNING, IN YET ANOTHER VIDEO OF what LEARNING NEVER LOOKS LIKE.

HOW NEW AND REFRESHING it would be to to hear a few words OUT THERE, not just here in our wonderful teacher’s room, about what BEST PRACTICE LOOKS LIKE! How delightful to see viral videos of classrooms showing WHAT WORKS instead of seeing ALL THE TIME, and endlessly, examples of THE WORST PRACTICE– even when it serves to demonstrate the low level of professionalism that Success Academy gets from their ‘trained’ staff.

This video makes me want to CRY for the children.
“Does that teacher EVEN know WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE??? (WLLL)
WLLL (PARDON THE ACRONYM) was the actual LANGUAGE of the real NATIONAL STANDARDS researchers out of Harvard and the LRDC.

I am sick and tired of WITNESSING what DOES NOT WORK, which is why when I talk, present, or whatever I do at the NPE conference, I will disseminate info and SHOW WHAT I KNOW, about BEST PRACTICE, , and at what LEARNING LOOKED LIKE when the researchers were observing MY practice.

They told me that my practice met all The INDICATORS FOR EACH PRINCIPLE OF LEARNING in the research — for best classroom practice

BTW in this endless national conversation about how to evaluate ‘teaching’, there is real evidence that Best Practice CAN BE RECOGNIZED AND ASSESSED, and not by giving an invalid tests to students.

It is not hard to recognize what underlies best practice, what principle is always in play .. over time, and ALL the time — what INDICATORS APPEAR IN ANY AND ALL SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES.

Ironically, in that video — the first two principles of learning ARE MISSING.!
* 1- CLEAR EXPECTATIONS were not in evidence and in fact,if they had been clear, the child would have known what to do.
* 2- REWARDS FOR PERFORMANCE were not only missing, the opposite was shockingly in view.

OF COURSE KIDS LEARN when there is an incentive to do the work, to put in the effort. It MUST BE PRESENT FOR LEARNING TO OCCUR, and what THAT CRITTER PRETENDING TO BE A teacher demonstrated was AN ABOMINATION.

LEARNING — and what really ENABLES it, dear colleagues and parents who read here– is the MISSING CONVERSATION, and the ONLY conversation that took place WHEN I WAS THE COHORT.

I will be at the NPE to show WLLL and offer a look at the outcomes of that research on THE 8 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING*
* of which 4 principles (YUP! FOUR!) were for THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS who supports the classroom practitioner!

Reply
- Ed Johnson says:
  
  February 13, 2016 at 11:15 pm
  
  Susan, rewards for performance a best practice for learning? Please explain. Thanks.
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    February 14, 2016 at 1:01 am
    
    That’s right. In all classrooms studies where children learned complex skills like writing, for example, the rewards for performance were indicted in many ways. By that, one is not talking about stars or grades on a test… the rewards for performance were intrinsic, being able to do the work meant that the effort paid off. In my room; meeting the criteria meant the student wrote longer more interesting responses and thus the work that he produced garnered praise and interest from the class, or was displayed on the bulletin board. We celebrated hard work and recognized improvement as a class.
    There were some little incentives, like when a kid earned a coupon for skipping homework for a week, or a coupon to eat lunch in the room, which had art corners, computers and a tv corner, not to mention a big library.
    
    There was a pride that came with a portfolio of good work, which the kids shared with each other, and the researchers noted, that when I responded at length on a student ‘s weekly reader’s letter to me, the student was encouraged to write longer, more thoughtful responses.
    
    It is hard to explain here, after all the LRDC spent 2 years observing my interaction with my class, the things that I planned that produced better listening skills, for example, or stronger reading habits, motivated them in many ways, to meet the expectations. So much of it was subtle, but the reality was that they enjoyed learning in my classroom, and the work they produced showed growth that they could see, that their parents could recognize.
    
    But simply put, rewards for learning are intrinsic… a player on a basketball team that puts in the practice improves..it is visible, and so it goes with writing. We celebrated success.
- Duane Swacker says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 12:26 pm
  
  Look forward to meeting you at the NPE, Susan!
  
  “. . . what LEARNING NEVER LOOKS LIKE.”
  
  With that “learning” being what the teacher intends for them to learn. Having seen humiliation being used on innocent children when I went through the Catholic system, I can say I, and many others, learned. We just didn’t learn what the teachers thought they wanted us to learn and actually learned many other things, things that tended to be quite subversive, sly, subtle and/or scheming.
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    February 14, 2016 at 7:25 pm
    
    Looking forward to meeting you , too. Have ,here on my desk, the ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES for NYC which I used to plan of my language arts objective
    
    There are ll manner of learning in schools, but the OBJECTIVES are easily clarified by the simple LWBA plus verb… which was at the top of all my lesson plans.
    
    LWBA to write a sentence with a clear subject and predicate.
    LWBA to use spelling standards
    LWBA to express…
    
    the hard ones were:
    LWBA to compare and contrast…
    LWBA to grasp the theme of…
    LWBA to organize paragraphs into a clear essay…
    
    And next in my plans came the motivation… the activities and materials I used to achieve the outcomes.
    
    It was a different universe. I could not teach today!
KrazyTA says:

February 13, 2016 at 8:07 pm

The eight experts echo much of what has been written on this blog, both postings and threads.

One of the points that stands out for me: the idea that the only answer that should be given is the “correct” one. In practice, this means bending one’s entire mind and will—standardized tests anyone?—to give the answer that the person in authority wants, whether it is the “best” answer or “correct” answer or even a “felicitous mistake” that leads to greater understanding. Where does independent creative thinking figure in?

It bears repeating: this SA “Pedagogy to Oppress” is a feature, not a bug, of their SOP.

😒

Reply
- Jon Lubar says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 2:26 am
  
  Excellent points, it would seem that at SA & other no excuses schools, learning from your mistakes has been reimagined as “the punishment will continue until morale improves” since there can only be happiness due to high test scores. Teaching other students to not empathize with or defend their classmates must just be the icing on e cake for SA., making the kids participants in the punishment of their peers builds the vicious authoritarian cycle into a self perpetuating social norm. America, land of the free? Not Eva’s values for sure.
  
  Reply
- ciedie aech says:
  
  February 22, 2016 at 2:32 pm
  
  That makes the most sense. Pedagogy to Oppress = There Will Be Absolutely NO Coloring Outside The Lines!
  
  Reply
Mary says:

February 13, 2016 at 9:48 pm

In a neighborhood school, where parents are neighbors, a teacher’s abusive behaviour would be discussed and enough parents could get together to ask for the situation to be corrected.
But in a charter school, where children come from a wide area, parents often do not know each other very well. And when there is a culture of ‘counseling out,’ worried parents are unlikely to make waves.
Neighborhood schools are important because they are democratic.

Reply
- clarity says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 1:49 am
  
  Absolutely correct, Mary! Charter schools have diminished neighborhood activism because most times there is no neighborhood to a Charter.
  
  Look the public schools that are getting left behind and find out who wants the land those schools occupy. Charters = Land grabs!
  
  Reply
- Terry B. says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 7:56 am
  
  Thank you, Mary! I am a teacher. A neighborhood school has its own culture based on the community and it bodes well for teachers and administrators to honor that culture, rather than fixing it.
  
  Reply
schoolgal says:

February 13, 2016 at 11:29 pm

I was disappointed you weren’t contacted. You have more background with the culture of Success than these experts. I would like to see more former teachers and administrators interviewed.
For many years the Times praised Eva and her schools. Now it’s beginning to appear they are “spotlighting” which I hope is true.
What surprised me is the lack of coverage from the mass media. Had this been a public school teacher, the news would have been all over it.
Does anyone know if this was brought up on The View? If not, why is Eva given a pass?

Reply
Akademos says:

February 14, 2016 at 8:38 am

Come on! You don’t need experts to weigh in here! You need insiders to divulge how common this is and to what extent it is condoned and/or encouraged.

Reply
Akademos says:

February 14, 2016 at 8:41 am

Yelling at Times, not Diane. FTR (for the record).

Reply
Dennis B. says:

February 14, 2016 at 1:03 pm

Regardless of what we think about how the teacher handled this situation, there is another aspect to this case that has significant implications. Just as educators rightly oppose using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance, we should also be wary of iPhone video clips as a basis for teacher evaluation. The tables can be easily turned with “teaching assistants” recording other classroom incidents that put a teacher in bad light. Judging teachers by video clips posted on YouTube sets a dangerous precedent as it violates all standards of fairness and due process.

Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 3:29 pm
  
  This is true, and it is something that I am constantly reminding my own kid. Nothing you do can be assumed to be private anymore. When you make a comment on-line, it’s there for anyone to see. When you think you are sending a private text to a friend, remember that friends regularly take screen shots of their personal texts and share it with thousands of people on Facebook. (very common among students). Although I don’t post with my own name, I assume people who care enough may figure it out and I try not to post anything I’d be ashamed of, or act like a troll. (Hopefully I succeed). And I don’t pretend to be something I am not.
  
  But although you are correct that this clip is just a moment in time, it is also an UNEDITED moment in time. Unlike those nasty people who secretly recorded Acorn and Planned Parenthood employees and – when the video didn’t show what they wanted it to show, edited it to make it something it is not – this was not edited to make this teacher seem worse. In fact, it was not her actions themselves that were so shocking – it was also the reaction (or non-reaction) of every student in the classroom that made it clear this was just a regular day.
  
  You do have a good point, however. This kind of hidden video shouldn’t be necessary. But unfortunately, for years there have been all kinds of reports about what was going on at Success Academy and they were absolutely ignored, with no agency bothering to investigate. The denial by Eva Moskowitz is that these “disgruntled” parents who left just had violent and terrible children and that’s the only reason they are complaining. Many people — including some posters on here who seem to have disappeared — believed every word. Now we see what teachers and parents have been talking about for many years — that Success Academy treats the kids who don’t learn fast enough like dirt and makes them feel like losers in front of the other children until they act out and leave. And that is something that no one would have believed without this unedited video.
  
  Reply
- Donna says:
  
  February 14, 2016 at 5:11 pm
  
  Teacher evaluation? This was not a video of teacher evaluation, this was a video of this teacher in action as she undoubtedly had been prior, and having seen the video, Eva Moskowitz patted her on the back and promoted her to teach her style to other SA teachers. Get a grip and don’t get it twisted.
  
  Conversely, Pearson has instituted video judgment of new teachers, and if they don’t pass the reformer test, they fail to get certified; meanwhile, TFAers are given 5 weeks of summer school teaching to 8 first graders, and they are thereafter giving bogus master’s degrees, and promoted to Talent Officer, President and Founder of a charter organization’s new takeover. Spare me the b.s. bleeding heart about not judging teachers by videos, this video in particular.
  
  Reply
bruce says:

February 14, 2016 at 3:01 pm

This is what happens when you have young, inexperienced people that have no back ground in basic educational practices.

Reply
Akademos says:

February 14, 2016 at 4:27 pm

The key issue here is culpability. This includes hiring, training, supervising and what is condoned or encouraged, explicitly or implicitly, in that environment.

Reply
Mary says:

February 15, 2016 at 12:40 am

Actually this is how SA implements its “Got to Go” lists.

Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 15, 2016 at 10:19 am
  
  Absolutely. It is always the most celebrated teachers doing this — not the inexperienced ones.
  
  Reply
  - ciedie aech says:
    
    February 18, 2016 at 1:52 pm
    
    And these days there are soooooo many inexperienced ones. 😦