Steve Perry, who was once a commentator for CNN, recently spoke in Minneapolis and used the occasion to ridicule teachers and unions and boast of his own miraculous powers. He runs a school in Hartford where he performs miracles daily, unlike the millions of teachers who are not lucky enough to work in his school.
His contempt for everyone but himself may explain why he is no longer a regular at CNN.
How can you teach children to respect others if you set a bad example? How could society function if everyone was an egotistical bully?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I have heard Steve Perry say that he wouldn’t hire a teacher from a failing school because that teacher is a failure. But apparently in his book he claims that all of his teachers come from failing schools and with the right leadership they have flourished. The man lies about everything. I have met parents and students who speak poorly of him. His school’s graduation and attendance rates are fabrications. He would never be asked to speak in Hartford as he would be booed off the stage.
Bravo….and here is his statement on the Capital Prep website:
“We have a school that is designed to send children to college. If we don’t send children to college, we are not doing our job. . . . Every child that graduates from Capital Prep goes on to a 4-year college. Period.”
He certainly has the reformy BS mastered. And you will never believe this, but the picture on the home page is of ….you guessed it:
STEVE PERRY!
Well, that explains the 50% or so attrition rate between 9th and 12th grade. Simply expel anyone who isn’t college material, and voila! Every graduate goes to college!
And his words are “goes on to” he doesn’t say graduates from…..he has been slinging bull$hit for a long time. Steve is all about promoting himself and stepping on the reputation of teachers to boast his own fragile ego.
That is a lie. According to clearinghouse data released by the district that tracked students who actually enroll for college classes in Sept the numbers from Capital are nowhere near 100%. I think it was closer to 60% or about the same as the other magnet schools in Hartford. Even with unbelievable attrition numbers, a sleazy selective enrollment policy including recruiting for athletics which the CIAC should investigate the college enrollment numbers are a fabrication. Kishimoto should insist that all principals have accurate data on their websites.
Perry lie? Of course…if it makes him look better. Maybe this should be send to Kishimoto and Perry.
How embarrassing…….another blowhard boasting about himself 24/7. He says the same things all the time. He is the male version of the Rheeject.
He coined the “not a good fit” phrase for those that don’t meet his standards: good test takers. An excellent teacher is: inexperienced, compliant, works 16 hour days/Saturdays and worships the phony Perry.
He doesn’t attract much of a crowd here in CT other than his tiny dominion, but the lamestream media laps up his hatred of teachers. Read the Edushyster post…he refers to teacher unions as ROACHES.
Although not in a union school at the moment, I have been for the bulk of my career and have served on collective bargaining committees, etc.
Roaches are resilient and impossible to get rid of. I’ll take the “roach” appellation as a compliment. We will not be exterminated so easily.
Today is CT unite and pelt Perry day with FACTS from Pelto. Steve Perry, the slithering fraud exposed:
So what about Steve Perry’s “near zero” dropout rate?
Capital Preparatory Magnet School’s Class of 2011 “graduated” 28 students. Four years earlier, that class began with 43 students. That is an enrollment decline of about 35 percent. More than one-third of the students left or were pushed out of the program during their time at Capital Prep.
And this was after they had gone through a complex application and lottery process to get into Capital Prep in the first place.
These children didn’t “dropout” because they landed back in Hartford’s regular district schools.
Capital Prep’s Class of 2010 began with 40 students. It ended with 29. Steve Perry says that is a 0 percent dropout rate.
And the data reveals the same story year after year.
Word is that Perry will no longer serve as a commentator for CNN, but you can bet that he will continue to claim that losing a third of his students equals a zero percent dropout rate.
It is called “education reform speak.”
And few, even in the media, are willing to point out that it is a language in which the truth is frowned upon.
Read the full post and check out the comments:
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/01/07/when-is-36-percent-equal-to-near-zero-percent/
One more Pelto blog post on Perry..see link below and this comment from a former Capital Prep Parent…she wasn’t impressed…date January of 2013.
I am a parent of former Capital Prep students (one week ago) and I regret not having looked for reviews of the principal Steve Perry and this school. After several months of red flags from pervasive, poor communication to parents to poorly implemented programs and curricula to severely strict uniform policies to uncaring responses to discipline issues to just not having created a warm, nurturing environment for young kids, we were finally just biding our time until the end of the school year to escape and find new options for our children. Unfortunately we left sooner! With just 2 months of school left in the school year, we have withdrawn our daughters (ages 8 and 5) after having my 5 year old be harshly disciplined for having a missing belt on that day. Without my notice, was required to eat standing! Even more outrageous is that I have yet to get any response from the Board of Ed regarding my concern over this harsh discipline. Don’t send your kids here. You will regret it and it’s not worth the trauma to your kids. We need to stop allowing these fame-seeking, fake reformers to ruin our kids and schools! This principal is way worse than the teachers and unions he complains about!
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/01/02/hartfords-capital-preparatory-magnet-school-principal-steve-perry-out-as-cnn-commentator/
I’ve never understood how reformers can claim they care about students respecting their teachers when a big part of the reform celebrities stage routine is trashing teachers.
Seems to me kids would pick that up.
Adults can’t send two contradictory messages. They can’t tell.kids to work hard and take direction from teachers while depicting teachers as lazy slobs.
Could it be that they are grooming this Perry cat to take the place of the Rheeject?? Seems to have many of the same personality traits and “brash” style.
Anyone know his detailed vita? Only able to find mention of Social Work from U. Of PA. Any info related to education? Thx
Here is the full poop on Perry:
http://www.dr-steveperry.com/Bio.html
Thanks Linda, I waded through that poop and only found a mention of a social work background. Rather void of more details. Always question purposeful voids of otherwise detailed details of detailed specifics about EVERYTHING PERRY! Coinkidink or not?
What is he hiding? Does he have a PhD or EdD? In what?
In the art of tossing around bull$hit is his forte…other than that he’s got nothing, but a cool hairdo.
A little light on the “data” there…
I would like to ask a favor of the Ravitch community. Here is the email for Perry’s publicist (yeah, he runs a school and he has a publicist).
Can we send some email requests asking Perry to apologize to the teachers in our country:
Thanks for visiting the site. I love hearing from my readers! If you have read my books or attended one of my speaking engagements, please let me know your thoughts by clicking the contact button. Your feedback is appreciated. .
Speak up and be heard. I make it a point to do my best at contacting anyone who takes the time to reach out to me.
Thank you and much love.
Dr. Steve Perry
Publicist:
Yusuf Salaam
860.997.6802
Email: ysalaam@sbcglobal.net
ysalaam@sbcglobal.net
Diane, maybe this can become a mini post? Just asking.
Oops too many links trying again with one change. Diane you can delete the other one:
I would like to ask a favor of the Ravitch community. Here is the email for Perry’s publicist (yeah, he runs a school and he has a publicist).
Can we send some email requests asking Perry to apologize to the teachers in our country:
Thanks for visiting the site. I love hearing from my readers! If you have read my books or attended one of my speaking engagements, please let me know your thoughts by clicking the contact button. Your feedback is appreciated. .
Speak up and be heard. I make it a point to do my best at contacting anyone who takes the time to reach out to me.
Thank you and much love.
Dr. Steve Perry
Publicist:
Yusuf Salaam
Email: ysalaam@sbcglobal.net
Diane, maybe this can become a mini post? Just asking.
The fact that CNN employed the brilliant neurosurgeon Sonjay Gupta to represent medicine and the pompous fool Steve Perry to represent education, gives us some insight as to the education problems in our country.
It’s not education so much as it’s CNN. Remember the plagiarist Farheed Zakaria, who was suspended for it, but it now back on CNN as if nothing had happened?
Just another fraud in the phoney reform movement. Zero dropouts? 100 percent graduation rate? All students going to college? Sounds a bit like the “Texas Miracle” to me. No Child Left Behind has single-handedly turned education into a shell game of metrics, where statistics mean nothing.
Since I heard the speech and live in St. Paul, here are a few comments:
1. Referring to people as “roaches” accomplishes nothing. It was an inappropriate and unwise comment.
2. Perry said there are some great teachers in schools that are not succeeding.
3. The speech was not given in Minneapolis. It was given in St Paul.
3. Not sure where the headline came from “Steve Perry talks to white people.” The 4udience was quite racially mixed.
5. The panel also included a Minneapolis Public Schools Assistant supt. Not sure why this was left out.
6. The Minneapolis Foundation also coordinates a task force that is strongly encouraging the state legislature to provide more $ for high quality early childhood education. With their leadership, and a number of others (including me) saying the same thing, it’s likely that millions of additional $ will be allocated for this purpose. Both Mn House and Senate already have included millions of additional dollars in early childhood funding in their bills which are nearing final adoption.
7. The Minneapolis Foundation, along with Cargill and other funders mentioned, also funds an array of programs to help strengthen families and the communities in which they live. More info here: http://www.minneapolisfoundation.org/CommunityGrants/RecentGrants.aspx
http://www.cargill.com/corporate-responsibility/community-engagement/charitable-giving/
Full disclosure – our organization received funds a decade ago from Mpls Foundation and we currently have a grant from Cargill.
The location doesn’t seem too important when you have a principal paid to manage a school in Hartford, CT flying around the country promoting himself and bashing teachers and their unions.
Yeah, he may throw the obligatory “there are some good teachers” salvo but who cares? It’s always been about Steve and Steve only.
I suggest to you that PERRY is a “leader” who is not succeeding.
And since he never perfected the art and craft of teaching himself, how exactly would he know what successful looks like. I bet his sole indicator is test scores because that is usually all he talks about.
Many here in CT who work in the public schools in Hartford have the full scoop on this fraud. The HPS BOE should investigate…another Rheegate could be brewing.
Perry is an inappropriate and unwise man masquerading as another faux reformer.
Since this was written by a Minneapolis teacher (but helpfully introduced by yours truly) I can’t say why she misidentified the location of the talk. I’d blame laziness but St. Paul seems much less taxing to type than Minneapolis. The headline came from me and was inspired by the incredible exchange of “views” that followed Beth Hawkins’ “reporting” on Dr. Perry’s visit. In the exchange, some very white people seem to justify Perry’s extreme language and views as part of his “straight up style.” As for information that was inadvertantly left out of the report from the embittered veteran teacher who chose not to attend, let me add another. One of the gentlemen on the panel, Eric Mahmoud, is the head of a school that is repeatedly held up as a model for the Minneapolis Public Schools to emulate. The post mentions that he makes what some consider an inordinate amount to run a school ($250,000) and has an unfortunate bit of mortgage fraud in his backstory. But the writer inadvertantly left out the fact that ZERO PERCENT of students at Harvest Prep consistently score proficient in science. Let me repeat that: ZERO PERCENT. Yet Harvest Prep and its best practices are at the very heart of the RESET proejct of which the Minneapolis Foundation is the lead sponsor. As for companies like Cargill that have also leapt on the Minneapolis rephorm express, do they envision a future without science? I’m guessing not. But a future without unions would smell pretty good…
Shorter Joe Nathan: leave Perry alone. Yes he’s a croook, but he’s OUR crook.
Was there a thread about high school graduation rates and grandchildren here or am I misremembering?
This really helps get to the heart of the matter: if education is at its core about teaching and learning, then education “reform” is about choice all right– but not in the way the choicers want to frame it. We, as a community, state, nation– we choose whether to put our faith and belief, and support, in teachers or in characters and hucksters like this guy– I will take the teachers every time. Unfortunately I am just a parent and I don’t set policy like the Big Guys with the billions at stake. And Arne Obama is on the other side– which affects policy at every state and district in the country. For now. But as Diane Ravitch said in DC, bad things don’t last. We live in hope– but hope better show up soon.
Thank you so much for picking this up! There are some wonderful things happening with our union, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, Local 59. We have an extremely talented organizer who is making changes that we so desperately need in public education!
Superintendent Johnson has been bought out by the deformers. She signed a compact with the Kramer backed TFA school board member, Reimntz, to commit to supporting more charter schools in Mpls. The Kramers will do whatever it takes to open up the market. They prefer Minneapolis over St. Paul. They continue to pick and choose test scores to manipulate people. Minneapolis schools are under all out attack. TFA, MinnCAN, SFER, StudentsFirst, E4E, and local groups that have been manipulated (or perhaps receive incentive$ from the Kramer organizations) are leading the charge.
Edushyster was at her best. I have never gotten more great information in a funnier way than reading this. Thank You.
Steve Perry, the EduCarnival Barker/Television Preacher who was employed by CNN as an “expert” on education. This man is the epitome of the Edushyster con. He puts himself in the spotlight and pretends to actually know how to lead a staff and educate children. He uses cheesy props (cap and gown) to marvel the audience. What a joke. He is the typical charter promoter-big on bs little on facts.
Actually, DeeDee, Perry said only one thing about charter schools. He said some thing like this:, “I’m not a district school supporter, I’m not a charter school supporter, I’m a good school supporter.”
And only if such a school doesn’t hire roaches, results are based on test scores and it makes him look good. What he really supports is Steve Perry. It must be tiring defending the hucksters.
Jersey jazzman skewers Perry
I’ve done this sort of analysis before, and I always make of point of saying the following: without a doubt, I am sure that Capital is a fine school. The students there are obviously doing great work, and they should be proud of their achievements. I’m positive the staff at Capital is extremely dedicated, and I’m even willing to concede that Steve Perry may well indeed be a great principal.
But here’s the thing: he’s got a hell of a lot of nerve bad-mouthing “failing” schools and “failing” teachers when he clearly owes at least some of his success to teaching a different student population than the schools around him.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/02/reformy-dr-steve-perry-show-part-ii.html?m=1
Joe Nathan sticking up for the ultimate reform shyster. I too have seen Perry in person. Joe, do you accept the claim that 100% of Perry’s graduates go on to a 4-year-college? Is that the truth?
This guy is the single most offensive talking head I’ve seen on television, even more so than Michelle Rhee. When teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, a district serving an economically vulnerable population including many ELL students, were all fired in an attempt to force union concessions and acceptance of Race to the Top, this guy gets on TV and tears the teachers of Central Falls to pieces, asserting directly or strongly implying that this group of educators he has never met are incompetent and lazy hacks. Mr. Perry, you are a tacky and pathetic supporter of appearance over substance.
Update on Capital Prep and Steve Perry:
I attended a defending public education forum today at CCSU in CT. In a small group session a former Capital Prep teacher spoke about her experiences working for Perry. She said that he stressed getting buy in from his staff. He constantly spoke about “adding value” and how they were going to franchise the school and spread out nationwide.
They never discussed the kids when teachers met in groups. They looked at data. They were told to placate the parents, so they could attract more more middle class students. He would say at many meetings and this is a quote: “We want it to snow in here.” She took this to mean we need more white people and middle class students.
She was eventually let go being told she wasn’t a “good fit”, but they offered her a position as a community outreach rep, which she turned down.
She also said teachers and students would disappear throughout the year…she used the word vanish often and no one knew where they went.
Have you heard Perry use the “we want it to snow in here” line on CNN? I guess he has many acts and sideshows depending upon who he is appealing to at the time.
That sounds exactly like many for-profit charters.
I have no doubt that expanding his business for his own gain was the main goal.Someone needs to start interviewing charter teachers and letting the public know what is going on. Jazzman did a good job of exposing this school. When I looked at the number who revceived free lunches, etc it became obvious to me that he was controlling the testing pool. A total bunch of bs. Who on earth would invite this man to speak?
Just waiting for the day when America’s most WANTED educator shows up on a WANTED poster.
I believe Steve Perry is very passionate about some real and important issues. I do not think he is egotistical so much as proud of his students and his own successes and rightly so if you look at his record. They may come as hard truths, and he does not mince words, but his ideas and are worth the responsible and civil actions he calls for.
A Minneapolis African American parent who is a law professor has responded to the controversy about Steve Perry.
http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2013/05/education-reform-debate-puts-spotlight-institutional-racism
She writes in part,
“I attended the Reset Education forum sponsored by the Minneapolis Foundation, which featured Steve Perry, Ph.D., from Hartford, Conn. Perry, an African-American principal of a highly successful school that is diverse in terms of race and socio-economic status, spoke truth in a manner that is uncommon in Minnesota. He talked about the fact that many of our school districts and teachers unions are adult-centered as opposed to child-centered and how that focus is contributing to the intolerable disparities in public education that exist in our state.
Although Perry’s talk was provocative and clearly ruffled some feathers, the bottom line is that he demonstrated that yes, children of color, and even children of color who live in poverty and/or so-called “broken homes” can learn! What Perry did that was so profound was that he proceeded to bust every myth and upend every excuse that is used to explain why the intolerable gaps between children of color and white children exist. (Notice that I did not use the term “achievement gap,” largely because of the importance of language and perception in this debate.)
The gap that exists is not one of “achievement” or capability of children of color to learn, the gap has to do with access to equal opportunity and equity within the systems designed to enhance and shape the learning outcomes of all children. This gap also has to do with the structural and institutional racism that is deeply embedded within our public education system and is perpetuated from one generation to the next.
Systems not designed ‘for us or by us’
Whether this is intentional or unintentional does not matter. What matters most are the outcomes that are produced when a system seeks to police itself without critical reflection and meaningful input from key stakeholders who care deeply about such issues. As the parent of African-American children, I have experienced firsthand the disappointments and frustrations of navigating school systems that are not designed “for us or by us.”
From a curriculum that is devoid of a rich exposition of African-American history and culture, to a stark shortage of teachers of color, to low expectations of those teaching my children in school, to being treated like a burden rather than a blessing as a school volunteer, to hearing stories of my children’s classmates being suspended, expelled, administratively transferred, or handcuffed on school property for minor infractions, I have seen it all — and I am deeply disturbed by what I have seen. The civil-rights attorney in me cries out for justice on behalf of these children. My children. Your children. Our children.”
I’m sorry, but don’t you see yourself in your own comment about Perry?
“How can you teach children to respect others if you set a bad example? How could society function if everyone was an egotistical bully?”
What is Perry’s PhD in? Honorary Degree from somewhere? Cannot find trail of his education, degrees or dissertation credentials. Any info?
http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/steve-perrys-dissertation-heavy-on-lit-review-slight-on-scholarship/
Some people can see the object in the room for what it is and others can not. I met this Dr. Perry om a flight from Bradley International Airport Hartford/Springfield. Although very passionate not very engaging when it came down to the atmosphere of his Magnet School. He was more focused on whatever television function he was heading off to.
Please excuse the typo above… this article and the responses struck a nerve and I had to respond.