I know a mole inside the New York City Department of Education. He/she knows how the DOE manipulates data to burnish the mayor’s image. This is a good reason to oppose mayoral control of the schools. He/she says the mayor’s small schools close with regularity; that the data cannot be trusted; that the Department has shown preference to charter schools but they got lower scores on the Common Core tests than the public schools.
Most shocking: the DOE intends to delete all the emails on its computers.
Quick, someone file a FOIL before it’s too late.
The mole writes:
“A Bad Business: The Bankruptcy of Education Policy”
Mike Bloomberg, in his recent interview with the magazine New York, admitted to following the companies run by his friends as economic barometers of New York City’s conditions. According to his website, “Mike has made education reform the focal point of his agenda,” an agenda dominated by applying business ideas to New York City’s schools.
Are the profit margins of huge corporations truly “indicators,” as Bloomberg claims, of how the citizens of New York City are doing? Does his application of business ideas actually improve schools for children? Let’s examine the evidence to see how the next mayor can do better.
Day trader versus business owner. Under Bloomberg, the bureaucrats at Tweed see themselves as “portfolio managers.” Just like day traders, they take no responsibility for the success or failure of the shares in their portfolio. They close and open schools, just like a day trader flips stocks. They refuse to take ownership of the schools under their charge and decline to commit to ensuring their success. Of course, in this case, the stock shares are schools with roots in a community and tens of thousands of children. What do the numbers say is the end result all this? The schools opened under Bloomberg are shuttered at the same rate as older schools, leading to an overall profit of zero. What should the next mayor do? Like a small-business owner who works as hard as possible to ensure her business succeeds, he must put children first and hold the education bureaucrats accountable for the success of each and every school in New York City.
Enron-like accounting practices versus independent auditor. Under Bloomberg, the Department of Education fudges and manipulates numbers to serve their political ends. They refuse to open up their complete data sets to independent researchers at universities who publish results in peer-reviewed journals. Sometimes they release limited data to friendly “think” tanks or to organizations that need to maintain their good will. These paid advertisers publish favorable “reports” in order to continue to have access to the seemingly top secret data.
Now they plan on deleting all emails from the Department of Education right before Bloomberg leaves office, just like Arthur Anderson and Enron.
What is the end result of all this? Bloomberg touts false numbers as “evidence” of “success” while the voices of independent researchers are silenced. For example, Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, was refused access to data after finding that the achievement gap did not close under Bloomberg.
What should the next mayor do? Just like an honest business has its results audited by an independent accounting firm, he must put children first and create an independent panel of researchers who are guaranteed full access to all DOE data. The reports of the panel should be made public and should inform education policy decisions in the city.
Crony capitalism versus fair business practices. Under Bloomberg, select schools are favored and granted unfair financial advantages over other schools. New schools that opened under Bloomberg are given more money per student than other schools. Charter schools are given more money per student, including free-of-charge public school space, than other schools. Favored schools are granted extra money through mysterious appeals and special grants. This is similar to business practices in corrupt countries where relatives and friends of the ruling family are granted monopolies and other unfair advantages in business.
What should the next mayor do? He should put children first and institute a set of fair business practices under which all schools receive the full share of funding they are entitled to based on the students they serve.
Buyer beware versus fiduciary duty. For years credit card companies and other financial firms used small print and legalese to rip-off customers. Companies are now required to abide by consumer rights laws. Under Bloomberg, a complicated and frustrating high school application process has been deceptively advertised as choice for students. While some parents and students have the time and patience to navigate the process others do not.
What is the end result? Vast differences in student enrollment patterns between schools. The 10% of schools with the highest special education enrollment rates average 27.4% students with special needs. The 10% of schools with the lowest special education enrollment rates average 4.5% students with special needs. The 10% of schools with the highest English Language Learner enrollment rates average 40.8% (not including specialized schools for new immigrants). The 10% of schools with the lowest English Language Learner enrollment rates average 1%. Screened and specialized schools have a student body that is extremely unrepresentative of New York City’s children.
What should the next mayor do? He must put children first and ensure that every student has the opportunity to attend a quality school with a diverse student body that allows students to build the skills needed to function in our global economy and international city.
False advertising versus truth in advertising. Under Bloomberg, schools were supposedly being run along the lines of a business. It is now clear that this was false advertising and the “business” practices employed have bankrupted many a corporation. Ideology has determined policy rather than data and evidence.
Charter schools were touted as putting public schools to shame while the data showing that charters do not serve similar student populations and get rid of underperforming students was ignored. Then the test scores of the new common core exams were released and charter schools performed significantly worse than public schools. This data was ignored.
If Coca Cola had followed a similar “business” approach they would have continued to market “New Coke” and bankrupted the entire company. What should the next mayor do? He must put children first and ensure that all children have access to a quality early childhood education program. The economic data shows such programs have very high returns on investment and more than pay for themselves over time. We need a mayor who is willing to employ honest business practices such as ownership, honest accounting, fairness, and responsibility to the consumer in improving our schools.
Why do they not want to listen to teachers voices and learn from us? We are in the classroom every day. We understand what students need and we can be great resources about what can work and help with student success. They don’t hear my students’ voices each day when they can from difficult environments that are not so perfect and then they are asked to perform on a test and do their best at school? I can became very angry, but I intent to be a change agent for all students…
But Maureen, surely you love Big Brother, and surely you understand that He knows best. The Common Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth will let you know about your students. Please don’t presume to know anything about them until the test results are in.
“. . . until the test results are in.”
Which will be in the summertime after the kids have left to never be seen again by you.
Such brilliant udder insanity! (oops, make that utter!)
I’m still only 80% through 3,000 pages that just have my name in it. I’m dumbfounded on the conversations between my principal, Supt, Tweeds, including three Deputy Chancellors, investigators and CEC members. 3,000 Pages of Secret DOE Emails. [Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm Enters Stage Left] http://protectportelos.org/3000-pages-of-secret-doe-emails-deputy-chancellor-kathleen-grimm-enters-stage-left/
We cannot allow destruction and I believe coog.gov and Robert Freeman need to be involved.
It would be good if this “mole” had specific and detailed examples of DOE malfeasance. I understand that too much detail would risk revealing a mole’s identity. But this reads like it could have been written by someone with no inside knowledge at all.
I know FLERP. You need to see the bloody knife in their hand. Think like Sherlock Holmes would. There’s enough circumstantial evidence that there are no surprises in the mole’s report. Just watch the post-Bloomberg storm that will emerge from former Tweedies looking to get on the right side as the ed deform ship begins to list further than the Costa Concordia — except this ship cannot be salvaged.
“They refuse to give up data.” “They only release partial data to friendly think tanks.” I’d say that says it all and you know it only gets worse. The education reform movement is not about educating children. It is all about exploiting tax dollars.
Time for Norman Siegal to demand an injunction to prevent destruction of all records and emails of the criminal conspiracy/racket that is Bloomberg’s Department of Education.
Sternberg and Moskowitz, start looking for some criminal defense lawyers; it will be years before the statute of limitations runs out on your crimes.
Diane is correct that legal situation needs to be filed. It can also be done through a public information request unless that is the same thing in N.Y. One thing they cannot get rid of and that is their budgets and audits. Also, they could be forced to produce the itemized purchase orders and payments or be possibly charged. Now if you get in Blasio and he is the real deal, you can procede to re-implement real public participation in decision making. Would that be a breath of fresh air.
They also will not provide air quality testing results in schools.
Hey, no one has died breathing in the air in the schools, yet! Can’t be that bad.
Joe Mugivan is absolutely correct. We have known each other for a long time. He is at the forefront of toxic schools in N.Y. N.Y. is a toxic pit as a result of no controls for several hundred years. It is also surrounded by the ocean. The ocean has tides. The tides pump the ground with the up and down of the tides. This causes whatever is in the ground as toxics to be constantly pumped into the buildings, schools. I think they only have 3 toxics people in the state. Is it any wonder. Joe eventually got the school shut down he was in after children would get sick forever and no one did anything. N.Y. schools have these other toxics problems and that is the PCB’s in some of the older sealants and in the old starters for fluorescent lights. Major problem. But N.Y. also has over $22,000/student/year which is very high. They can afford it if they want. We fought the $1.3 billion toxic school Belmont and the $10 billion overrun on the “Subway to the Sea” which is through methane and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Can anyone say, “jail” for some of these “corporate ed reformers”??? How is it they get away with outright lies and manipulating, stealing public money for corporate profits???? The saddest part is that their greed is destroying the educational lives of our nation’s neediest students.
“How is it. . . ”
Come on artseagal, you know they inhabit the social stratosphere and therefore the “long of the arm of the law” can’t reach them because the arm is too short. Not to mention the law needs rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders and until the law gets em repaired it can’t raise its arms over its head and can only reach downward toward the dregs of society.
Duane, I hear ya, but if it is as bad Enron then the law would have the reach to get them, however i don’t disagree with you so much as the title. Our city schools have been cooking the books for years and nothing gets done, this is a government entity, whereas Enron was not and that is why nothing will happen.
real spirit…!!!