New York City’s Chancellor Carmen Farina is step-by-step reassembling the essentials of a functional public school system after a dozen years of Mayor Bloomberg’s “creative disruption.” The Bloomberg regime quickly established its preference for inexperience over experience and its distaste for veteran educators. It created a “Leadership Academy” to turn teachers with one or two years of classroom experience into principals. The graduates of the Leadership Academy were held in low regard by the experienced teachers whom they commanded. Many got into major trouble. Yet the media loved to tell the stories of whiz kids who became principal at the age of 26 or 28, bypassing the time that others spent learning to teach, winning the respect of their colleagues, then learning the ropes as an assistant principal.
Now Chancellor Farina has issued new regulations: experience is a pre-condition for a school principal and assistant principal. What a novel idea! Another setback for corporate reform.
AMENDMENTS TO CHANCELLOR’S REGULATION C-30—REGULATION GOVERNING THE SELECTION, ASSIGNMENT AND APPOINTMENT OF PRINCIPALS AND ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS
I. Description of the subject and purpose of the proposed item under consideration.
Chancellor’s Regulation C-30 governs the selection, assignment and appointment of principals and assistant principals. The following amendments are proposed:
· Principals must have at least seven years of prior full-time pedagogic experience to be eligible for selection and appointment. Qualifying prior pedagogic positions for principals are: classroom teacher, dean, instructional coach, guidance counselor, school social worker, assistant principal, teacher assigned, education administrator, and all pedagogic supervisory titles contained in the collective bargaining agreement between the CSA and the DOE.
· Effective for the 2014-2015 school year, assistant principals must have at least five years of prior full-time pedagogic experience to be eligible for selection and appointment. Qualifying prior pedagogic positions for assistant principals are: classroom teacher, dean, instructional coach, guidance counselor, school social worker, teacher assigned, education administrator, and all pedagogic supervisory titles contained in the collective bargaining agreement between the CSA and the DOE.
· Applicants with fewer than seven years of prior pedagogic experience are eligible to be evaluated for admission to the Principal Candidate Pool, but are not eligible to apply for principal positions unless they have at least seven years of prior pedagogic experience.
· Interim acting principals must have at least seven years of prior full-time pedagogic experience to be eligible for assignment.
· Effective for the 2014-2015 school year, interim acting assistant principals must have at least five years of prior full-time pedagogic experience to be eligible for assignment.
· The Office of Leadership will promulgate guidance regarding the prior pedagogic experience requirements for principals and assistant principals.
· Assistant principal, principal and executive principal appointments in community school district schools are subject to rejection for cause by the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee on behalf of the Chancellor.
· Interim-acting principals must be in the Principal Candidate Pool, except in exigent circumstances, when the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee may authorize assignment of an interim-acting principal prior to completion of an evaluation for the Principal Candidate Pool.
· Requests for waivers from the Chancellor regarding the new pedagogic experience requirements shall be directed to the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee, 52 Chambers St., Room 320, New York, NY 10007.
· Attachment No. 1 (members of Level I Committee) has been revised for clarity.
II. Information regarding where the full text of the proposed item may be obtained.
The full text of the amendments to the regulation, and the regulation in its entirety, can be found on the main page of the website of the Panel for Educational Policy: http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/2013-2014/April9PEPRegulations
III. Name, office, address, email and telephone number of the city district representative, knowledgeable about the item under consideration, from whom information may be obtained concerning the item.
Name: Marina Cofield
Office: Office of Leadership
Address: 52 Chambers Street, Room 315, New York, NY 10007
Email: RegulationC-30@schools.nyc.gov
Phone: 212-346-5211
IV. Date, time and place of the Panel for Educational Policy meeting at which the Panel will vote on the proposed item.
April 9, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.
Prospect Heights Campus
883 Classon Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good! xxqb
Even though Ms Farina made some poor comments about closing the schools during the snowy days, I still have hope that she will make major changes in the NYC school system. We need leadership with more teaching experience/ education background. It’s sad that inexperienced or non educators are leading our schools. Ones who would not or could not demonstrate a teaching lesson if they had to.
The remark will be forgotten, the changes in policy will not.
Standards we can love and ones that are achievable Yessssssssssssssssssssss!
Hadn’t thought of this in a while until I read:
“The graduates of the Leadership Academy were held in low regard by the experienced teachers whom they commanded. Many got into major trouble.”
During WWII there were a group of officers referred to as Ninety-Day Wonders:
an officer commissioned in a branch of the armed forces after an unusually short training period, especially after a three-months officers’ training course. The practice continued through the Cold War and Viet Nam eras.
Not all of these commissioned officers were met with respect “due their quickly achieved ranks” either.
I guess the thinking of the military was to have officers who had more than a high school diploma. The officers may not have had the “chops” to lead, but in aggregate you have an educated officer core.
With teachers, on the other hand, you have many in the rank and file who are not only educated enough to manage and administrate, but also have the experience and character to be very effective educational leaders.
Current school culture, informed by free market principals, wants to bring in an executive class from the business world, rather than cultivating from within.
The Chancellor’s new regulation seems to represent a significant shift in philosophy.
Correction:
…free market principles-(not principals) their was no pun intended
This will be a welcome change for the next generation of NYC DOE students and schools, although of course the mandatory caveats apply: experience doesn’t necessarily guarantee competence, and there are some Leadership Academy grads who could have met this higher threshold.
I say the “next generation” because the change won’t do anything to hasten the removal of incompetent admins (Leadership Academy or otherwise) in the here and now. I wonder if Fariña believes that a simple shift in tone and a revamp of the relationship between networks, superintendents, and schools will rehabilitate these admins, or whether she is bowing to the reality that it is prohibitively costly and time-consuming to attempt to fire someone for poor performance.
This is the direct result of having and educator who has gone through the ranks. How pleasant, for a change! Viva Farina!
Perhaps we can return now to the idea that principals are supposed to be the “principal teachers” of their schools, not the business manager!
I think five years experience in the classroom is sufficient. Data shows that most teachers leave in that time in frustration. Will this be retroactive? This may preclude her from serving. We have no information how many years Ms. Farina spent in a classroom. She needs to add that the current administrators without such experience should not be influencing teachers or directing or assessing them regarding pedagogy and materials being used by publishers.
Joseph, I believe Farina taught for 20 years. She meets the standards, as did all principals pre-Bloomberg.
Thanks Diane. If I was more of a curmudgeon, I might say that may be too many. I know that Bill was put in a box. I am working across the aisle on CC. It’s like the time of George Washington when there were no political parties. Hoping legislators will remove all incumbent member of the Regents in NY State up for appointment by the legislature for the CC meltdown, and that Shelly Silver, the Speaker will get on board. We now have an opportunity to examine the entire role of education and discard the factory model and testing. With our economy in free fall, we will need the old time entrepreneurs that preceded the rise of “schooling”. Yankee come home?
This looks pretty questionable:
and may undermine their rights.
School districts could always appoint their principals,
Seniority aside, now it has to be approved by the Chancellor?
“Requests for waivers”? Didn’t we hear of that for Chancellor under Bloomberg?
· Assistant principal, principal and executive principal appointments in community school district schools are subject to rejection for cause by the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee on behalf of the Chancellor.
· Interim-acting principals must be in the Principal Candidate Pool, except in exigent circumstances, when the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee may authorize assignment of an interim-acting principal prior to completion of an evaluation for the Principal Candidate Pool.
· Requests for waivers from the Chancellor regarding the new pedagogic experience requirements shall be directed to the Senior Deputy Chancellor or his/her designee, 52 Chambers St., Room 320, New York, NY 10007.
Joseph, this bulletin from the chancellor’s puts an end to inexperienced “Leadership Academy” recruits. Let go the cynicism.
Diane
Yes it is a plus to dissolve these hedge fund academies. We need to keep vigilante. After all Obama brought in Arnie Duncan to our chagrin. She is a public figure and everyone is fawning over her because she is no longer a Bloomberg bureaucrat. We can only know her by her past actions as a leader. She supports common Core without seeing the materials that her predecessor purchased.
I hope that Farina will take a good hard look at some of “those” principals currently holding positions who were political hirees… perhaps they knew the “right people” and so they got principal positions with only one, two or three years of actual teaching experience. Frankly, many should step down or do the necessary training to go back into the classroom to earn their stripes! How can someone like this properly observe classroom teachers? This is certainly how many seasoned teachers have felt as these principals without requisite hands-on experience make observations. Any teacher who is a seasoned teacher knows how the breadth of knowledge in teaching increases with time… 5 years is a good gauge and Farina is smart in adding a few more years to this!
Am I seeing total administrative control going to the Chancellor?
Like when they could kick out 80% of their teachers.
I guess I just haven’t taken my happy pills today.
Joseph, learn to take “yes” for an answer. Farina just released a bulletin setting requirements for new administrators. Instead of seeking out inexperienced one-year, or two-year teachers, Farina will now require at least 7 years of classroom experience. That is a huge improvement!
It’s not “classroom experience,” is it? It’s “pedagogical” experience. Which includes admin positions.
She is also drawing on her own connections within the Bloomberg years. I take yes for an answer re: the leadership academies. We must wait and see. New York City is oblivious to the CC crisis unfolding throughout the nation. Pre K will be a boon for the unions and publishers. She has given no indication what it will consist of.
Here is what Susan Ohanian says that Vermont is experiencing:
Vermont Won a RTTT Early Childhood Grant & I’m As Mad As Hell
by Susan Ohanian
Vermont provides a good example of how Race to the Top Money comes at very high cost–to children and to democracy (and to taxpayers, who have promised to add $62 million to the $37 million government grant). It’s the same fiscal deal as No Child Left Behind but with an even higher cost to young children.
How Vermont Promises to Spend Its $37 (+$62) Million Race to the Top Grant on Pre-K To Improve School Readiness and Train Global Workforce
*Develop productive people1
*Provide a focused PreK curriculum1
*Reflect a Birth through Grade 3 continuum that incorporates the Common Core State
Standards1
*Offer investment to promote resiliency1
*Ensure meaningful workforce development1
*Stop risky [drug] behavior in earliest years1
*Articulate the expectations of what 3-5 year olds know and can do1
*Measure outcomes to ensure consistency across communities1
*Incorporate early literacy and early numeracy competencies1
*Initiate procurement of a data
system development firm1
*Provide evidence-based home visiting system1
*Strengthen parenting skills1
*Coordinate integrated 21st century early learning data system1
*Expand access to evidence informed learning opportunities aligned with the State’s
workforce and competency framework1
*Monitor data gaps, assuring data integrity, and monitoring traffic metrics and outcome
patterns1
*Implement state-of-the-art early childhood data collection system1
*Use kindergarten readiness data to inform policies and practices prior to kindergarten1
*Provide national PreK-Grade 3 organization to train data collectors to collect Snapshot data reliably1
*Verify that the new Vermont Early Learning Standards are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and reflect a continuum of development and learning from infancy through grade 31
*Use Daily Activity Assessment Tools to assess apprentices’ skills in common daily tasks, such as engaging a child in conversation1
*Use Results Based Accountability model that looks at measured data over time and asks if the trend is acceptable1
*Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment
Data collection & Common Core alignment1
1 RTT-ELC Application for Funding [CFDA 84.412A] Proposal and State Plan
Nay-sayers, what is your beef? I say, it’s a good first move. Let’s see what omes next.
The classrooms are on fire with deadening Common Core close materials and nonsense math. A generation is being dumbed down as we speak. I see it in action. Education is business as usual. We need to analyze and not name call. There may be wonderful future administrators who have not been compromised and do not have 7 years of pedagogical experience, whatever that means, while the Bloomberg dead wood in place can move into these positions. We still don’t know how long the Chancellor was a “classroom teacher”. She has consolidated total control of all school principals. It should be five years as a classroom teacher. It is what it is. She is a new woman chancellor, that is all that we have.
So far there is nothing in her record that speaks of a new vision and change, just control and expulsion of those who are in her way.
What a breath of fresh air!!!
The Bloomberg regime’s “Leadership Academy” sounds like a copycat from Eva’s Success Academy! Kid you not, the principal at Upper West has almost no experience teaching, same with most teachers there, fresh right out of school. This principal took one of the classrooms that the DOE gave her for a full class of 30 kids and made it her humongous office. Meanwhile, 30 5 year olds were placed in the tiny Room 211 (including kids with special needs and sensory issues) that used to be her ex small office (about 40% the size of the other classrooms and of her new office).
She got away with it because charters like Success Academy have total flexibility regarding how to use the space and the Board of Upper West cannot care less about the kids. But let’s face it, no teacher or principal with 7 years of experience will opt for putting 30 kids in half the space they need. The younger the kid, the more it matters to have appropriate space. This is something every experienced teacher knows well.
Julia, lack of experience and high teacher attrition is a feature of charter schools, Moskowitz’s in particular, not a bug.
It’s all about turning teaching into temporary, at-will employment, before it is (in the fever dreams of Bill Gates and others) digitalized completely.
With the Common Core materials that are not field tested, but dumped on teachers, all public schools will be becoming “charter light”. Children will be in open rebellion at the inappropriate materials and will be crushed. Only the teachers know what is happening and they are unable to speak up, while the Chancellor reads her “book of the month”, in total oblivion, approving the materials, sight unseen. These materials are much more hideous than any inept administrators in the schools since they affect all of the children all of the time.
Carmen Farina is hawking her co authored book at $27 now. I posted a comment to Amazon that none of the reviews have any details of her achievements or the number of years that she was a classroom teacher. I believe that she is already pulling down more than $400,000 dollars from the city. Poor Bill.
Seven years is not enough. A principal should have at least ten years experience in the school setting for which they are applying. Let them see and learn the ins and outs of teaching various grade levels (high school, elementary, middle, etc.) , and gain true experience as to what the job entails, who the students are, and how the school, students and staff function from year-to-year. Let them see the changes that occur over time and the various program implementations that come and go. No one should administer a school unless he or she knows the function of every type of employee–from custodial staff to other administrators. A principal should also be well-rounded and highly educated. I have seen some who cannot pronounce common words and who do not like to read. I have seen some who are unscrupulous, dishonest, and egotistical to the point where students and teachers take a back-burner to their own drive for power. I have seen principals who have no principles.