A reader called NY Educator has analyzed the list of “failing schools,” assembled in response to Governor Cuomo’s budget mandates.
He or she writes as a comment:
“I’ve worked up a lot of data on the 178 schools on Cuomo’s “hit list” of “failing schools.” They are, on average 93% minority, in contrast to 54% statewide minority.
“They enroll on average 86% economically disadvantaged students, in comparison to 53% statewide.
“On average 16% of their students are English language learners. State average is 8% (charter average is 5%).
“On average, 23% of their students have disabilities, compared to an average of 16% statewide and only 14% in the state’s charter schools.
“These schools are intensely segregated and, in dozens of cases reflect “apartheid segregation” (99%-100% minority). [I am uncertain of the origin of the term apartheid segregation–I know Jonathan Kozol uses it, but it may have been initiated by Gary Orfield.]
“The schools serve tens of thousands of very high need students, including high school students who just can’t finish 22 credits and five exams in four years because they are enrolled in non-credit bearing classes like beginning English and Resource Room. When they graduate in 5 or 6 years it doesn’t matter . . . because only the four year graduation rate counts.
The state assessments in 3-8 ELA and math discriminate against these students. The number and percent of minority, economically disadvantaged, ELL and SWD students scoring at level 1 and 2 are disproportionate and the most recent changes in tests and scoring (beginning in 2013) profoundly exacerbated these gaps.
“I would argue that the explosion of achievement gaps is in fact discriminatory and unconstitutional. Are there any good lawyers out that who can help me put together an argument that it is unconstitutional to 1) perpetuate intense and apartheid segregation in NY schools 2) assess children and hold schools accountable according to measures that can be demonstrated to have discriminatory impact 3) having isolated and targeted these schools and communities in a discriminatory fashion, now subject the schools to harsh measures including (if they are converted to charters) removing them from the democratic control of their communities? And making the institution of “school” itself nothing but a grand money laundering scheme to convert public, taxpayer dollars into private profit???
“It is unconscionable that children, families, educators and communities must now suffer the “beating” that will come with the “carrot and stick” part of state intervention.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Michael A. Rebell, Esq., author and executive director of the Campaign for Education Equity –
Successfully argued case in NY Court of Appeals
Linda Darling-Hammond also wrote of apartheid schools in The Flat World and Equcation. Her depiction of Luther Burbank, a California school and a plaintiff in a 2002 law suit on behalf of students of color is harrowing. More than half a century after Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation, guaranteeing an equal education for all, Burbank was infested with vermin, cockroaches and mice. This institution, funded by ever-dwindling public money “represents a growing number of ‘apartheid schools’ across the U.S.”
There was a public school in DC a few blocks from the White House that was on the news shortly after Obama’s win in 2008. It had a hole in the roof, some windows boarded, and rows of broken toilets. The implication was that Obama would make things better. Ha!
Sounds like many inner city schools and even some middle class socio economic area schools in LAUSD. Money seems not to be available to install air conditioning, have full time janitors, eradicate vermin, improve plumbing, etc.yet the district can afford many 6 figure salaried middle managers. You rarely find this in schools in higher socio economic areas, with educated professional parents.
So let me get this straight, NY Educator:
1. Schools with more disadvantaged students often have less effective teachers. I’m not sure anybody disputes this fact. That is what ESEA is trying to solve.
2. Raising standards highlights the difference between affluent and disadvantaged kids. Why, exactly, is this a problem? Are you suggesting that merely telling/showing the public that these kids are behind is actually against the law? Are you crazy?
3. ESEA gives schools waivers regardless of their students’ test scores if, and only if, they can demonstrate academic growth in the kids. That is being fair to the teachers! If I put all the disadvantaged kids in one school, I can’t expect the teachers to raise their scores up to average. But the only way I can know if the teachers are effective is by looking at the “growth” in the kids. If there is growth, no problem. If not, we must rescue these kids from ineffective teachers/administrators. To ignore the problem, is highly unethical.
So it sounds like you want to hire lawyers to force disadvantaged students to remain in the classrooms of ineffective teachers?! I am NOT saying that all or even most of these schools are populated with ineffective teachers. I’m just saying the ESEA waivers only put turnaround procedures in place if there is no growth. That, my dear educator, is called justice!
And at the moment we can not tell if the teachers are in fact ineffective because there are no scientific means of doing so. I suggest you get a job in one of these schools and see if you can be effective.
It sounds like you believe that the reason children do not have enough “growth” is because the teachers are ineffective. Have you not read what happens when “effective” teachers from more advantaged schools trade places with so-called “ineffective” teachers in underprivileged schools? Suddenly the effective become ineffective and vice versa. Those who have studied this issue know that the lack of growth is due mostly to poverty, and other home issues that make learning difficult.
Unless I am being blinded by your usual wild rhetoric, virginia, I cannot find a quote anywhere in this article that uses the language you ascribe to the writer in you #1 comment…re less effective teachers.
You seem to make it up as you go along based on your lack of knowledge, sincerity, and goal of misdirecting the conversation to fit your own political slant.
You sadly show ignorance by not recognizing that this twisted logic does not sell here.
The problem is that under NCLB/RTTT, progress means squat. All schools were expected to hit 100% grade level by the established deadline. It didn’t matter if 100% showed growth. With Common Core’s inappropriate standards, the goal became even more unrealistic.
The problem is that even though you apply your logic, it just isn’t that simple. Microsoft thought putting their employees into a system of rewards & punishments would cause their employees to lift themselves to even higher accomplishments. It had the opposite effect.
Schools work best under a system of cooperation, just as Microsoft discovered. The current system of test and punish is having a devastating effect. Entrepreuners know and want this so schools can be closed and privatized for their profit. Charters do no better than public schools and make it possible for many to line their pockets at students’ expense.
I suggest that you ignore Virginia SGP. He thrives on the attention.
First of all I don’t think it’s obvious that high poverty schools have the least effective teachers. What we more likely see is that teachers get their start wherever they can and get the hell out as fast as they can because teaching in high poverty schools is REALLY HARD! So we see the least experienced and we see high turnover. The teachers who remain in the field move to better schools and become experienced and highly effective. Same teachers.
Virginia – nobody in their right mind would stay at one of this difficult schools unless they were a top notch teacher able to handle adversity. I’ve found that the “least effective teachers” don’t last, while the master teachers who want to make a difference stay. The staff at these particular schools tend to be close knit, providing each other support. I’ve met some incredible individuals who could easily have transferred to better situations but decided to dedicate their careers to help these needy children.
It’s easy to tarnish all with the sweep of a brush, but the situation is more complex. Unless you have been there, it is difficult to understand. So easy to be critical when you are on the outside looking in – I just wish that those who are making the decisions would get their hands dirty and spend some quality time in these “low performing schools” to discover the true issues effecting student outcome.
Virginia – if possible, why don’t you volunteer at one of these schools to see the sorts of people who have spent their careers helping the underprivileged. You’ll be amazed.
Really…so let’s do a teacher swap and test your so called theory
You can simply ignore this blue jay spam. He’s seeking attention by pretending to get trapped in a big cage.
“If there is growth, no problem. If not, we must rescue these kids from ineffective teachers/administrators. To ignore the problem, is highly unethical.”
What is unethical is the VAM/SGP process you so dearly love. And it’s unethical to not answer any fundamental questions about the process that may serve to invalidate those educational malpractices. Since VAM/SGP are based on standardized tests and those are supposedly based on educational standards I ask you for the 6th(?-I’m losing track) time:
Brian,
Please explain the standard involved in these supposed measures. Where is that standard? How did it come about? Is there only one standard? Who determined that standard? Does the process involved in making and using these supposed standards and measurements follow OSI protocols? If so where may I find that justification?
Patiently awaiting but not expecting any response am I.
I’m pretty sure his submarine crew won’t survive if they would follow the VAM order of ‘Supernova Gaijin Planet.’ Its design is so seriously flawed that even Japan’s Self Defense Force would say ‘we don’t need your stuff. It’s a total junk.’ It will be shut down by North Korea’s outmoded cruise missiles and sunk deeply in the Pacific Ocean.
It is the state and its criminal politicians, especially Cuomo and Tisch, et al, who should be punished and sued for underfunding needy schools and perpetrating educational fraud by implementing such stupid and misguided ideas. I hope that someone in the legal field will create a class action suit on behalf of the parents whose struggling students are being short changed and so wrongly treated.
Merryl Tisch’s brother in law, Andrew Tisch, sits on the Board of K12, Inc., the largest online learning company in the U.S.
It is a case of extreme conflict of interest when her family stands to financially benefit from her position. Merryl is in charge of approving charter schools in New York. Charter schools often contract with K12, Inc. for services and products.
Remember Michael Milken, the onetime “junk bond king” of Drexel?
He has rehabilitated his image after pleading guilty to six felony counts of securities fraud and conspiracy, paying $600 million in fines and spending 22 months behind bars. He is the one who put up the first $10 million to begin K12, Inc. These are the people who are lining up to drink at the trough of federal tax monies that have been targeted for the expansion of charter schools.
Exactly Dawn….we must remember how Milken ran Drexel Burnham into the ground, and how he served time in the Federal pen…and as a self perceived turnaround artist, came up with this huge education scheme that is now advertised on every California TV station every few seconds. Birds of feather flock, and hover, and deceive, and get very rich, together.
The more I think about hard working teachers at low-income schools made to feel the stigma of “failing,” the angrier I get. These teachers passed examinations, did student teaching, became fully certified and then told that they are “ineffective” based on a two-dollar group test that isn’t even professionally administered (i.e. secure). What’s more, these tests have been found again and again, to correlate with variables other than the teacher and VAM has been discredited by statisticians.
Imagine if a dentist, after years of training and certification, were deemed “ineffective” because a cheap group test showed that his impoverished patients continued to have more cavities, even after treatment, than the rich patients of another dentist. It’s absolute insanity!
From my many years of teaching, I know that low-income children usually make good progress at school, but standardized tests, based on grade level material, often are not able to measure this progress.
What I’d like to see is this: Parents, teachers and administrators at a school can keep careful records of each child’s SCHOOL progress from September to June. They can use class work, compositions, videos, cumulative tests and other measures of progress. It is not that difficult to demonstrate student progress. For example, a child who comes to school in the fifth grade with little English can be shown to know a great deal in May.
In this way, when the newspapers proclaim a school as “failing” these schools can pull out their data and let the public know.. The same with teachers: they need to gather their own data (with parents as witnesses) and then let the public know. Yes, I know, easier said than done, but teachers and parents MUST fight back.
What you are describing are portfolios. Many districts were moving to this form of assessment before NCLB, but the competitive, punitive nature of NCLB made districts chase test scores on standardized tests instead.
Linda…we have to also lean on the SouthWest Latino Voter group for seemingly joining in a conspiracy to buy the last school board election.
And for a change, give some congrats to the LA Times for publishing the Howard Blume story yesterday of the inner city $25,000 lottery winner that this Latino group organized ostensibly to get Spanish speakers to vote for the Latino surnamed candidate, Ref Rodriguez, (who is a multi millionaire and owns 16 charter schools and whose recent audits showed multiple faliures in running those charters). He was sponsored by the Califorrnia Charter School Assoc. and the billionaire boys club, and had their donations of over $2.5 M to splurge on the dirtiest and most mendacious campaign we have seen.
You keep thinking it can’t get dirtier…but these vultures like Tisch, Milken, and Rodriguez, keep pushing the moral and legal envelope.
Hope all readers here send letters to the Editor of the LA Times asking if bribing voters to go to the polls is even legal, much less ethical. It is only with a major outcry that we can make changes in these dirty deeds.
Exactly. If this is Cuomo and Tisch’s acting as the advocate for the students then they should be removed from the educational process. The rich and powerful solving the problems of the poor through punishment and condescension. Give them a fair and equitable funding stream and support their teachers and families. Your approach is incorrect and actually immoral. Get out of the way of the dedicated teachers and administrators that try to help day after day in the face of your disrespect and misallocation of resources while you and your class get the finest education money can buy behind your gated estates and communities.
It was bound to happen. From failing schools to failing hospitals and doctors. ProPublica released stack rankings of surgeons in our area. There is just too much money in medicine for Reformers and hedge funds to ignore. Even doctors and others in medicine are not immune. It probably has been going on for sometime and just becoming more prevalent. The same concerns expressed by teachers were voiced by doctors. After schools and hospitals are VAMized, what’s next? Churches and courtrooms? Or is that already underway, too?
I’m waiting for robots to replace all government workers.
My internist is now becoming a “concierge doctor,” and if I want to stay with her, I’ll have to pay a retainer fee every year. That’s on top of copays, and paying out of pocket for well visits because my insurance sucks.
My spouse’s did the same. We pay out of pocket for his service as he decided not to do the yearly fee thing.
This will be fee for service and perhaps I will be able to trade home schooling for his fees at some time.
That is the trend. The wealthy will have concierge doctors, the rest of us will see PAs or nurses. Nothing against them, but they are not doctors. But the market for concierge is limited if only targeting the wealthy. The 1%ers can only have one sore throat at a time. More than likely we will have less access to quality health care.
I am not a lawyer but here is the name of one of the most prominent attorneys in this area. Wendy Lecker is Senior Attorney for the Education Law Center.
http://www.edlawcenter.org/
Her job is to launch lawsuits inside the state of New York on behalf of students who are short changed – and she does it well. If you would like to watch her speak at a Fordham University forum on this topic here is the link. She speaks at approximately the 25 minute mark.
In the meantime, I have a book coming out on October 19th (my mother’s birthday) entitled:
Intellectual Treason… or…Just Plain Ignorance – “The Explanation Gap Within the Achievement Gap.”
Perhaps also, you might be interested in my website: http://www.CommonCoreNot.com
This website’s sole purpose to feature my other book, just out this past May 23. The title
of that book is:
“Perfectly Incorrect – Why the Common Core is Psychologically and Cognitively Unsound.”
Finally, feel free to write me at my personal e-mail address:
TerryMarselle7@gmail.com and we can talk further about this most incredible person, Wendy Lecker
BTW – I am a teacher in Connecticut.
Terry Marselle
An alternate explanation for the “failing” schools is that the average IQ of the students is relatively low. There are three documented facts that make this explanation explanation viable. I have also included several note concerning these facts.
1. IQ is highly correlated with success, that is, status and income. Thus the residents of poor neighbor hoods probably have relatively low IQs. They are unable to afford to move to better neighborhoods where housing costs are higher.
2. IQ of children is highly correlated with the IQ of the parents. Thus the children of parents who live in poor neighborhoods have relatively low IQ because it is in their genes.
3. Children who have relatively low IQs do not learn at the same rate, or as thoroughly as those with higher IQs. This is obvious to every teacher.
An additional possible factor is that children with low IQ require better teachers and techniques to get the children to work up to their maximum potential. Unfortunately, school funding in most areas depend on the wealth of the community, so that poor neighborhoods do not have the financial resources to hire the best teachers.
Note 1: These are statistical statements. They do not apply to all students, and cannot be applied to individuals. They relate to the averages and standard deviations of a population.
Note 2: These statements are not racist, or based on the premise that there are statistical difference among races.
Note 3: All of these facts could be investigated and verified in the context of this discussion.
Note 4: Politicians and school administrators are afraid to publicly state these facts because the may be considered not to be “politically correct” but ignoring them can lead to counterproductive actions.
Note 5: As has been stated in other comments on this article, Schooling contractors may take advantage of the presumed failures for their own financial benefit.
Obviously you have zero experience or knowledge of these neighborhoods.
You appear to be the one with the low IQ if you give this as the reason for schools failing. Are you an administrator or some Johnny come late deformer who simplifies everything as the fault of one factor, oh it’s the low IQ’s of the students, oh it’s the bad teachers, oh it’s the low IQ of the parents. I equate people like you as knowing nothing about education and least of all failing schools.
Insults do not lead to fruitful discussion. My IQ is about 130. I did not state that the problem is caused by one or another of the three factosr, but by the three interrelated factors. I have read studies of the three factors, but have not seen a study where the three factors are related, I would appreciate your documented opinion on the cause of the failing schools being predominately in low income areas. Thank you.
None of the above is true. It is definitely not the low IQ. Over the period of time by stating their conviction, this blog has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that it is the poverty which cannot be solved and it is not the problem of the teaching profession.
Or maybe they just eat more lead paint. Geeesh.
This is a testable hypothesis. Eating lead paint can result in relative low IQ. If their parents ate lead paint, they would have low IQ, and hence low earning power. But their children who may have grown up in a lead free environment would inherit their parent’s IQ genes which could be normal or above average. Again, this is a testable hypothesis. Dismissing facts out of hand with a callous “geesh” is more an indication of the intelligence and/or interest in the subject.
Dave – that is not my experience. They might not be book smart, but they aren’t stupid. There ate so many variables at play. Many of them don’t value the education system and put their efforts in other activities. It’s hard to teach an empty seat or a student who refuses to engage.
It would be easy to say they can’t learn because of their low IQ, but that is an untrue statement. Even those in special education have a myriad of issues and low intelligence is not the main factor.
I suspect that “book-smart” is strongly correlated with IQ. As for not being stupid, you have to be careful how you use all of these undefined terms; some skills do not relate to IQ. Also, your “stupid” may mean less than approximately 85 IQ or it may mean less than 70.
As for those in special ed, my understanding is that that category includes many causes; severe dyslexia, Aspergers, poor sight or hearing (perhaps undiagnosed,) behavioral problems caused by poor parenting, or family strife, psychological problems (depression, bi-polar, OCD)
Dave – I was using stupid in the generic sense and as far as “book smart” I was thinking of the seven, possibly eight intelligences. Also the Einstein Syndrome where highly intelligent individuals are labeled as below par, yet are truly geniuses – they just don’t think in the same way as others in the population.
The trouble with generalizations is that they don’t pinpoint the true issues. If it is simply a matter of IQ, then the fix is easier. However, whether IQ, emotional or learning disabilities, language or social barriers, economic or developmental issues – the current philosophy is that all kids should be at the same place at the same time.
You have to admit, in all these cases, it is totally unreasonable to expect a “one size fits all” mantra to be successful, no matter who is running the show.
If I may put it bluntly, Dave!?!
IQ is a bullshit concept with no validity whatsoever as it is an extremely erroneous concept, that of “measuring” the unseen, the hidden, the non-existent. Using garbage concepts to make a point results in results that rightly belong in the garbage bin.
If you did your homework, IQ scores correlate highly with standard of living later in live. IQ scores correlate highly with the Army batter of tests given to evaluate a soldiers potential. (Do not remember the name of the battery of tests.) IQ includes a number of different mental abilities combined into one number. The Army battery evaluates the different abilities in separate tests; thus the use of the word “battery” My wife and I have very different mental abilities, but we end up with about the same IQ. Those who ignore intellectual differences among children and make education policy on that basis will find that their policies will end up in the garbage bin.
“IQ includes a number of different mental abilities combined into one number.”
IQ includes a few different mental abilities, certainly not a “number”. And the problem with IQ is that single number which attempts, very badly at that, to take myriad complex human mental abilities and capabilities and turn into one number. On the face of it, it’s absurd to think that can be rationo-logically be done in any valid way.
I am not and never have suggested that we ignore the differing mental workings of each individual child. I am suggesting, pleading, begging that we don’t attempt to describe those differences using a simple numerical score on the ever changing scale that is IQ.
I am curious where you got your information about the value of IQ numbers. I would appreciate knowing. I would strongly encourage you to read the Wikipedia article on IQ, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient. And don’t try to justify your position by saying that wikipedia is filled with errors. This article cite 146 references. One of the points made is that IQ is correlated with school achievement, accounting for about 25 percent of the variation. One paragraph from this article is:
The American Psychological Association’s report “Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns” states that wherever it has been studied, children with high scores on tests of intelligence tend to learn more of what is taught in school than their lower-scoring peers. The correlation between IQ scores and grades is about .50. This means that the explained variance is 25%. Achieving good grades depends on many factors other than IQ, such as “persistence, interest in school, and willingness to study” (p. 81).[40]
By the way, I hope that you are familiar with the Flynn Effect. Let me know if you are.
Dave,
I have gotten my information on IQ from many many sources over the many years, too many to begin to list. The supposed value of an IQ score is minimal due to quite a number of rationo-logical concerns.
The main concern I have is with the definition of “intelligence quotient”, which has been hotly contested since the concept was first introduced. So to continue that debate, please explain to us the completely agreed upon definition of that term. (I could point out there there is no “completely agreed upon” definition, but that would take the fun out of the discussion). So your take on the meaning of the phrase is fine for now.
P.S. I am not one to denigrate Wiki as I believe that the concept of “open source encyclopedia” is a solid one. Experts can be a dime a dozen (due to the sheer number of humans alive at any given time these days, more likely than not many will be interested/knowledgeable about a given topic) and so why not use as many as possible of the experts to clarify any given topic/subject/concept.
Unfortunately there are idiologists (purposely misspelled) who can’t see past their idiologies (again purposely misspelled) and who feel the need to spread their false ideologies and do damage to the open source concept. But open source is ever vigilant and usually truth will win out over idiology.
This a response to your latest post. IQ is the score on an IQ test. It is not a some magical number. That you did not respond to my question about the Flynn Effect means either that you are unaware of the latest results of IQ testing over the last 20 years or that you are too lazy to check it out. Please do your homework.
Meant to respond to the Flynn effect as it along with any other discussions of IQ are what I term “Swacker’s MMoOOs” due to the inherent epistemological and ontological fallacies and errors in not only the construct validity of the concept of IQ but also the developing, using and disseminating of the results of those tests that render any results COMPLETELY INVALID.
IQ is an anachronism from prior times that needs to be stored along with all the various other mental foibles devised to attempt to explain human mental, emotional and many other behaviors/characteristics such as phrenology, astrology, the four humours, religion, etc. . . .
My supposed laziness would be better explained by saying I don’t give a damn about shitty illogical explanations that have no basis in rationo-logical thought.
My kids’ schools are all on the list of 178, and one child’s school is on the list of the 20 “worst” schools that will be in receivership starting in September. I’m not really sure what this all means, and I am nervous about the future. They are not “apartheid” schools – the school in receivership is 20% white and 30% do not qualify for free lunch, but they are definitely struggling. I wish I could feel confident that SED would provide expert guidance on how to improve the school. However, given what the schools have gone through so far, I fear that all we will get is a list of everything that is wrong with the schools with no suggestions for how to improve. This is what is most frustrating to me There are lots of staff, parents and students that are eager to improve, but with everything we try we just keep getting slapped down with no feedback like, “Here is a school with a similar demographic that had great success with X. Let’s see what we can do to help you discern if this will work in your school, and, if so, how to implement it.” I am at the point where I just want to cry, and I don’t even have to work in the school.
Susan,
Your fear is well founded. You just need to read the comments from all the experts on this blog. It is all talk and pontification nothing pinpointing problems and solutions. They state the obvious – that poorer districts students perform below those that have wealth and college educated parents.
Our city has two schools on the list. My four children have attended these schools. While we no longer have children in the schools, I am still connected to the school through a coaching position held since 1982 and I also served on the school board and know first-hand how hard it is to turn a failing schools and bureaucracy around.
For our district and dare I say a large the majority of schools on the list the real problem is students coming from families of multi-generational poverty. That is a problem that can’t be solved by changing the curriculum or teachers. This does not mean schools should not be challenged to deliver the best education possible to these children.
Everyone always ask why did we stay in the district, since we had the means to move. The answer is pretty simple I would say, if you have a child destine for an IVY league college they will do just fine in our failing HS. Their chances are as good as any of the surrounding suburban schools.
I gone on to tell them that I have spent each spring over the last 33 years with the students of these failing schools. They are as special and hard working as any other students. The statistics don’t attend schools the students do.
You are on the right track the parents have to set high standards and preach to their children the importance of an education. Encourage them and hold them accountable. Go to every parent teacher conference. Let the school know you are there. Continue to attend board meetings and ask hard question even knowing there are no silver bullets.
Hopefully if we can get everyone working together we can make some progress.
I think the sub-groups should be disaggregated. I would like to know if charters accept Asperger(brilliant but on the spectrum) cases over regular autism and advanced ELLs (almost proficient) over beginners. Do charters accept LD students over profoundly impaired students? Are charters more likely to accept Asians or Eastern Europeans over Latinos and Haitians? All classified students and ELLs are not the same. There are huge differences among the members in the same designation or category.
“All classified students and ELLs are not the same. There are huge differences among the members in the same designation or category.”
Is this, seemingly obvious statement, simply ignored? Or, are financial players and their pocket politicians that ignorant?
You are completely right about these schools and to target them for discipline or closure is unfair. A clear case of disparate impact.
APARTHEID SCHOOLS: I taught art for several years in one of the schools on the list above. My current school shares a building with two other schools on the list. So I know this population and I see up close, every day – the reasons for the low test scores and more importantly, the real obstacles to learning.
I’ll get to those, but I believe this is an “apartheid” situation because no one will face the real reasons, including a mayor elected on a platform of fighting income inequality. He has improved NYC schools in tone, but has not fought one bit against the testing regime that makes these kids despise school so much.
Since 2001, NCLB has paid outsiders handsomely to administer controversial tests to identify low-performing students. But the promise to help those kids has been empty, as support has never come. Struggling students can be identified within the first few days of school by teachers, showing the purpose of the testing was never to help kids, rather to sell products and to centralize control through “accountability” regulations.
This receivership plan was buried deep in a “blackmail” budget vote and seeks corporate takeover of schools filled with struggling black and brown students. Whether it’s nonprofits, for-profits or charter networks, the push to take away local responsibility and drive up test scores is in full swing. But it will never work.
The reasons are obvious, and have been out there for years. The educator above explains that these schools are jam packed with high needs ELLs, IEPs, and students in poverty, the three officially recognized categories of need. But other important factors are ignored, as kids grow up in fractured families amidst drugs, crime, gangs, incarceration, abuse, neglect, truancy, deportation, transience, pregnancy, bullying, poor dietary choices and all of the other toxic stresses found in marginalized neighborhoods for generations.
Though the majority of inner city youth are relatively compliant, just a few students in each class can slow or stop progress, every period of every day, presenting issues that are almost always non-academic. Teachers met with disruptive behavior, wavering attention, hyperactivity, acting out, opposition, defiance, lateness, cutting and overcrowding were always less inclined to take these positions, but NY’s punitive test-based evaluations have guaranteed they won’t take these jobs. My former school still has not replaced me, and has seen an exodus of good teachers leave, throughout a prolonged hiring crisis.
What would maximize learning and give taxpayers bang for the buck would be honing in on the most in-need, most disruptive students, looking at the whole child and their home conditions to provide clinical, counseling or intervention services. In school, they need alternative settings that help them progress at their true functioning levels and pace, assessing need using measures that are not pegged to age or peer comparisons.
Finally, it needs to be said that a lot of these students have almost total apathy for school and authority, living through not only the high stress testing era, but also stop-and-frisk where boys are routinely harassed for no reason. The teachers are increasingly white, increasingly inexperienced, and increasingly presenting packaged corporate content.
The receivership plan is a massive power grab, as seen in New Orleans and Detroit, an attempt to inculcate compliant teachers with cash bribes, to triple down on the impact of flawed tests, and to put schools under the control of distant Albany bean counters instead of qualified educators, all the while disregarding the real reasons students are not progressing.
Removing troublesome students and putting them in alternative settings which provide extensive counseling and small group classes would be helpful. There are always some kids on the fence who follow the example of the troublemakers, but would settle down if the key instigators are removed from the scene.
That would be the first step I would take to improve school environment.
Here’s the start to my list of failing governors:
1. Andrew Cuomo
feel free to add to the list
Andrew Cuomo belongs in a mental institution. Any politician who deliberately denies a decent and equal quality education to all children does not belong in politics. When I criticized NY state government bureacracies, Social Services, Department of Labor and especially the state Department of Ed., whose incompetance of my license evaluations after 10 years of excellent service, lead me to unemployment and many years of poverty. Instead of helping a poor teacher, Cuomo sent two state policemen to my home. They told me “Never write to Governor Cuomo again or we will put you in a mental institution!”
I believe that anyone who threatens a teacher, the enablers of our youth, should be put in a mental institution.
If Mary Ellen Elia has her way and takes over the “failing” schools in Buffalo, there will be a two tier system with the fifteen “safe” schools having a larger percentage of white students, while the remaining twenty five consist of minority, special ed, and ESL students (many of them refugees).
That’s the white elephant in the room that the “government” fails to acknowledge.